Romans 4:1–12 (ESV)✞: Abraham Justified by Faith
Passage
It’s hard to write a post like this without including the “breadcrumbs” pointing back to the last few posts1, but I will.
In Romans 1:18–3:20 Paul outlined how sinful humanity is. Not individual humans, humanity – every single person who’s ever lived in the history of the world has been unrighteous, and therefore unable to have a right relationship with God. Every single one. All of us. Well… except for one person, which brings us to the last passage, 3:21–31, in which Paul taught that Jesus’ righteousness and punishment on our behalf makes us righteous in the eyes of God. We can now have a right relationship with Him through faith in Christ’s work; not because we earned it—again, we didn’t—but because He did, and bestowed that on us.
But part of the reason Paul is writing this letter to the Romans is that he’s worried about the divisions between the Jewish and non-Jewish Christians2, and in this passage he’s going to focus on his Jewish readers. Paul has already mentioned, in previous passages, that Jewish Christians have an “advantage” in that they’ve got the Law and the prophets – they have the Scriptures, and have had thousands of years to get to know this God. For them, Christ’s work is an addition to what they already know, as opposed to a whole new thing. That advantage, however, also comes with a built-in disadvantage: if there’s anything in the Scriptures that the Jews have misinterpreted, they’ve also got centuries of those misunderstandings in their heads.
In this passage Paul addresses one such misunderstanding, which they have about Abraham. Abraham is the father of the Jewish faith; he’s such an important historical figure that he’s also considered the father of the Christian faith and (to my knowledge) the father of Islam as well – or at least an important figure in Islam. (I’m speaking out of ignorance on this point.) But the Jews of Paul’s day—and, frankly, I’m sure many Christians in my day—misunderstood what the Bible was telling us about Abraham. In their minds he was an important figure because of his righteousness. He obeyed God, and therefore God blessed him, and therefore he became the father of Judaism. Paul says not so fast: Abraham was as unrighteous as the rest of us.
1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
As usual Paul gets right to the point: if Abraham was justified by works—that is, if he was justified by his own actions—then he’d have something to boast about. In the last passage Paul spent a lot of time talking about the fact that none of us have earned the right to boast because of our unrighteousness; here, I think he’s anticipating what some of his Jewish readers might have been thinking: “But what about David? And Moses? And Abraham??? Wouldn’t they have had something to boast about?” So Paul goes right to the source, the father of Judaism, and is now going to answer that no, not even he could boast.
Yes, if he had been justified by works he could have boasted. (But not before God, Paul adds; even if Abraham’s works had been the basis for his relationship with God, and even if he could have boasted before men, he’d still be less than God!) But he wasn’t justified by works:
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Paul is quoting Genesis:
And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
That’s in the context of God making a covenant with Abraham (who was called Abram at the time), and Abraham simply taking God at His word – believing Him. Which, Paul is arguing, is the basis of Abraham’s justification; not the works he did (which, if we’re honest, were mixed), but his faith – his belief. Did Abraham do some good things, and obey God? Yes! Not always, but sometimes he did. But that wasn’t the basis of his justification before God; at the end of the day, Romans 1:18–3:20 describes Abraham as much as it describes the rest of us, but Romans 3:21–31 also describes Abraham: he was saved by faith.
In fact, in case we’re still not getting it, Paul hones in on the wording of Genesis 15:6:
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
The verses says that God “counted” Abraham’s belief/faith as righteousness. The point Paul is making is that Abraham’s justification before God wasn’t something he was “due;” it wasn’t like “wages,” that God now owed him. It was counted to him – it was a gift.
From God’s perspective it wasn’t a free gift, it cost the death of Jesus, though from Abraham’s perspective (and from mine), it is free.
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
I, and all other Christians, are saved through faith, just as Abraham was, and now God doesn’t count our sins against us. Paul even quotes Psalm 32✞ to revel in this:
6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
It’s interesting, by the way, to go back and read Psalm 32✞, as a Christian, and see how relevant it feels. David didn’t know anything about Jesus, or how this would all work, but he did have an understanding that God would forgive his transgressions and cover his sin.
But when I mentioned earlier that Paul’s Jewish readers had some misconceptions to get past he wasn’t just referring to the fact that they would have considered Abraham justified by his works; Abraham was also the one through whom God introduced circumcision, the “mark” of being a Jew. And we should remember that circumcision wasn’t just something that was done to the body, it was considered the sign of being Jewish; if you were male, it was one-to-one: if you were Jewish (and over 13) you were circumcised, and if you weren’t Jewish you [probably] weren’t. It’s like Christians who pray; there’s no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t pray, and there was no such thing, for Paul and his readers, as a Jew who wasn’t circumcised.
Why am I going into all of this? To remind myself that some of Paul’s Jewish readers believed you had to be circumcised—that you had to be Jewish—to really be saved. When they would have said circumcised they meant the whole thing: not just the removal of the foreskin but obedience to God’s Law, the religious rites, all of it. Maybe there were certain Jewish practices they wouldn’t have held Gentile Christians too—like maybe the dietary laws, or other things that Christianity was now explicitly saying were no longer applicable—but for the most part, since they considered Christianity to be an extension of God’s existing relationship with His people—which it is—they also believed that becoming a Christian meant also becoming part of the “Old Covenant” between God and His people.
Paul gets quite literal with this idea, though, focusing specifically on the circumcision part. Remember the earlier quote from Genesis 15:6, when God counted Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness? It wasn’t until two chapters later in Genesis 17✞ that God introduced circumcision.
So, Paul asks, how did Abraham’s faith relate to his circumcision?
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 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, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
I wonder if this was scandalous to Paul’s Jewish readers. On one level he’s just doing a simple timeline: Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness before he was circumcised, then he was circumcised later, so therefore his righteousness had nothing to do with that circumcision. But then he takes it further (to the part that might have been scandalous?) to say that, therefore, Abraham was “the father of all who believe without being circumcised.” Not only is Paul saying that Abraham’s circumcision played no role in his righteousness, he’s going a step further and saying that, on this point at least, Abraham is more of an example to the Gentiles than he is to the Jews!
I don’t believe Paul was trying to be scandalous for the sake of being scandalous, however. His point is Abraham is the father of those who come to God in faith, whether they be circumcised or not. Anyone who comes to God in faith, regardless of whether they’re circumcised, can have their faith counted to them as righteousness, just as Abraham did.
Thoughts: Abraham Justified by Faith, not by Works
I can’t talk about this passage without also talking about James 2, because many people have pointed out a seeming contradiction to what Paul says about Abraham being “justified” by faith and what James says about Abraham being “justified” by works. It’s not a contradiction, but many view it that way and I can see why.
Let’s look at what James says:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
As I say, this isn’t a contradiction, but because James and Paul are both using the word “justified” (but using it for different purposes), it can definitely seem like one:
- Paul: Abraham was justified by faith, not by works
- James: Abraham was justified by faith accompanied by works, not by faith alone
I am 100% convinced that we could put Paul and James in the same room together and they would hug and commend each other on their amazing writings. (And both would be shocked at such a notion, giving all of the credit to God…) They’re not in the throne room of God right now arguing about faith alone vs. works and how we’re justified, because they were both right, just emphasizing different things.
Paul’s point in Romans is that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation; we can’t make ourselves righteous. James would have agreed with Paul on this point. Paul is saying we can’t make ourselves righteous, no matter what works we perform; James would still be nodding his head at this. (Notice above that James quotes the same verse from Genesis 15:6 that Paul does! “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”) Paul’s point is that you can’t justify yourself before God; it can only come from faith. It has to come from faith, not works.
Again, James would be nodding his head. How do you get that righteousness? It has to come from God; if you’re truly a Christian, you obtained your righteousness through faith, not works.
However, James continues, if you’re truly a Christian, you won’t have faith alone. And that “truly a Christian” part is key: The entire point of James’ passage is that a Christian, a real Christian, will do good works. We will be like God, and emulate Him, and try to be His hands in this world. It’s not a question of “if;” it’s not a matter that all Christians are saved by faith and the really good ones also serve Him with their actions, it’s the case that all Christians are saved by faith alone and that all Christians will then act according to that and do good works.
Martin Luther said that, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone,” but I feel James would have been more blunt: if you claim you’re saved but you’re not doing good works it’s not real faith and you’re not a real Christian.
And Paul wouldn’t disagree with that either! It’s not what he was writing about here in Romans 4—he was focusing more on how we become justified, as opposed to how that justification changes us—but if he had gone further to talk about this topic, he would have said the same thing. In fact Paul does go on to talk about how Christians should live, there’s a lot of that kind of teaching in Romans, it’s just that, in this specific passage, that’s not the point he’s making; he’s trying to get us to understand that we can’t claim credit for our own righteousness – something that James would also agree with.
So, again, a surface reading makes it look like Paul and James are in disagreement:
- Paul: Abraham was justified by faith, not by works
- James: Abraham was justified by works, not by faith alone
But putting the two passages together I think they’d both agree that:
Abraham was justified by his faith, and proved that his faith and justification were real by doing works.
Paul is focused on the first part of that, James is focused on the second part. Paul is worried about Jewish Christians thinking that Abraham was justified by the works he performed after Genesis 15:6, and wants them to see that no, Abraham was justified by his faith. James, however, wants to look at the things Abraham did after Genesis 15:6, such as being willing to sacrifice his son, as proof that that faith in 15:6 was genuine; if his life had not been changed it would have shown that he wasn’t actually justified before God.
In a sense, both are focused on the order: the faith comes first, then comes the works. Always both, and always in that order. Neither Paul nor James are claiming that anyone will ever stand before God and claim to be “justified” by their works—that’s not how James is using the word “justified” here—but both would agree that, after one comes to God in faith, genuine faith, it will be followed by works, which would be proof of that justification.
Let’s look at a couple of those verses from James again:
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
James 2:21–22 (ESV)✞, emphasis added
In James’ mind, the idea of justification leading to works is so firm that he considers that verse about Abraham’s belief being counted to him as righteousness as a prophecy that he’s going to do things for God.
Again, it comes down to how James is using the word justified – or rather, his focus on true justification as opposed to false justification. Do you have the kind of “justification” that leads to faith alone, without works? Then it’s not a real justification at all. When he says that “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone,” it’s the “faith alone” part he’s trying to argue against: if you claim you’re justified but don’t act it out you’re not actually justified at all.
Paul says you are justified by your faith, not your works. James amends that to say that you are justified by your faith, not your works, and then that faith and justification will lead to works. Paul will spend a lot of time in Romans making that point, and illustrating how Christians are to live out the faith, because he and James agree on it.
Footnotes
- “Breadcrumbs” refers to the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, in which they get lost in the forest but leave a trail of breadcrumbs on the ground to follow and find their way back. It’s become slang—at least in the tech world, where I work—for any kind of “this is where you’ve been” notation. (Ironically, I think the breadcrumbs in the forest were eaten in the Hansel and Gretel story, so it didn’t even work for them…) ↩
- I feel I have to keep reiterating that, in Paul’s day, the majority of Christians were from a Jewish background, and still considered themselves to be Jews. This sounds odd to us in the 21st Century, at which point Judaism and Christianity have grown far apart (and a lot of Christians have become explicitly racist against Jews), but in the New Testament times Christianity (which wasn’t even yet being called Christianity, except as an insult) was much more seen as a continuation of God’s relationship with His people as opposed to a brand new thing, even though a lot of formerly non-Jewish people were now being “let in.” So a Jewish person who came to faith in Jesus (including Paul himself) would still consider themselves to be Jewish. ↩
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