Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Part 7: Mutually Exclusive

Romans 4:1-25

Abraham becomes the ultimate example of faith in this chapter. Paul argues that the great patriarch was not justified by any works he had accomplished. Rather, the Scripture records that Abraham was counted as righteous simply because he believed God’s promise.

Further, Paul shows that works and faith are incompatible with each other in the context of justification. Something given to one who works is not a gift but what is due. Conversely, something given to one who does not work for it is not a wage but is an example of grace. Building off of that principle, Paul shows that when God chooses to forgive man’s transgression it becomes a blessing to the man. Going back to Abraham, in his case the blessing came prior to his circumcision. Paul knows that his Jewish readers regard their circumcision, which was intended to be the sign of a pre-existing covenant with God, as the means of the covenantal relationship itself. In this way, Paul’s countrymen were relying on a work of the flesh (their circumcision) as their means of justification.

Paul eliminates this defense by proving conclusively, according to the Genesis record, that Abraham was counted righteous by God prior to his circumcision. Furthermore, this was the whole point of God’s design in justifying Abraham. It was to demonstrate that forgiveness only comes through God’s grace. The Jews had distorted this principle and made it just another example of works-based salvation.

Coming back to the issue of mutual exclusivity, Paul again stresses that faith and works cannot co-exist as the source of justification in the same plan of salvation. If people can work to earn their salvation, then what would be the point of faith?

Finally, Paul reveals another nuance to the issue of Abraham’s justification by faith. That is, he was not only serving as a textbook case of how God justifies the ungodly. His example sets the tone for the literal fulfillment of God’s original promise to him, that he would be the father of many nations. Just as Abraham was justified by faith, so the rest of the world, whether Jew or Gentile, is also justified by faith. Through this process we, even though Gentiles, become spiritual descendants of Abraham, the original Jew.

Faith based salvation is counter intuitive. Human reasoning naturally gravitates toward an effort and reward paradigm. We tend to think that what we earn is commensurate with how much work we have put into the situation. It is not only our minds that think this way. Many elements of creation follow this same pattern. A house’s size is directly proportional to how much time, money, and effort was put into its construction. This is also a biblical principle. God clearly tells us to earn a living for ourselves. He even expects us to work out our sanctification into the image of Christ.

Because of all these factors that point the other direction, the deck is stacked against our coming to accept the purely faith-based plan of salvation that Paul is describing here. This is perhaps the one singular mechanism in all the world that goes against the flow and bucks the trend of rewards that equal effort.

This leads to three conclusions. First, we must understand and believe that our acceptance of this doctrine only came through divinely given faith. Second, we must be careful to keep that truth front and center in our lives because everything both within us and outside of ourselves is going to continually seek to push us the other direction to start relying on our own efforts to be justified once again. But, the reality is that for as long as we draw breath in these sin wracked bodies of flesh, the only source of our justification is the righteousness of Christ. Third, we should be careful to be patient and forgiving of unbelievers who reject this teaching. We need to remember that God is the only one who can grant the faith to believe. Therefore, if someone rejects our message, they are not rejecting us. Rather, the Lord has not yet seen fit to provide them with the means of acceptance. So, if we grumble about being rejected in evangelism, who are we really complaining about, the other person or God?