Paul's Epistle to the Romans — page 12

There is a difference between those who lived before the cross and those who lived after it. The people of Old Testament times who had faith are not said to have believed “in Jesus”, as is the case with those in the present time (v. 26). This is because Old Testament believers did not know the gospel that tells the story of God sending His Son, etc. They could not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because they had not heard of Him, but they were blessed by God at the beginning of faith and are safe in heaven now as friends of the Bridegroom (John 3:29).

1. 26 – Since the expiation has already been made, we can “declare”

(KJV) through the gospel “His righteousness (God's)”. This is something that could not be done until “this time”. J. N. Darby said: “Righteousness was never revealed under the Law – God bore with things, but there was no declaration of righteousness. Now it is to ‘declare His righteousness.’ Righteousness was revealed when the expiation was made” (Collected Writings, vol. 27, p. 385). We can now go to the sinner with the good news that God is “just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”. He is “just” in that He judged sin in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and He is “the Justifier” of those who believe.

The Principle of Faith

Chap. 3:27-31 – In the final verses of chapter 3, Paul explains the part of faith in the believer's justification. He has already mentioned “the righteousness of God through faith” (v. 22) and “faith in His blood” (v. 25), and has made it clear that the blessings of the gospel are only appropriated “according to the principle of faith”

(JND – chap. 1:17, 3:30, 4:16, 5:1). Thus, the gospel is so simple that all a person needs to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he will be saved and justified (Acts 13:38-39, 16:31).

However, even in this case, we should not think that our faith has made us deserve our justification. Paul makes it clear in these verses that it is by faith, so boasting (vainglory) is “excluded”. Our faith is not a meritorious work. In fact, in Ephesians 2:8, he states that faith “does not come from yourselves; it is the gift of God”. Since everything comes from God, He must receive all the credit. If faith were a meritorious thing, then a person would have something to “boast” about. He could say: “Others did not have faith to believe, but I did, and God saved me because of my faith!” That would be attributing to ourselves some credit for our salvation.

Nor should we think that weeping, confessing our sins, repenting, sincere prayers, etc., will make us deserving of salvation. These things may accompany a person's conversion to Christ, but salvation is not obtained by them. Let us be clear: “faith” is not the subject of the gospel. The subject of the gospel is Christ and His finished work. Thus, Paul shows that the believer's justification has nothing to do with “works”. All vainglory on man's part, therefore, is completely excluded. Works exalt man, but faith exalts God.

In verses 29-30, Paul shows that justification is not only for the Jews (“the circumcision”), but for all who believe the gospel – including the Gentiles (“the uncircumcision”). This shows that God is not partial when it comes to offering salvation to men and saves people from all three spheres of the human race.

1. 31 – So that the Jews would not think that Paul was

ignoring or despising the Law, he says: “Do we, then, nullify the Law by faith? By no means! Rather, we establish the Law” (v. 31). The gospel does not set aside the holy standards of the Law; the Law emphasizes the fact that men have fallen short of it. In this way, the Law complements the gospel by proving that men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, the gospel upholds the holy requirements of the Law. This shows that men are sinners and therefore need salvation.

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH

Chapter 4

In chapter 4, Paul expands the connection of faith with justification. In doing so, he introduces a new phrase – “the righteousness of faith” (JND – v. 11, 13). This is different from “the righteousness of God”, which he used several times in chapter 3.

• “The righteousness of God” has to do with God acting for man's blessing, according to His holiness and love, securing blessings for men. This happened at the cross, once for all.

• “The righteousness of faith” has to do with God considering as righteous men those who have faith in what the righteousness of God secured. This is something that is happening today, when people come to Christ and are saved. (In fact, God has been considering men righteous since the beginning of time – wherever and whenever men had faith, like Abraham, for example).

The Righteousness of Faith – Not By Works

Ch. 4:1-8 – Paul's immediate object in chapter 4 is to show that the gospel – which promises blessings on the principle of faith "without works" – is in full agreement with the Old Testament Scriptures. Therefore, "the righteousness of faith" is not something new. In fact, it has always been the principle on which God has blessed man. Paul knew that he needed to establish this point quickly as he unfolded the truth of the gospel, so as not to lose the attention of the Jews who naturally saw the gospel as something that undermined the Law and what they had in Judaism. To illustrate the fact that "the righteousness of faith" is not something new, Paul selects two well-known Old Testament saints (Abraham and David) and examines how they were blessed. These were not unimportant people in the Jewish order; Abraham is the greatest patriarch of the nation and David is the greatest king of the nation. In these verses, Paul shows that both were reckoned righteous by believing the Word of God, apart from works. Let us note that in chapter 3, Paul emphasized "faith in Jesus Christ" (v. 22) and "faith in His blood" (v. 25) – that is, the Person and work of Christ. But now in chapter 4, Paul emphasizes faith in God who "raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead" (vs. 24-25). In this chapter, the focus is on believing God, accepting Him through His word (vs. 3, 5, 17, 24). This is necessary for the believer's assurance.

Abraham and David also illustrate (in type) the two sides of justification.

"Abraham" illustrates the positive side of justification – he obtained a

righteous standing before God (vs. 1-5).

• "David" illustrates the negative side of justification – he was cleared of every accusation of sin against him (vs. 6-8).

Abraham

Vs. 1-3 – Paul begins with Abraham as proof that a person can be blessed by God by faith without working for it. He says that if Abraham had been reckoned righteous on the principle of "works", then there would be something in his blessing of which he could have some credit, and so he could "glory" in it. Was Abraham reckoned righteous by faith or by works? Paul appeals to the Scriptures to answer and asks: "For what does the Scripture say?" In doing so, he took the matter out of the realm of human opinion and placed it directly on what God says about it in His Word. Paul takes us to Genesis 15 and shows that God gave Abraham the promise of His "word" (vs. 4-5) and Abraham "believed" (v. 5a), and his faith "was imputed to him as righteousness" (v. 5b). This settles the question; Abraham did no works of any kind, but was imputed righteous simply by believing the Word of God. Note that it does not say that Abraham believed in God, which would mean that he believed in God's existence. He did that, of course, but it says that "Abraham believed God" (AIBB). This refers to Abraham believing what God had told him – he believed the Word of God. It was important for Paul to establish this point, because at the end of the chapter, he will show that the believer's assurance and peace are based on believing the Word of God concerning the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Vs. 4-5 – Paul goes on to explain that when the blessing is by grace (the unmerited favor of God), then works are immediately excluded from the scene. He says: "Now to him who works, the reward is not reckoned as a gift, but as a debt" (AIBB). That is, if man could earn justification by works, then God would be placed in debt to man and would be obliged to pay the successful worker the blessings of salvation! However, that would be the opposite of grace. Paul insists that the blessings of the gospel are "to him who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly – AIBB". Regardless of how good a person's intentions are, works such as: confirmation vows, baptism, church membership and participation, trying to keep the ten commandments, doing charity and doing good deeds, living rightly as a good neighbor, etc. will not obtain justification. The blessings of the gospel are not obtained on that principle.

This emphasizes the beauty of the gospel; God can in righteousness justify the sinner who simply believes. This is something radically different from Law. It could only justify the righteous, not the ungodly (1 Kings 8:32). Abraham was "justified", but not in the full sense of New Testament justification, which involves being brought into a new position before God in Christ (Gal. 2:17 – "justified in Christ"). However, the principle of faith on which Old Testament saints and New Testament saints are blessed is the same, which is Paul's point here. J. N. Darby said: "There is a difference between God's forgiveness in the sense of non-imputation, according to Romans 4, and governmental forgiveness... and the difference is very clear, because the forgiveness that justifies, unknown in the Old Testament, is complete and once for all as Hebrews 9, 10 states – 'no longer have consciousness of sins'" (Letters of J. N. Darby, vol. 2, p. 275).

Paul then declares that this principle of faith applies not only to Abraham, but to all who draw near to God in faith – his "faith is imputed [reckoned – JND] as righteousness". To reckon [reckon in English] means "to find something to be as such" or "to consider something to be as

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