Pure Grace – No Trace Elements

Romans chapter 4 is a defense of chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, Paul proved from Scripture that salvation was of faith in God’s grace alone (3:28) because man was incapable of contributing even one particle to his own salvation (3:10). Chapter 4 is a proof of this Gospel.

Paul begins chapter 4 with the examples of Abraham and David, both of whom the Jewish people idolized, but neither of whom trusted in their greatness or popularity to make them right with God. Abraham trusted in God’s grace for his righteousness (4:3; Genesis 15:6) and David trusted in God’s grace for his forgiveness (4:7-8; Psalm 32:1-2). Together, Abraham and David depict the two great components of the Gospel: that by grace God forgives the sinner of his sin and by grace God credits the sinner with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

The Jews had a hard time with this. The Jews would not in any way deny that a person would have to trust God for their salvation. They would only deny that a person could be right with God by faith alone. Certainly, they would say, faith in God plays a role in salvation. But just as certain, is that a person must do something, however small, like circumcision or works of the law, to earn God’s favor. God cannot just justify someone who has nothing, zero, zip, to his spiritual credit.

Yet that is what the Gospel affirms, that no man has any spiritual credit at the time of salvation, and in fact needs none, since all things necessary for his relationship with God Christ has fully supplied. Christ supplies His shed blood to grant the zero-spiritual-credit sinner forgiveness of sins, and also supplies His righteous life to grant the zero-spirit-credit but believing sinner a perfect, infinite righteousness.

What Paul labors to protect in Romans chapters 3 & 4, in the entire Book of Romans and in all his letters is the purity of this Gospel: that the Gospel is 100% all of Scripture, faith, grace, Christ, Promise and the glory of God unmixed with any elements not of God or any human elements. Especially in Romans chapter 4, Paul pits the Gospel economy of faith, grace, promise & God’s glory against a false Gospel that contains even trace elements of Law, works, ceremony (circumcision) and human credit. Paul punctuates this biblical system that gives 100% of salvation glory to God as opposed to even 1 particle of glory to man in statements like:

“We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (3:28);

and,

“If those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified” (4:14).