Romans 4:1 - Meaning and Application

Here the apostle shows that Abraham was made right with God, not by works, but by faith. The Jews, more than anyone else, insisted that they had a share in righteousness because of their privileges and their good deeds. So Paul points to Abraham, their father, and speaks in his own name as well, because he too was a Hebrew of Hebrews: “Abraham our father.” If Abraham’s standing was as great as theirs claimed theirs to be as his descendants, then the question matters all the more. What had Abraham found?

People spend their lives searching, but most end up chasing emptiness. Only those who are made right with God can truly be said to have found what matters. Abraham was like a wise merchant looking for fine pearls, and he found this one pearl of great value. But what did he find according to the flesh, that is, through circumcision, outward privileges, and outward actions? Paul calls these flesh (Philippians 3:3). Did Abraham gain acceptance with God by them? Was it his own work that earned God’s favor? No, certainly not. Paul proves this in several ways.

If Abraham had been made right by works, then there would have been room for boasting, and boasting must be ruled out forever. If that were true, he would have something to glory in (Romans 4:2), but that cannot be allowed. The Jews might say, “But wasn’t his name made great” (Genesis 12:2), “and couldn’t he boast in that?” Yes, he could be honored among men, but he could not claim merit before God. Paul himself had reasons to boast before men, and he sometimes spoke of them, but always with humility. Yet he had nothing to boast about before God (1 Corinthians 4:4; Philippians 3:8-9). The same was true of Abraham. Paul assumes that no person can claim glory before God, not even Abraham, great and good as he was. So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord alone.

The Scripture also says plainly that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. “What does the Scripture say?” (Romans 4:3). In every religious dispute, that must be our main question. It is not, What does this great man say, or that good man say? It is, What does the Scripture say? We must go to the law and the testimony (Isaiah 8:20), because that is the final appeal. Scripture says that Abraham believed, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). So he had no reason to boast before God. It was pure grace that God counted it so. Faith itself did not have the full formal nature of righteousness in it, except that God graciously chose to count it that way.

This was said in Genesis after a striking act of faith concerning the promised child. It is especially notable because it came after a severe struggle with unbelief. His faith had become a victorious faith, just coming back from battle. Perfect faith is not required for justification, that is, for being declared right with God. There may be real and pleasing faith even when some unbelief still remains. What matters is faith that prevails, faith that gets the upper hand over unbelief.

If Abraham had been justified by faith as a work, then the reward would be owed to him, not given by grace, and that cannot be. Paul says this in Romans 4:4-5. Abraham’s reward was God himself, as God had just said to him, “I am your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1). If Abraham had earned that by perfect obedience, then God’s gift would no longer be grace. Abraham could then demand it like a worker demanding the wages he had earned. But that is impossible. No human being, and certainly no guilty human being, can make God his debtor (Romans 11:35). God will have all the glory of free grace, grace given for grace’s sake (John 1:16).

So when Paul speaks of the one who does not work, he means the person who makes no claim to merit and can show no worth in his work that would deserve such a reward. Instead, that person gives up every claim and trusts wholly in God’s free grace in Christ, through a living, active, obedient faith. To that person, faith is counted as righteousness. It is accepted by God as the needed mark of those who will be pardoned and saved. God justifies the ungodly, that is, the person who was ungodly before. Former ungodliness is no barrier to justification when a person believes. Paul’s phrase points to “that ungodly one,” meaning Abraham himself, who before his conversion seems to have been swept along in the idolatry of the Chaldeans (Joshua 24:2). So there is no place for despair. God does not clear the guilty who remain unrepentant, but through Christ he justifies the ungodly.

Paul then adds David’s words from the Psalms, where David speaks of the forgiveness of sins, which is one of the chief parts of justification, and calls that man blessed. He does not mean the man who has no sin at all, or none that deserves death. If that were the standard, who could be blessed, since humans are sinful and God is holy? Instead, blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not count sin against him. Such a person cannot say, “I am not guilty,” but he can plead for pardon, and that plea is accepted (Psalm 32:1-2).

This shows the nature of forgiveness. It is like canceling a debt or pardoning a crime. It is the covering of sin, as something unclean, like the shame of a naked soul. God is said to cast sin behind his back and hide his face from it. Such phrases show that our blessedness does not rest on the fact that we never sinned. Sin remains sin, even when covered. Justification does not make it as though the sin never happened. Rather, it means God does not charge it to us. That is what Paul says here about God not counting sin against us (Romans 4:8). This makes justification a wholly gracious act. God does not deal with us in strict justice, as our sins deserve. He does not enter into judgment with us or mark our iniquities. Since all of this is grace, acceptance and reward cannot be treated as wages. That is why Paul concludes that God counts righteousness apart from works.

Paul also shows the blessedness of forgiveness. “Blessed are they” means that pardoned people are the truly happy people. When Scripture says, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way” or “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,” it is describing the kind of people who are blessed. But when it says, “Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven,” it is telling us what that blessedness actually is and where it comes from. Those whose sins are pardoned are the only truly blessed people. The world says the happy people are those with clear property and no debts to man. But God’s word says the happy people are those whose debts to God have been canceled.

How important, then, that we make sure our sins are pardoned. This is the foundation of every other blessing. “So and so I will do for them,” God says, “for I will be merciful” (Hebrews 8:12).