Overview of Romans 4: How Men Are Made Righteous

Romans 4

In Romans 1-3, we saw how all men are sinners in need of a Savior. All men are unrighteous, and they need righteousness from outside of themselves in order to save them. This righteousness--God's righteousness--was made manifest "through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe" (Romans 3:21), which we saw at the end of Romans 3. However, Romans 3 left us hanging: how does man obtain this righteousness? Though this righteousness is revealed, what does it mean to us? Paul answers these very questions, using the life of Abraham to portray his points.

As Paul is showing his audience what the righteousness of God means to mankind, he disproves two common misconceptions about God's plan of salvatioin. Firstly, he disproves that man is justified by works (legalism). Secondly, he disproves that only the Jews, or those who follow Jewish law, can be saved (Judaism). In order to disprove these misconceptions, he uses the life of Abraham to make his point. Firstly, Abraham was justified by faith, not by the works of the law, which Paul clearly shows was true given Old Testament scripture. Abraham, the "father of our faith," was not saved by works, and therefore none of us as his "children in the faith" are either [FAAATHER Abraham, had many sons...many sons had FAAATHER Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let's just praise the Lord...]. Secondly, Abraham was justified before he was circumcized, thus showing that he was saved before he adhered to Jewish law, therefore meaning that all men can be saved without adhering to Jewish law, or even being Jewish. For justification is 1) by faith 2) for all who believe.

This entire chapter is talking about the doctrine of justification, which we have clearly seen. Verses 4 and 5 are my absolute favorite verses on justification in all of the Bible, as they are so short and precise, yet deeply meaningful and understandable. Paul doesn't leave us hanging in chapter 4. He shows us how God's righteousness can be credited to our account: by faith. But yet...in a sense, he does leave us hanging. Now that we have been justified by faith, what does that mean for our relationship to God? If God's faith is counted to us as righteousness, what implications does that have our Christian lives? Hmmm...if only the book kept going.