Faith, Pure and Simple

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not ‘natural.’ It goes against man’s most basic, fleshly inclinations. It goes against man’s natural views on religion. Man, by nature, thinks in terms of ‘works.’ Man thinks that he must work for his or her salvation and that he must and is able to earn God’s favor.

In stark contrast to this fleshly, sinful way of thinking, Paul presents the Gospel of God’s grace. Paul presents man as hopelessly corrupt (1:18 -32) with no prospect of earning God’s favor. Instead, he must have faith in God’s mercy and unmerited favor (grace). God even provides this faith through which sinful man comes to Him (Romans 12:3). The result is that any man who comes to God by the faith, mercy and grace that God provides is saved wholly by God’s divine initiative and accomplishment separate from anything man could have done or even dreamed of doing for himself. God preserves His own righteousness uncompromised in proclaiming and treating ungodly sinners as righteous since a saved person puts his faith in Christ, who took the sinner’s punishment so that God can extend mercy to him, and Who gifts the guilty sinner with His earned righteousness, because through faith the sinner is born again into an eternal, spiritual relationship with Christ. When an ungodly sinner fully embraces the mercy and unmerited favor which is in Christ with a pure faith that God provides, he is assured of salvation with all the glory going to God.

Knowing that all people have an initial opposition to this Gospel of God’s grace because of their fleshly pride and self-righteousness, in Romans Chapter 4, Paul begins by countering 3 oppositions that he anticipates men will pose to the Gospel. First, using the examples of the great Old Testament saints Abraham (vv. 1-5) and King David (vv. 6-8), Paul shows that the confidence of even the greatest men in the Bible was their faith in God’s grace and mercy, not their own spiritual accomplishments. Second, Paul shows that Abraham’s faith was pure and undivided, separate from a fleshly confidence in religious rituals like circumcision (vv. 9-12). Finally, Paul shows that Abraham’s faith and the faith of all who believe is separate from any works of the Law (vv. 13-15).

From the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, the only hope for ungodly sinners is a pure, biblical faith in the mercy and grace that God puts forth in Christ, separate from any sense of personal righteousness, religious observances and personal obedience to the Law.