Romans 3:27-4:8

By Faith Alone

In Romans 3:21-26, Paul explains that the righteousness that God requires from us in order to be saved is given as a free gift by God's grace.  God graciously provides the righteousness that we need through the atoning work of His beloved Son on whom God has poured out the wrath that was due your sins as a substitute sacrifice on your behalf.

Since Christ has now received the punishment due your sins then there is now no more condemnation for those for whom Jesus paid your sin debt in full.  God's wrath has been spent on Christ and you are now the recipients of God's free gift of His righteousness. 

But how do you receive this gift and what is the result of that reception?  That is what Paul now answers for us in 3:27-4:25.  The answer is that the free gift can be received by faith alone.  There is no other way to be counted as righteous before a holy God than to simply receive the gift that He offers.  Any other attempt at salvation detracts from God's glory and destroys the sole sufficiency of Christ's work on your behalf.

Paul begins in v. 27 to explain that since God's righteousness is a free gift and is received by faith alone, then all boasting in our own works is forever excluded.  Why does Paul bring up this issue of boasting at this point? 

The Jews boasted that their relationship with God was based upon their obedience to the Law of Moses (cf. 2:17, 23).  They boasted in their own achievements in keeping the law, especially in light of the Gentiles who did not have the law (cf. 2:1-3). 

What the Jews misunderstood was that their justification before the holy God could come only through faith, which is to say that it is a free gift received by God's grace alone.  But this is not only a Jewish problem, it is a human problem.  Boasting is rooted in man's pride, which is the root of much of our sinfulness.  We all suffer from the same human pride that leads to boasting in our works, wisdom, human achievements, etc.  We all think that we are pretty good and that we have it altogether. 

That is what the Law is intended to expose.  It is God's instrument to break up the hardened soil of our lives where we think we are ok.  The law exposes our weaknesses so that we can turn to God for His grace.

But the Jews, along with us today, misuse the law as the very means of doing good works before God that He may approve of us.  When we think we have done something good, we begin to think that we have something to boast about before God.

But faith necessarily looks outside of our own resources to the hand of God who freely extends to us the gift of salvation.  "Works" look to our own resources.  But "faith" looks solely to the resources of God.  "Works" is man-centered, self-centered.  But "faith" is entirely God-centered.  "Works" prides itself in our own accomplishments and abilities, maybe only needing God's help.  But "faith" recognizes our own utter inability and poverty and rests solely in the abundant riches of God's grace.

Now, the very thing that the Jews boasted in God has removed out of the way (cf. 3:21).  Whereas the demand of the Mosaic Covenant was works, the life of the gospel is faith.  Because the law is based upon works it opens the door to boasting.  But the gospel necessarily leads to a life of utter humility, boasting only in God.  Paul said:

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, 29 that no man should boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD” (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

But the law does not lead to boasting solely in the Lord.  Instead Paul makes the point:

Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:12-14a).

It is because salvation is solely a gift of God's grace that Paul can declare:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

Sola fide is necessary because it alone forever maintains sola gratia.

No works, no matter what their motivation, can play any part in making a sinner right with God (v. 28).

If the obedience to the law was necessary for our justification then it makes sense that only those who have the law can be justified.  God necessarily becomes the God of the Jews only.  But Paul argues in vv. 29-30 that God is the one and truly God of all, Jews and Gentiles. 

Notice how Paul takes a fundamental Jewish belief in monotheism to turn the tables on the exclusive beliefs of the Jews.  If the LORD God is one LORD, then He must be the same LORD of the Gentiles and the Jews, or else the Gentiles would have no god. 

The Jews believed that they had exclusive rights to a personal relationship with God that was not open to the Gentiles, who were outside the covenant of Moses.  The Jews alone possessed the covenant promises, the law, circumcision, etc.  The Gentiles could have the same relationship but they had to place their lives under the law of Moses. 

The question Paul is asking is if salvation is by the law of Moses, then how can the Gentiles, who do not have the law, be saved?  Paul's answer is that God has now removed this dividing wall, this impenetrable barrier that once stood between the Jews and Gentiles so that all may have equal access to God through faith alone in Jesus Christ (cf. 3:21).

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity (Eph. 2:13-16).

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter (Rom. 7:4-6).

Now, faith alone is necessary for all sinners to be right with God.  Only God can do what we could not do.  Faith alone is necessary in order to ensure that the Gentiles have equal access with the Jews to the one God. 

But God's inclusion of the Gentiles, who do not have the law of Moses, has always been God's plan through the promises made to Abraham.  The revelation of God's righteousness "apart from the law" has now opened the doors of salvation that were not opened before.  If God had continued the requirement of righteousness through the works of the law as He did under the Mosaic Covenant then how could the Gentiles be saved?  That's why Paul now drives home the point that God has removed the barrier of the law as an obstacle to receiving the righteousness of God which we must be saved.  The gospel reaches all people -- Jew and Gentile -- with the hope of salvation to all who believe.

But surely as Paul went from city to city preaching justification through faith alone in Christ alone he heard the objection many times, "If it is by faith alone, do we then nullify the law?"  "Is the law simply cast away through salvation by faith alone?"

No.  As Paul says, rather we establish the law (v. 31).  What does he mean?  In Romans 8, Paul will address this issue again and will conclude:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:2-4).

What we could not do in regards to keeping the law, Christ has done for us.  He has kept the law perfectly on our behalf.  Therefore, as we now rest in the work of Jesus Christ alone, we are considered through union with Him to have kept the law.  The law is now fulfilled by all those who are in Jesus Christ.  It has been established in our lives because of Christ.  Now, our relationship to Christ by faith fully meets all the demands of God's law.

Now in Romans 4, Paul uses the biblical example of Abraham to prove his case that God's righteousness can only be obtained solely by faith.  But why does Paul go all the way back to the Old Testament and to the person of Abraham to make his point?

Abraham is brought front and center in chap. 4 because of his importance to Jewish theology.  Not only is Abraham the father of the Jewish faith but he is used throughout Jewish literature as the preeminent example of obedience.  The Jews would always connect the promise of God's righteousness to Abraham in Gen. 15 to his obedient act of willingly offering up his own son as a sacrifice as the basis for Abraham's righteousness before God.  In other words, the Jews would use Abraham as the notable example of relating to God through works of obedience.  The Jews boasted in Abraham's life of good works as the model of works righteousness.

But here Paul wrestles Abraham from the hands of the Jews and instead uses him as the Old Testament model of relating to God by faith alone.

Paul begins v. 1 with a rhetorical question about Abraham, who is considered by all Jews to be the forefather of Judaism, according to the flesh.  But Paul will show that Abraham is the true father of all the true sons who come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles (cf. vv. 11-12).

In v. 2, Paul drives home his point that if we say that Abraham was justified by works, then Abraham has something to boasts about, which would completely contradict Paul's main thesis in 3:27-28.

This is exactly what the Jews were arguing:  as the epitome of works righteousness, Abraham had something to boast about.  The Jews believed that Abraham's relationship to God was based upon his obedient act.  And if Abraham could point to his obedience as the basis for his relationship to God then he indeed had something to boast about.

But Paul quickly counters their argument that Abraham had nothing to boasts about before God (v. 2b).  Contrary to Jewish thinking, from God's viewpoint Abraham had nothing to boast about.  He had no right to boast at all.  Why?

Paul cites Gen. 15:6 showing that the text itself argues that simply at the point of believing God he was the full recipient of God's righteousness.  At the moment of faith, long before Abraham ever did any good works, God "credited" or "reckoned" (an accounting term) to Abraham the righteousness that God requires, a righteousness that does not belong inherently to Abraham.  It is an alien righteousness, that is outside of Abraham that God credits to him at the moment of faith.

Therefore, Abraham's relationship to God is based solely upon Abraham's resting and receiving God's promise. The very moment that Abraham believed, he was declared to be right with God as a free gift.  Abraham's relationship to God was based solely upon God's grace alone, not according to works.

In vv. 4-5, Paul uses the analogy of an employer-employee relationship to show what he has in mind.  If a person is hired to perform a job and he is promised a certain wage for that performance then the employer obligates himself to pay the employee for the work performed.  The employer "owes" the worker a certain, agreed upon wage.  It is no longer given freely, but under compulsion to fulfill his obligation to the worker.

If we think of salvation in these terms than equally if our salvation is dependent upon our works, then salvation is no longer by God's grace but by God's obligation to give us what He owes us for the work accomplished.  The declaration of righteousness is what God owes us -- it is the mere payment for our work.

But now that Christ has come, justification is a free gift by God's grace.  God is under no obligation to give it us.  It is not a wage that God is under obligation to pay us for our works.  Our works have no part in our justification.  It is completely based upon the work of Jesus Christ alone for us.

Our salvation from beginning to end is entirely monergistic -- one work -- God alone works on our behalf through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Notice that God's grace is not the result of our faith, as if our faith is a work that merits God's grace.  Rather, grace is the source of our faith.  That is why we are justified by faith alone, apart from works. 

In v. 5, Paul contrasts the one who works in v. 4 with the one who does not work.  Paul is not saying that the believer doesn't do good works.  Paul will deal with the life of the believer in great detail latter in the book.  Paul is merely saying that the one who has faith is the one who does not depend on his or her works to be saved. 

In fact, our works take absolutely no part in our salvation to the point that Paul stresses that "God justifies the ungodly" (v. 5).  How in the world can Paul say this about God?  How can God, who is just and holy, justify the ungodly?

Throughout the Old Testament God pronounces severe penalties upon all human judges who justify the guilty:

He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD (Prov. 17:15; cf. Isa. 5:23).

In fact, God even declares in Ex. 23:

“Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty" (Ex. 23:7).

How can it be that God now justifies the ungodly?  In the Old Testament text, God is warning those who pronounce that someone who is guilty as innocent.  What God is opposed to is when someone looks at the present situation of a person who is guilty and calls that person righteous.  For instance, if someone is a murderer and stands before a judge and the judge agreeing that the person is guilty of murder but simply says that person is acquitted of all his guilt and set free, then that judge is an abomination to the Lord. 

But in your "justification" before God, God is not looking at you, in your sin, and then simply declaring that you are no longer guilty.  No!  God is looking upon the person and work of Jesus Christ as your substitute and based upon the work of Jesus alone He is acquitting you of all guilt.  Jesus stood in your place and received the full penalty for your sin.  And by faith you rest in His work alone and it is upon the basis of the work of Jesus that you are now set free.

Finally, Paul adds these precious words from David found in Ps. 32 -- he pronounces a blessing upon the person to whom God credits as righteous apart from any works (vv. 6-8).  God does not look at our good works and then declares that we are right with him.  No.  The only reason that God now declares that we are righteous is because He alone forgives our sins.  Your righteousness before God is not based upon the addition of your good works but upon the gracious act of God forgiving you all your sin.  It is not we who changed; we remain a sinner through and through.  Rather, our relationship to the holy God is changed solely on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf.

It is not the person who is richly adorned with good works, who boasts in his goodness before God who is saved, but the person who is dressed in rags who simply looks to another and rests in His work alone who is saved.

It is not the Pharisee who prays:

‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get' (Luke 18:11-12)

that is justified before God, but it is the tax collector who is unwilling to even lift his eyes to God but beats his breast crying out:

‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ (Luke 18:13).

It is the man or woman who realizes that he or she has nothing to give, nothing to contribute, but stands utterly helpless before God and simply receives His free and gracious gift that is justified in His sight.  Why?

Because it is only as we come before God realizing that we have nothing to offer, no resources to bring, that God alone receives all of the glory for our salvation.  It is only by God's grace that we are saved and that alone is to the praise of God's marvelous grace.

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:4-9).

Amen!

-SDG-