Romans Chapter 4 Verses 1 to 5: 'Justification by Faith : Is by Faith Alone'
- Justification by Faith is Nothing New
- Justification by Faith is Faith in the Person of Christ
- Justification by Faith : Is by Faith Alone
- Justification by Faith: Is by Faith Alone
In all that has been said so far there is one obvious objection: that salvation seems to come too cheap, too easy, goes contrary to human intuition that so great and valuable a possession as eternal life and forgiveness should come so easily, after all is it not the case that the greater the value of a commodity, the higher the price and the higher the price the longer and harder we have to work to pay for it?
Perhaps too in a sense the whole idea of justification by faith offends our human sense of justice, can it really be the case that a person can be a terrible sinner and yet can have their sins simply forgiven, they can go free from the court of heaven and be declared not guilty by the Judge of the universe Himself? Is such a thing feasible? Is such a suggestion even fair?
The example is often given what about the church going, clean living, hard working woman who does her best all of her life and yet does not trust Christ for salvation can it really be that she is lost and yet the thief or criminal or murderer who confesses, repents and believes goes to heaven?
Surely the clean living, church going, hard working life of the respectable counts for something? Is that not just as good as the faith of the criminal?
Is it not faith plus something else?
In this section we have the Great Objection, and as Paul faces this kind of objection Paul name the hard working, respectable, religiously minded and respectable kind of individual that the Jew would have in mind: Abraham himself, the father of the nation of Israel!
Paul brings to our attention one of the most remarkable and influential characters in history, I say that not only as a Christian but it is evident today even from the political sphere. Abraham gave rise not only to the nation of Israel but the faith and salvation story of Abraham underpins the Christian gospel and from Abraham came not only Isaac the forefather of the nation of Israel but so too Ishmael and from him the Arab nations.
Christianity, Judaism and even Islam all claim links to this remarkable character.
He was for the Jew the very epitome of morality, piety and godliness – surely Abraham proves that you only get to heaven if you earn it?
Jewish tradition built up Abraham even beyond his noble character in scripture.
According to the Rabbis and Jewish tradition Abraham:
Was the 1st of 7 men who by their own merits brought back the Shekinah – the cloud of the presence of God into the tabernacle!
Was the only righteous man of his generation
Began to serve God from age 3 years
Even before the law was written he had managed to fulfil it!
If anyone ever contributed anything to their salvation it was surely Abraham!
It was of course not only in Jewish circles in days gone by that this question was asked, it is still very much with us today.
In the past a great source of confusion came from Roman Catholicism which teaches that faith and works together save
Perhaps the greatest source of confusion today however would come not so much from Roman Catholicism but rather from the Charismatic movement – salvation is faith plus some kind of dubious experience, supposedly spiritual in nature, an experience such as speaking in tongues or being slain in the spirit. The confusion that is being sown is real and serious. It is tragic to hear people tell you they are saved, to ask how they were saved and hear a story about someone putting their hands on them, a warm feeling coming all over them and giving them the Holy Spirit! This is not salvation!
It maybe perspiration but its not salvation!
Is salvation by faith, plus something else?
Is salvation available by alternate means altogether, come to that, so often teachings which begin as faith + something else end up just with the something else and drop the faith altogether.
When faith alone is watered down to faith and works, faith and works very quickly becomes watered down even further to works alone, we'll go along to our church and that will do us! Christ and His Word and His salvation becomes an embarrassment. We are left with a dead and barren and shallow thing, the religious state of Judaism in the days of the Lord Jesus: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” (Mat 15:8)
Not only did Luther and the reformers need to take a stand in their day that salvation was by faith alone so too do we in our day, the confusion still abounds.
So what about Abraham, if ever anyone could have added anything to his salvation it must have been Abraham.
In vs1 we are confronted with the greatness of this great man.
The fact that he was a great man could hardly be disputed, gave rise to the nation of Israel, a nation with whom God had tremendous dealings, brought them out of Egypt by 10 plagues, brought them in as promised into their land, spoke to them by the prophets and fulfilled His promises and prophecies, in particular in bringing forth Christ.
It seems evident that this man had something
God spoke with him, he spoke to God and with Abraham God made His covenant, here was a man who had a relationship with God!
How did that relationship come to be? Why was Abraham great?
Was Abraham a great man and thus he had a relationship with God?
Did a relationship with God make Abraham a great man?
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?” (Rom 4:1)
Abraham was particularly remarkable because of what Abraham found “as pertaining to the flesh”
Some commentators will interpret that verse as “our father pertaining to the flesh” - the trouble is this isn't true, Abraham is not our father according to the flesh, neither was he the physical father of those to whom Paul was writing – these people were mainly gentiles – non Jews (Rom1:13)
One of the truly remarkable features of Abraham that makes him the subject of this chapter was the fact that he unquestionably had a relationship with God and that relationship with God was evident in His life.
One of the objections we sometimes hear to the great doctrine of justification by faith is that it is too easy and that you can say you believe and then live as you please and still go to heaven!
When we speak of true biblical faith, real faith is faith that brings me into a relationship with God.
Real faith, biblical faith is relationship faith: (Heb11:1ff; Rom4:5).
Real saving faith brings a real relationship with the Saviour and a real relationship with the Saviour brings the evidence of that relationship in my life.
So often there can be a profession without any reality.
Sadly we do often here of claims that folks are saved, on the basis of a profession of faith made many years before but with no real evidence in the life ever to back up such a claim.
This was not the case with Abraham.
We cannot judge a mans heart: “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2Ti 2:19)
As men and women met the the Lord Jesus down below, how did they know that He was the Son of God?
Most of them did not sit down with the OT scriptures and work it out from first principles! Some of them knew nothing about the OT scriptures: the Syrophenician woman, the Roman Centurion – gentiles by nationality!
They knew that He was the Son of God because of His:
- Words and His Works
- Miracles and His Ministry: 7 sign miracles of Johns gospel, marked him apart as having authority over the creation – he is the creator.
- His life and His death (the centurion and the thief on the cross)
There was no mistaking that here was a man marked by the very character of God, His relationship with the Father was evident in His life:
- “I and My Father are one” (John10:31)
- “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” (Joh 10:37-38)
- “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” (Joh 5:36)
- The relationship of Christ to The Father was unique as John 10:31.
The principle does however flow down to the believer:
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (Joh 17:20-23).
Is that not something that ought to be evident?
The essence of Christianity is a relationship with God through Christ and such a relationship must be evident in the life of the believer!
Abraham is presented as an undeniable example of a man with a relationship with God because God did such a mighty work in him, in particular, in his “flesh”.
I wonder if people were looking for the big answers to the big questions, if they were looking to get in touch with God would they see it in me?
Would they come to me?
Is the reality of relationship evident in my life?
Faith is fruitful! As it was in the case of Abraham.
“Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Luke 3:8)
The law works wrath (v15) and faith brings fruit (v13)
The reality of that relationship with God was stamped on Abraham's “flesh”, in what way?
- Circumcision (4:9-12) – Gods covenant promise
- Covenant (4:13, 17, 18) – The fulfilment of that covenant promise – He did indeed become the father of a great nation
- Children (4:19) – 100 years of age and Sarah 99! “Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.” (Heb 11:12) – no question about Abraham's fruitfulness.
In a most remarkable way this mans very flesh was marked by the power of God!
He bore the scars, he saw the seed and one day from his line came the Saviour!
A life truly touched by the finger of God!
But was any of his undeniable greatness due to himself?
Was Abraham a great man:
- Because of what he did
- Because of what God did in him?
The contrast is the contrast between:
- Salvation by works: I do it and give it to God
- Salvation by Grace through faith: God does it and gives it to me.
Was Abraham great by virtue of:
- The Power of his own flesh?
- The Privilege of the covenant?
- The Product of his own effort?
The Power of his own flesh?
He was dead (4:19)
The Privilege of the covenant?
He was uncircumcised (4:10)
Abraham was not waving about in the air the terms of a religious privilege or birth or merit that he had earned or even that he had been born into, he didn't even have it at the point God credited him as righteous!
The Product of his own effort?
Consider the works done and the promises fulfilled in Abraham (4:13, 17, 18), many of them were fulfilled in Abraham after His death, in particular the bringing forth of the nation of Israel, not immediately from Abraham but through Isaac and then Jacob and Jacobs 12 sons, eventually maturing into a might nation of over 3 million people coming up out of Egypt!
From that nation the person of Christ!
Did Abraham have anything to contribute here?
This was not an empire that Abraham built! It was after he had died!
Why was Abraham great?
Not by virtue of the work done by him but by virtue of the work done in him!
The greatness that became Abraham's in “the flesh” (4:1) was received from God, it had to be.
Abraham's greatness, and Abraham's salvation was:
- Constructed in Grace (4:10)
- Consisted of Grace (4:17,19)
- Concluded in Grace (4:17,18) even after his death
How then did it commence?
It would seem strange that a mighty work done by God in the life of Abraham Constructed in Grace (4:10) which Consisted of Grace (4:17,19) and which Concluded in Grace (4:17,18) somehow commenced in self effort and works!
For the whole work to have commenced with Abrahams self effort would detract from everything that God was doing in his life!
It would give Abraham room to boast: “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” (Rom 4:2).
Yet it is an established principle of Gods word that in the work of salvation only God can boast, it is all of Him and for His glory (Isa 40:5ff).
In all that we can observe in the life of Abraham God has moved out with and beyond the principle of giving a man simply what he deserves!
God has consistently moved according to the principle of grace!
For God to commence such a work and out pouring of Divine grace by virtue of the works of Abraham, or on the basis that Abraham deserved it would surely undermine the grace and Glory of the work which God was doing.
It would be like starting a wedding with a funeral dirge
Commencing a funeral with a wedding march
Starting a meeting of weight watchers with a fish supper and bottle of irn bru.
All of Abraham's greatness was a greatness granted by grace!
Abraham's greatness, and Abraham's salvation was:
- Commenced in Grace (4:3)
- Constructed in Grace (4:10)
- Consisted of Grace (4:17,19)
- Concluded in Grace (4:17,18) even after his death
It was all of grace!
It is not really the subject of Romans chp 4 but if salvation commences with Grace it continues with grace and if I get into a rut spiritually I will only get out of that rut by seeking His grace and His help and not by self effort!
Justification is by Faith alone, man can add nothing!
Not even Abraham added anything to his salvation!
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