Romans 4
If ever there was someone who might be
able to boast of great deeds before the Lord, it was Abraham. He left his home,
family, and possessions to follow the Lord’s call to a land that He would show
him. He had no idea where he was going. He trusted and followed. He believed
God’s promise that He would bless the world through him, and that he would pass
that promise on through his son – despite the fact that Abraham and his wife
Sarah were too old to have children. Later, he was ready to offer his promised
and long-waited-for son back to God when God commanded it, reckoning that God
could bring him back to him even through death.
Yet, what do we learn of Abraham’s
standing before the Lord in Romans 4? Was he declared righteous because of his
good works? No indeed! For we could also speak of many failures in Abraham’s
life! But he was reckoned to be righteous on the basis of his faith. “Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Paul pointed out that this counting of
righteousness took place before Abraham was circumcised, which, to our modern
minds may be puzzling. His point deals with the insistence of the Jews of his
time that the gentile believers must be circumcised. He is saying, in effect, “Even
before Abraham did one good work, he was considered righteous in God’s sight
because he believed Him.”
Faith is a remarkable thing. It is
created in us as we hear God’s promises in the Gospel, and, having been formed
in us, takes hold of God’s promises – particularly of forgiveness, life, and
salvation. This is what makes us righteous – not in the sense that everything
we do is right, but in the same sense as Abraham. God counts it to us as
righteousness.
Another way to say this is that He
credits righteousness to us. In accounting terms a debit is an amount of money
removed from one’s account, and a credit is what is added to the account. Through
faith in Jesus, the one who ultimately kept God’s promise to Abraham, God adds
righteousness to our account. That faith takes hold of the forgiveness Jesus
won on the cross, and we are righteous in Him.
Father, I believe Your promise. Credit Jesus’
righteousness to me, for I have none of my own, and He died and is risen as my
savior. Amen.
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