The Saving Faith of Ungodly Abraham

Paul made 3 huge points about the Gospel at the end of Chapter 3. First, a single, all-sufficient sacrifice, the sacrifice of Christ, put away the sin of every believer for all time, both before and after the Cross (3:25-26). Paul was asserting that God saves every believer in the exact same way, through their faith in Christ’s sacrifice, with no distinction between one person’s salvation and another, throughout all history (vv. 22-23).

Paul’s second point was that this salvation excludes all human boasting, since salvation from beginning to end, including the possession and exercise of an individual’s faith (Romans 12:3; Philippians 1:29), is a gift of God (3:27-28).

Finally, Paul asserts that no ethnic distinctions, including Jewish circumcision, have any value toward one’s salvation (3:29-30). The Gospel excludes all human attributes, except those given by God, as contributing factors in salvation.

Paul continues his discussion about the ramifications of this salvation in Chapter 5: “therefore, having been justified by faith . . .” (5:1).

Why then, Romans chapter 4? Romans chapter 4 is apologetic. ‘Apologetic,’ in the technical sense, does not mean that Paul is apologizing or making excuses. Rather, ‘apologetic’ formally means that he is defending what he has said, namely, that God saves all sinners by grace, separate from any human merit (since men have no spiritual merit), which destroys any ground for human or ethnic boasting in regard to God’s salvation.

But, why the apologetic? Who would dispute Paul’s assertions?

One group: unbelieving Jews.

These Jews would use their misunderstanding of Abraham to contradict Paul. They believed that Abraham earned acceptance with God. The Book of Jubilees (100 BC) states: “Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the LORD and well pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life.” The Mishneh, a compilation of rabbinical teachings, states: “Abraham our father performed the whole law before it was given.” Unbelieving Jews idolized Abraham. They believed they could merit a relationship with God like him (Romans 9:32).

In Romans chapter 4, Paul destroys this false theology by proving from Scripture that both Abraham and King David were ungodly sinners (4:5, 7) whose fellowship with God was based on their faith in God’s righteousness, as opposed to any righteousness they had of their own. Paul proves once again that one’s standing with God is through one’s faith, not one’s merit. Salvation is received, not achieved.