Romans 4:1-12: Justification

Romans 4:4-5.. "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness."

Romans 4:1-12 is perhaps the most beautiful text on justification in all of scripture. But what is justification? Let us find out...

Firstly, we must remember the context of Romans 4. The first three chapter were all about how all men are sinners in need of a Savior. At the very end of Romans 3, we say that God's righteoussness was manifested "through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe" (Romans 3:22). However, that does not fully answer our dilemma. Paul shows us in Romans 3 how God's righteousness is seen, not how it is obtained. If you are sick and you need medicine to heal you, you not only need to see the medicine on the TV commercial, but you need to go out, buy it, and ingest it. That is what Paul is trying to get at here in Romans 4. We are all sick and need God's righteousness to heal us. It has surely been made manifest to us, but how can we now make it our own? Answer: justification.

Justification is a big concept, so let us break it down into three parts. Here's a simple definition for you: Justification is the open opportunity for all to have their faith counted as righteousness through their belief in God.

Firstly, justification is an open opportunity for all. This has already been seen in the book of Romans, but Paul makes it even more clear as he shows how Abraham was in fact justified before he was circumsized (Romans 4:9-12). What does this mean? Two things: Firstly, that justification does not come from works of the law (circumcision), and secondly, that justification is an open opportunity for all, since one does not need to adhere to the external law (circumcision) to obtain justification. Justification is available to all who believe, not just the Jew.

Secondly, justification is for all to have their faith counted as righteousness. We see this in Romans 4:4-5 (quoted above). Justification is God's act of imputing his righteousness to our account. We surely did not deserve it because we are sinners, but if we have faith in God (just as Abraham did), our faith will be counted as righteousness. This is, in fact, the gospel. Justification is God's righteousness counted to our account.

Lastly, justification is through belief in God. This is the vehicle that makes justification happen. It is not by adherance to the law (in other words, we cannot get to heaven by good works), because we are all sinners unable to obey the law (Romans 1-3). However, we can still be justified through belief (or faith) in God. Praise the Lord! Our justification is by faith alone!