Ep. 293. Romans 4 | Justified By Faith

EPISODE 293

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH: ROMANS 4

Let's begin where we left off in Chapter 3, "Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law." Remember that there are no chapter breaks in Paul's original letter. The chapter break here can potentially sabotage our understanding of the text. Paul has just introduced faith as the means for righteousness and then asks if faith overthrows the law. He surprises his reader and us as well, I imagine, when he says, "On the contrary, we uphold the law." Now, our tendency is to think of the "rules" when we think of "the law." Maybe we think of the Ten Commandments. But what does Paul talk about? Moses on Sinai? Purification rites? Dietary restrictions? Sabbath ordinances? No. "What shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.'" In other words, the way that faith upholds the law is that it is consistent with what is recorded in the law, aka the Scriptures, seeing that Abraham was not justified through works but through faith.

Second, we see that Abraham was counted righteous while uncircumcised to show that he is the father of both the circumcised and the uncircumcised.

Third, four times in this section of Paul's letter, we see references to Genesis 15:6, "Faith was counted to him as righteousness." I don't know how we can read Paul's writings and still land in the place where we believe our works somehow assist in our righteous standing before God. We certainly don't find it in this chapter.

Finally, read those last few verses of the chapter again, "But the words, 'it was counted to him' were not written for his [Abraham's] sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him [God] who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord."

ADDITIONAL READING: Psalm 32:1-2; Genesis 17: 4-5; Genesis 15:5-6