Romans 4 | Counted as Righteousness
Romans 4 describes the connection between the faith of Abraham and the faith of all of God’s people. Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteousness, so it is with us. Adam Cawrse walks us through this critical doctrine.
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Name is Adam course. I think I've introduced myself to, maybe not everyone. Idon't think I met your mom. Yourcinnamon rolls were excellent by the way. And Iknow Tim had nothing to do with it. My name is Adam course. I'm one oftheelders and as mentioned in prayer, the Sams are off for a couple weeks, soplease continue to keep them in your prayers.
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We do have.
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A sermon
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Anyone remember the theme of Romans before I changed the slide? The righteousness of the gospel or something like that, the righteousness to the gospel or something like that. I think that's close. I'm not ashamed as a gospel, the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel again. Greg is coming up with wins left and right today.
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Yep. Fifty percent. All right, so we have, uh, the theme verse for. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written.
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The righteous shall live by faith. Paul opens his epistle to the Romans, taking away any false confidence man may have in himself before God. As Pastor James preached in weeks prior, the first few chapters of Romans are bad news. The Gentile is guilty. The Jew is guilty. The moral man is guilty, and in case there's any question Romans 3, 23, says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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All means all. I know we didn't have everyone with us last week as we studied Romans 3, and I encourage you. Like, I said, you can always go to the church website and listen to previous sermons. See the sermon notes as well, but I just want to touch on the doctrine of justification briefly.
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Um. To. To be justified means to be brought into a right relationship before God. You could think of a courtroom and a guilty man standing before the judge. In this case, the man is guilty of sin, which is, we know, from our catechism questions, rejecting, or ignoring God in the world, he created not being or doing what he requires in the law.
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He deserves death as his punishment, Romans 6, 23, says. The wages of sin is death. Fortunately, the rest of the verse says. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our lord. So, in this courtroom, seeing the judge says, if you have faith in my son, Jesus Christ, then your debt has been paid.
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You sinned, but I sent my son to the Cross to pay the penalty for your sin. Jesus's blood shed on the cross paid for the man's sin and satisfied the wrath of God. The man stands Justified or right before God because of Jesus's death and Resurrection. So, we're going to jump into.
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Romans chapter 4. As Paul introduces Abraham and David as a test case for justification. Well, this is, uh, from the ESV on the slides. What then, 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.
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For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, to the one who works. His wages are not counted as a gift, but as his do into the one who does not work. But believes in him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted as righteousness.
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So, why is Paul bringing up Abraham in this test case for justification? Well, the Jews held the highest view of Abraham as a righteous man and their father in the faith. He is their greatest patriarch most first century. Jews viewed Abraham. Uh, in his righteousness as being secured by his obedience to God.
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If anyone could be thought to have righteousness through works, it would have been Abraham. If the in the first verses, Paul throws out a hypothetical statement. Have you ever played the game? What if, what if this then that that's essentially what he's doing here. What if Abraham was justified by works, which many at that time believed?
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Well, if he was justified by works or declared righteous because of his efforts, he should be really proud, you know, he'd have something to boast about. Paul immediately shuts this notion down as he writes, but not before God. Man's Works May impress men, but man's Works don't even move the needle for God.
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Even when talking about the wonderful patriarch Abraham. We serve a God who is Thrice holy and has a standard of absolute perfection, which no mere man could ever meet. In our catechism question today, we actually said that. I think I saw Noah smile because we say, since the fall, no human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly.
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And a few years ago, we're like, we need to add the word mirror because Jesus was both man and God. No, mere human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly. As a side note. That was a side note also, but anyway, as a side note sound, biblical teaching uses scripture to support scripture, right?
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Paul does this here. He doesn't lean on his own thoughts or feelings. He uses the word of God to support the doctrine of justification in the process of shooting down this hypothetical about Abraham, Paul writes. What does the scripture say? Our culture and many churches, unfortunately, will say. What do you think, or you know, what, what's in your heart?
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Follow your heart, Paul says. What does the scripture say? Let's find the true answers here. We need to try to have this mindset in all things. Well, in looking at scripture, Paul quotes Genesis 15, 6. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. There's no mention of Abraham's Works connected to his righteousness.
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Rather, it says it was counted to him in connection with his faith. This word counted is from the Greek word logisimai. Uh, we see the word used nine times in chapter four. It's a Greek word that's in the passive voice, meaning it does not imply action by Abraham. It's actually associated with financial or legal wordings where something that belongs to someone is credited or imputed or accounted to someone else's account.
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We recognize this in theology as the doctrine of imputation. You'll see it worded as counted. Some of your translations may say, imputed, but we see it a few times in scripture, the first of, which is the imputation of Adam's sin to humanity. Adam is the appointed Federal head of humanity, introduced sin to all Humanity, and it is imputed or credited to our account at Birth.
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It was one of our catechism questions today. Obviously, we also contribute to our own. With our own sins, but we have that originally implied imputation of Adam's sin to us. Second, there's what Paul describes here, which is imputation of Christ's righteousness to Believers in this case to Abraham by Grace through faith.
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This is justification, and it goes hand in hand with a third instance of imputation, which is that of a believer's sin to Christ. Second Corinthians 5, 21, says. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. This is speaking of Christ, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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All right, we're talking about imputation. Now, I'm going to throw out another one. This is viewed as a double imputation or the great exchange! Believers are credited or accounted or imputed with Christ's righteousness while he is credited with our sin. You know, if this doesn't humble us as a church, then nothing will.
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The Spotless lamb. The perfect Son of God. Who knew no sin was treated as guilty, so the guilty Sinners could be treated as righteous? You know, people try so hard to prove themselves. They try to look right just before others. Yet, the gospel declares that our only hope is a righteousness outside of ourselves.
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Coming back to verses four and five, Paul shifts from Abraham to everyone as he furthers the point that works. Do not play a part in justification before God. Now, Sam Sam's one of my sons and Noah, you both work here. They both worked last night. What's the first thing you guys do when you come to work?
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Clock in Sam, especially Noah's like? Noah Mike clock in, I think last time. He's, like, yeah, Dad, I didn't do it. And then, I also didn't clock out, right? So? Uh, but yeah, you clock in, and then at the end of the night. Well, again. Sam's late on this one, but you clock out, right?
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Paper Moon as a business, then looks at the amount of hours these guys work and pays them according to their effort and their time in verse 4. Paul says, this is expected. You work. You get paid a wage. You don't receive your check and say, wow, I can't believe they gave this to me.
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Oh, what a shock. It's expected, right? Sam and Noah may be thankful for getting paid, as we all are for, you know, God blessing us those who are employed, but it's never expected. It's earned it's a paid wage for our effort. Alternatively, Paul then looks at one who does not work, yet has righteousness counted to his Ledger, which is a way better paycheck than anything paper moon pays in verse 5, Paul says.
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One who is ungodly yet believes in him, his faith will be counted as righteousness. Works are excluded. There's nothing expected because he did not work, and there's nothing to brag about because the one who is Justified actually acknowledges his ungodliness in the situation. God honored Abraham's Faith, his faithfulness.
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But first, Paul brings up another hero of the Faith. David, so let's look at David's view on imputation. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness, apart from Works, blessed are those whose Lawless Deeds are forgiven. And whose sins are covered.
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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. So, Paul's referencing Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2. This is a Psalm which many believe is David's penitent follow-up to his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah, you'll find this in second, Samuel chapter 11.
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This is an extreme low point if you know the story. For David Israel's greatest human King, you think about it. David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and he initiated it. Then David orchestrated the murder of her husband, Uriah. This is heavy stuff, right? Yet, Psalm 32, says, blessed is the man who sinned.
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The Lord will not count against him. You know, some of the church may be carrying singill and thinking, you know, I'm not. I'm not good enough for that justification. There's nothing. I'm too far gone, but the great news is. Justification is not based on personal Perfection, but on Christ Perfection credited to you by faith.
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David understood this, he repented before God. And he leaned into this true knowledge of Christ, paying his sin debt in thankfulness. Now, before we move on, just a quick note on on Works, should a Believer have good works? Yes, of course. Our Believers works a means for their justification.
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As Paul would say by no means right? I know, several in our church grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, which believes that Faith, cooperating with good works, increase in that Justice, which they have received through the grace of Christ and are still further Justified. These are the words of the Roman Catholic Church, not mine from the Council of Trent in 1547.
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Roman Catholicism believes that justification is an ongoing Dynamic process that the believer is contributing to. Paul is clear that it is not. Many will point to the Book of James and say that you must have faith and works for justification. This is false. James is pointing out that one with a saving Faith should have works, but the works are not.
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What justifies him the works are an indication of a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit, who naturally has those good works manifested. Paul says Works. Do not save Faith. Does? James says saving Faith produces Works. These are not contradictory statements. They go perfectly together. All right, let's move on into verses 9 through 12.
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Is this blessing, then only for the circumcised? Yeah, we're getting into circumcision now. Or also for the uncircumcised for. We say that Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How, then, was accounted to him, was it before or after he had been circumcised. It was not after, but before he was circumcised, he received the sign of the circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
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The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. And to make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised, but also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our Father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
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I challenge you to say that 10 times fast, um, there's a lot here. And you know, it's it's solid truth. Let's work our way through it. Circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign and seal of the abrahamic Covenant, promising to make him father of many nations and pointed to his future seed Jesus Christ.
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Like a King, pressing his Signet into the wax. To seal something you picture, like the king's seal on a wax on a closed parchment roll. This certifies it as sealed and authentic and coming from him belonging to him. God gave circumcision as his Covenant Mark upon his people, a visible seal confirming and reminding of his promises to those who trust in him.
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In these verses, Paul makes a connection between Abraham's righteousness counted to him by faith in Genesis 15 and Abraham being circumcised in Genesis 17, 15, before 17. Keep that in mind. Well, why does Paul go here? There's there's a few reasons first. Paul is bringing up circumcision to show that it is not the source of imputed righteousness.
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In the early church, there was a serious error lingering that justification was linked to the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision. Some of those days said it was a requirement for a gentile believer to be circumcised to be saved. This was a false gospel, where justification is by faith, plus something we talked about faith, plus works in Roman Catholicism.
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Here, we're looking at Faith, plus circumcision. Paul is going to set the record straight straight, uh, he points out. The timing of Abraham's faith and imputed righteousness in Genesis 15, in a circumcision which came later in Genesis 17. Abraham was counted as righteous before circumcision. Circumcision was not a requirement for his justification.
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This is easy logic, right? But rather, it pointed to Abraham's future seed Jesus Christ. Galatians 3, 16 says now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say into seeds as referring to many. But to one and to your seed that is Christ. This is Galatians 3, 16.
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This is what Abraham had faith in. His justification is by God's grace through Abraham's faith in Christ, just the same as all those you and me who believed after Christ's death and Resurrection. His circumcision was a sign and seal of that which was to come. So, what changed what's different now?
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While Christ has come? The Covenant has been fulfilled. Therefore, the sacrament of circumcision is no longer required. Jesus called Believers to a new Sacrament baptism, which is a sign and seal of one's righteousness imputed to him by grace through faith, sound familiar. Right? Side note just as circumcision didn't play.
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Uh, any role in justification for Abraham. Neither does baptism apply to people today. Baptism is a sign and seal of God's promises in Christ, but it's not the means of our justification. Secondly, looking at this whole picture here. Paul uses the timing of justification before circumcision to point out that Abraham is the patriarch.
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He's the he's the male head, not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles also. Paul says the righteousness was counted to Abraham while he was circum uncircumcised for a purpose. The purpose was that Abraham is, therefore, the father of believing Gentiles who are Justified apart from circumcision. And believing Jews who are also Justified apart from circumcision while still having the sign and seal of it.
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Both Jew and Gentile are Justified by faith alone in Christ alone. Moving into 13? For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith, for if it is the adherence of the law who are to be heirs, faith is null, and the promise is void, but the law brings wrath for where there is no law.
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There is no transgression. Paul had previously addressed the law and how it is impossible to be justified by obedience to it. In these verses, he circles back to the law and its non-connection as the means for justification. In verse 13, Paul points out the promise to Abraham did not come through obedience to the law, but through righteousness that comes by faith.
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Paul essentially says if the promise depended on man's obedience to the law, then Faith means nothing and the promise cannot apply. Righteousness, then, would be obtained by man's efforts in the law. The. The law exposes the sinfulness of men. Now, this hypothetical is an impossibility because no man, except Jesus, as we've already said, can keep the law of God perfectly.
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So, should we as Believers be obedient to the moral law of God? I'm giving you some real. Knock out a park hypothetic easy, easy questions here. Yes, of course, you know, we review his Commandments regularly in our catechism questions. In catechism. Question 13, obviously, since the fall, no mere human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly, though.
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The law reveals our need for Christ.
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That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise May rest on Grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence.
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The things that do not exist. You know, this is beautiful truth. Here, God's promise depends on faith because we couldn't do it right, which rests on Grace from God. Thank God for his grace. We can't keep the law, but it's by his grace that we have faith. Ephesians 2, 8-9 says.
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For by Grace, you have been saved through faith in that it's not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. God's promise is fulfilled by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and all of Abraham's offspring, both to believe in Jews and hearing to the law and to Gentiles who shared Abraham's faith experience this.
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Abraham is, therefore, the father of all believers. Which I was. Hopeful, you know, the Alec would maybe lead us and of browsing rendition of Father Abraham this morning, but we, we did not. Maybe next time. You know, we can all sing. Father Abraham had many sons. God made Abraham father of many, many nations.
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We see that truth represented in the worldwide church today, as many have been justified by Grace through faith in Christ. Paul then emphasizes the power of God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist. Abraham's Faith was rooted not in human ability, but in God's power to accomplish what he promised.
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Now, we'll Clues going through the last verses here, 18 to 25. In hope you believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations. As he had been told, so shall your Offspring be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.
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No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith, and he gave glory to God fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness, but the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.
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It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus, our lord, who is delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Amen. So, Paul shifts from the fact of Abraham's justification to the nature of Abraham's faith in hope he believed against hope.
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You're humanly speaking. Abraham hoped in the promise of God, when every bit of human logic told him it was hopeless. If you think about it, he was nearly a hundred Paul said. I mean, it's kind of mean he was as good as dead, right? Sarah was Barren. The promise seemed impossible.
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Yet, Abraham didn't weaken in faith when he considered these things. Abraham had no mistrust concerning the promise of God. In actuality, he says, he grew stronger in his faith and was fully convinced that God would keep the promise. And he gave God the glory. This is why? His faith was counted to him as righteousness.
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But not just him. Paul ends chapter 4 with some awesome news for all believers. This imputation or counting of righteousness isn't just for Abraham, but for our sake, also, to whom it will be counted as those who believe upon him who raise Jesus, our lord, from the dead. He was delivered over on account of our transgressions and was raised on account of our justification.
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So, how do we receive this counting of Christ's righteousness this imputation? Mark 1, 15, says the time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel. Romans 10, 9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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The same righteousness counted. Abraham will be counted to those who believe in Christ. It's not by anything you've done. But by God's grace alone that you may be saved. I was saved around 25 years ago. I was in college and I ended up somehow at a. Uh, a Christian retreat in Indianapolis for graduating seniors.
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I was a freshman. Uh, yeah, I don't know how that works out only by God, right? And I was with a friend, and he shared the gospel with me, and he challenged me, you know? Are you gonna go to heaven someday if you passed? How sure are you, oh, 50, 60, 70.
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Well, where are you coming up with that number, Adam? I don't know. I think I'm a good guy. Overall, I was valuing my works and trying to create my own justification in my mind to determine. How God would view me? Well, he shared with me that it had nothing to do with my works and that any effort I made meant nothing in repairing that Chasm, and suddenly it was as if a light switch was turned on, that it was by the grace of God through faith in his son, Jesus Christ, that I could be saved and suddenly I understood and believed, uh, I still think God for saving me and for using my friend Brian to deliver the gospel to me Faithfully that day.
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If there's anyone here who's never placed their faith in Christ and wants to talk more about it, he'll come see me after the service, or talk to a family member who you know is in in Christ. For those in the church who have already placed their faith in Christ, what do we do with this?
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I say, be like, Abraham. Think about the promises of God, grow in your faith, and give him all the glory. Amen. Let's pray.
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Father, you are a good good God, Lord. We give you thanks and praise. Weacknowledge that it is, by your grace alone.That we have faith and are justified.Um, Lord, we, we thank you for. Crediting your righteousness to our account,thoughwe are but filthy rags. Lord, we thank you for clothing us in yourrighteousness and for giving us purpose for calling us toyour great commissionto.
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Go and make golf go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them Lord.And we pray that you would strengthenUs by your spirit to to do these things togrow in the wisdom and knowledge of you Lord to treasure the promises thatyou've given and to grow in our faith as we share that with those around us.
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Lord, may you be glorified. It's in Jesus name, we pray.
