Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Father Abraham
Paul’s theme in the second section of his letter was salvation—righteousness declared. He proved that all people are sinners; so his next goal was to explain how sinners can be saved. The theological term for this salvation is justification by faith. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Each part of this definition is important, so we must consider it carefully.
To begin with, justification is an act, not a process. There are no degrees of justification; each believer has the same right standing before God. Also, justification is something God does, not man. No sinner can justify himself before God. Most important, justification does not mean that God makes us righteous, but that He declares us righteous. Justification is a legal matter. God puts the righteousness of Christ on our record in the place of our own sinfulness. And nobody can change this record.
Do not confuse justification and sanctification. Sanctification is the process whereby God makes the believer more and more like Christ. Sanctification may change from day to day. Justification never changes. When the sinner trusts Christ, God declares him righteous, and that declaration will never be repealed. God looks on us and deals with us as though we had never sinned at all!
But how can the holy God declare sinners righteous? Is justification merely a fictional idea that has no real foundation? In this section of Romans, Paul answered these questions in two ways. First, he explained justification by faith (Rom. 3:21–31); then he illustrated justification by faith from the life of Abraham (Rom. 4:1–25).
“But now the righteousness of God … has been manifested” (Rom. 3:21, literal translation). God revealed His righteousness in many ways before the full revelation of the gospel: His law, His judgments against sin, His appeals through the prophets, His blessing on the obedient. But in the gospel, a new kind of righteousness has been revealed (Rom. 1:16–17), and the characteristics of this righteousness are spelled out in this section.
Apart from the law (v. 21). Under the Old Testament law, righteousness came by people behaving, but under the gospel, righteousness comes by believing. The law itself reveals the righteousness of God, because the law is “holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12). Furthermore, the law bore witness to this gospel righteousness even though it could not provide it. Beginning at Genesis 3:15, and continuing through the entire Old Testament, witness is given to salvation by faith in Christ. The Old Testament sacrifices, the prophecies, the types, and the great “gospel Scriptures” (such as Isa. 53) all bore witness to this truth. The law could witness to God’s righteousness, but it could not provide it for sinful humanity. Only Jesus Christ could do that (see Gal. 2:21).
Through faith in Christ (v. 22a). Faith is only as good as its object. All people trust something, if only themselves, but the Christian trusts Christ. Law righteousness is a reward for works. Gospel righteousness is a gift through faith. Many people say, “I trust in God!” But this is not what saves us. It is personal, individual faith in Jesus Christ that saves and justifies the lost sinner. Even the demons from hell believe in God and tremble, yet this does not save them (James 2:19).
For all men (vv. 22b–23). God gave His law to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, but the good news of salvation through Christ is offered to all men. All men need to be saved. There is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile when it comes to condemnation. “All have sinned, and are coming short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23, literal translation). God declared everyone guilty so that He might offer everyone His free gift of salvation.
By grace (v. 24). God has two kinds of attributes: absolute (what He is in Himself), and relative (how He relates to the world and men). One of His absolute attributes is love: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). When God relates that love to you and me, it becomes grace and mercy. God in His mercy does not give us what we do deserve, and God in grace gives us what we do not deserve. The Greek word translated “freely” is translated in John 15:25 as “without a cause.” We are justified without a cause! There is no cause in us that would merit the salvation of God! It is all of grace!
At great cost to God (vv. 24b–25). Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. Three words express the price God paid for our salvation: propitiation, redemption, and blood. In human terms, “propitiation” means appeasing someone who is angry, usually by a gift. But this is not what it means in the Bible. “Propitiation” means the satisfying of God’s holy law, the meeting of its just demands, so that God can freely forgive those who come to Christ. The word blood tells us what the price was. Jesus had to die on the cross in order to satisfy the law and justify lost sinners.
The best illustration of this truth is the Jewish Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16. Two goats were presented at the altar, and one of them was chosen for a sacrifice. The goat was slain and its blood taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat, that golden cover on the ark of the covenant. This sprinkled blood covered the two tablets of the law inside the ark. The shed blood met (temporarily) the righteous demands of the holy God.
The priest then put his hands on the head of the other goat and confessed the sins of the people. Then the goat was taken out into the wilderness and set free to symbolize the carrying away of sins. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). In the Old Testament period, the blood of animals could never take away sin; it could only cover it until the time when Jesus would come and purchase a finished salvation. God had “passed over” the sins that were past (Rom. 3:25, literal translation), knowing that His Son would come and finish the work. Because of His death and resurrection, there would be “redemption”—a purchasing of the sinner and setting him free.
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan was trying to explain “free salvation” to a coal miner, but the man was unable to understand it. “I have to pay for it,” he kept arguing.
With a flash of divine insight, Dr. Morgan asked, “How did you get down into the mine this morning?”
“Why, it was easy,” the man replied. “I just got on the elevator and went down.”
Then Morgan asked, “Wasn’t that too easy? Didn’t it cost you something?”
The man laughed. “No, it didn’t cost me anything, but it must have cost the company plenty to install that elevator.” Then the man saw the truth: “It doesn’t cost me anything to be saved, but it cost God the life of His Son.”
In perfect justice (vv. 25–26). God must be perfectly consistent with Himself. He cannot break His own law or violate His own nature. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and “God is light” (1 John 1:5). A God of love wants to forgive sinners, but a God of holiness must punish sin and uphold His righteous law. How can God be both “just and the justifier”? The answer is in Jesus Christ. When Jesus suffered the wrath of God on the cross for the sins of the world, He fully met the demands of God’s law and also fully expressed the love of God’s heart. The animal sacrifices in the Old Testament never took away sin, but when Jesus died, He reached all the way back to Adam and took care of those sins. No one (including Satan) could accuse God of being unjust or unfair because of His seeming passing over of sins in the Old Testament time.
To establish the law (vv. 27–31). Because of his Jewish readers, Paul wanted to say more about the relationship of the gospel to the law. The doctrine of justification by faith is not against the law, because it establishes the law. God obeyed His own law in working out the plan of salvation. Jesus in His life and death completely fulfilled the demands of the law. God does not have two ways of salvation, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles, for He is one God. He is consistent with His own nature and His own law. If salvation is through the law, then men can boast, but the principle of faith makes it impossible for men to boast. The swimmer, when he is saved from drowning, does not brag because he trusted the lifeguard. What else could he do? When a believing sinner is justified by faith, he cannot boast of his faith, but he can boast in a wonderful Savior.
In Romans 4—8, Paul explained how God’s great plan of salvation was in complete harmony with the Old Testament Scriptures. He began first with the father of the Jewish nation, Abraham.
The Jewish Christians in Rome would immediately have asked, “How does this doctrine of justification by faith relate to our history? Paul, you say that this doctrine is witnessed to by the law and the prophets. Well, what about Abraham?”
Paul accepted the challenge and explained how Abraham was saved. Abraham was called “our father,” referring primarily to the Jews’ natural and physical descent from Abraham. But in Romans 4:11, Abraham was also called “the father of all them that believe,” meaning all who have trusted Christ (see Gal. 3:1–18). Paul stated three important facts about Abraham’s salvation that prove that the patriarch’s spiritual experience was like that of believers today.
(1) He was justified by faith, not works (vv. 1–8). Paul called two witnesses to prove that statement: Moses (Gen. 15:6) and David (Ps. 32:1–2). In Romans 4:1–3, Paul examined the experience of Abraham as recorded in Genesis 15. Abraham had defeated the kings (Gen. 14) and was wondering if they would return to fight again. God appeared to him and assured him that He was his shield and “exceeding great reward” (Gen. 15:1). But the thing that Abraham wanted most was a son and heir. God had promised him a son, but as yet the promise had not been fulfilled.
It was then that God told him to look at the stars. “So shall thy seed [descendants] be!” God promised (v. 5), and Abraham believed God’s promise. The Hebrew word translated believed means “to say amen.” God gave a promise, and Abraham responded with “Amen!” It was this faith that was counted for righteousness.
The word counted in Romans 4:3 is a Greek word that means “to put to one’s account.” It is a banking term. This same word is used eleven times in this chapter, translated “reckoned” (Rom. 4:4, 9–10) and “imputed” (Rom. 4:6, 8, 11, 22–24), as well as “counted.” When a man works, he earns a salary and this money is put to his account. But Abraham did not work for his salvation; he simply trusted God’s Word. It was Jesus Christ who did the work on the cross, and His righteousness was put on Abraham’s account.
Romans 4:5 makes a starthng statement: God justifies the ungodly! The law said, “I will not justify the wicked” (Ex. 23:7). The Old Testament judge was commanded to “justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked” (Deut. 25:1). When Solomon dedicated the temple, he asked God to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous (1 Kings 8:32). But God justifies the ungodly—because there are no godly for Him to justify! He put our sins on Christ’s account that He might put Christ’s righteousness on our account.
In Romans 4:6–8, Paul used David as a witness, quoting from one of David’s psalms of confession after his terrible sin with Bathsheba (Ps. 32:1–2). David made two amazing statements: (1) God forgives sins and imputes righteousness apart from works; (2) God does not impute our sins. In other words, once we are justified, our record contains Christ’s perfect righteousness and can never again contain our sins. Christians do sin, and these sins need to be forgiven if we are to have fellowship with God (1 John 1:5–7), but these sins are not held against us. God does keep a record of our good works, so that He might reward us when Jesus comes, but He is not keeping a record of our sins.
(2) He was justified by grace, not law (vv. 9–17). As we have seen, the Jews gloried in circumcision and the law. If a Jew was to become righteous before God, he would have to be circumcised and obey the law. Paul had already made it clear in Romans 2:12–29 that there must be an inward obedience to the law, and a “circumcision of the heart.” Mere external observances can never save the lost sinner.
But Abraham was declared righteous when he was in the state of uncircumcision. From the Jewish point of view, Abraham was a Gentile. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised (Gen. 17:23–27). This was more than fourteen years after the events in Genesis 15. The conclusion is obvious: Circumcision had nothing to do with his justification.
Then why was circumcision given? It was a sign and a seal (Rom. 4:11). As a sign, it was evidence that he belonged to God and believed His promise. As a seal, it was a reminder to him that God had given the promise and would keep it. Believers today are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God (Eph. 1:13–14). They have also experienced a spiritual circumcision in the heart (Col. 2:10–12), not just a minor physical operation, but the putting off of the old nature through the death and resurrection of Christ. Circumcision did not add to Abraham’s salvation; it merely attested to it.
But Abraham was also justified before the law was given, and this fact Paul discusses in Romans 4:13–17. The key word here is “promise.” Abraham was justified by believing God’s promise, not by obeying God’s law, for God’s law through Moses had not yet been given. The promise to Abraham was given purely through God’s grace. Abraham did not earn it or merit it. So today, God justifies the ungodly because they believe His gracious promise, not because they obey His law. The law was not given to save people, but to show them that they need to be saved (Rom. 4:15).
The fact that Abraham was justified by grace and not law proves that salvation is for all. Abraham is the father of all believers, both Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:7, 29). Instead of the Jew complaining because Abraham was not saved by law, he ought to rejoice that God’s salvation is available to all men, and that Abraham has a spiritual family (all true believers) as well as a physical family (the nation of Israel). Paul saw this as a fulfillment of Genesis 17:5: “A father of many nations have I made thee.”
(3) He was justified by resurrection power, not human effort (vv. 18–25). These verses are an expansion of one phrase in Romans 4:17: “who quickeneth the dead.” Paul saw the rejuvenation of Abraham’s body as a picture of resurrection from the dead, and then he related it to the resurrection of Christ.
One reason why God delayed in sending Abraham and Sarah a son was to permit all their natural strength to decline and then disappear. It was unthinkable that a man ninety-nine years old could beget a child in the womb of his wife who was eighty-nine years old! From a reproductive point of view, both of them were dead.
But Abraham did not walk by sight; he walked by faith. What God promises, He performs. All we need do is believe. Abraham’s initial faith in God as recorded in Genesis 15 did not diminish in the years that followed. In Genesis 17—18, Abraham was “strong in faith.” It was this faith that gave him strength to beget a son in his old age.
The application to salvation is clear: God must wait until the sinner is “dead” and unable to help himself before He can release His saving power. As long as the lost sinner thinks he is strong enough to do anything to please God, he cannot be saved by grace. It was when Abraham admitted that he was “dead” that God’s power went to work in his body. It is when the lost sinner confesses that he is spiritually dead and unable to help himself that God can save him.
The gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16) because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Romans 4:24 and Romans 10:9–10 parallel each other. Jesus Christ was “delivered up to die on account of our offenses, and was raised up because of our justification” (Rom. 4:25, literal translation). This means that the resurrection of Christ is the proof that God accepted His Son’s sacrifice, and that now sinners can be justified without God violating His own law or contradicting His own nature.
The key, of course, is “if we believe” (Rom. 4:24). There are over sixty references to faith or unbelief in Romans. God’s saving power is experienced by those who believe in Christ (Rom. 1:16). His righteousness is given to those who believe (Rom. 3:22). We are justified by faith (Rom. 5:1). The object of our faith is Jesus Christ who died for us and rose again.
All of these facts make Abraham’s faith that much more wonderful. He did not have a Bible to read; he had only the simple promise of God. He was almost alone as a believer, surrounded by heathen unbelievers. He could not look back at a long record of faith; in fact, he was helping to write that record. Yet Abraham believed God. People today have a complete Bible to read and study. They have a church fellowship and can look back at centuries of faith as recorded in church history and the Bible. Yet many refuse to believe!
Dr. Harry Ironside, for eighteen years pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, told of visiting a Sunday school class while on vacation. The teacher asked, “How were people saved in Old Testament times?”
After a pause, one man replied, “By keeping the law.”
“That’s right,” said the teacher.
But Dr. Ironside interrupted: “My Bible says that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
The teacher was a bit embarrassed, so he said, “Well, does somebody else have an idea?”
Another student replied, “They were saved by bringing sacrifices to God.”
“Yes, that’s right!” the teacher said, and tried to go on with the lesson.
But Dr. Ironside interrupted, “My Bible says that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin.”
By this time the unprepared teacher was sure the visitor knew more about the Bible than he did, so he said, “Well, you tell us how people were saved in the Old Testament!”
And Dr. Ironside explained that they were saved by faith—the same way people are saved today! Twenty-one times in Hebrews 11 you find the same words, “by faith.”
If you are a Jew, you are a child of Abraham physically, but are you a child of Abraham spiritually? Abraham is the father of all who believe on Jesus Christ and are justified by faith. If you are a Gentile, you can never be a natural descendant of Abraham, but you can be one of his spiritual descendants. Abraham “believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION
OR GROUP DISCUSSION
1. What are simple definitions for justification and sanctification? How would you differentiate between those two words?
2. What are the seven characteristics of justification? Explain each in your own words.
3. How does Abraham’s faith illustrate justification?
4. How were the Old Testament believers justified? How are believers justified today?
5. What was the purpose of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament? Why do we no longer need them?
6. What are the key Scriptures that teach justification by faith?
7. What is the link between believing and behaving? How does this affect how you act on a daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute basis?
8. What does it mean that “salvation is free but it is not cheap”? What has it “cost” you?
9. How did God stay true to His own holy nature and law and yet save sinners? How does this make you feel?
10. Why are the words propitiation, redemption, and blood important to understand?