Credited as Righteousness

Credited as Righteousness

Romans Chapter 4

The Covenant with Abraham

Having already stated that righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ, in Chapter 4, Paul provides the Old Testament roots of this New Testament idea.

In verses 1-3, Paul begins with Abraham, who, technically, at the time of this reference, was “Abram”. The story is in Genesis 15:1-6, where God first established a covenant with Abram. God told Abram his offspring would be as the stars in the sky. Abram believed God, and this belief was credited to him as righteousness.

As this statement is the basis of the chapter, we must carefully consider what it means. First, we must remember that, as used in this chapter, the words “faith” and “believe” are the same. While we do have the idea of “faith” in a totally abstract sense, as in “Baptist”, “Catholic”, etc. and of “beliefs” as tenets of such faith, that is not how the words are used here. Instead, “believe” is the verb form, and “faith” is the noun form of the same notion. “Faith” is the act of believing.

So, we have the two words defined in relation to each other, but what does “faith” mean? What does it mean “to believe”? The writer of Hebrews provides us with an elegant definition: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Paul also provides us with a definition later in this chapter. For now, let us consider that faith is personal proof. In this day of the scientific method, proof is something that is repeatable and observable. Faith is not scientific, it is personal, but it is proof, nonetheless.

And then there is the word “righteous”. It means to be morally just. We know that no one is just but God. The scripture says because Abram believed God, he was treated as though he were righteous.

Right there in the first book of the Old Testament we find God, with very New Testament ideas.

The Covenant with David

In verses 4-8, Paul brings David into the discussion. The passage that Paul quotes gives us a definition of what “credited as righteousness” means. David says that it means our sins are forgiven, covered up, and will never count against us.

Like Abram, the Lord made a covenant with David. The account is recorded in 2 Samuel 7. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, but the Lord said he could not. Even though David’s sins were forgiven, he was not the man the Lord wanted to build his temple. Instead, the Lord promised David that his house and kingdom would endure forever. Even though David could not have foreseen how this promise would come true, He did believe the promise.

Circumcision

Paul returns to the topic of Abram/Abraham in verses 9-12, where Paul questions the role of circumcision. The question Paul asks is whether Abram was credited with righteousness before he was circumcised and became Abraham. The story of the institution of circumcision is given in Genesis 17. What the devout Jew noted about this scripture is in 17:14, where it says that any uncircumcised male has broken the covenant. What Paul wanted us to note is that this story comes after the covenant story. In 17:2 God says that it is in confirmation of the covenant, and in 17:11 that circumcision is only sign of the covenant. The question of circumcision meant more to Paul and his audience than it does to us today, but it is a part of his argument, so we must bear it in mind.

The Covenant with Moses

In verses 13-15, Paul again returns to the question of the law. There are two things we must note. First, Paul does not use the same “which came first” argument about the law as he did with circumcision. There are two reasons for this. First, Paul has already given it up, as he has said that even the gentiles have the law written on their hearts (2:15) that is, God’s law is a part of our nature as creatures of God created in God’s image. Second, the Jewish scholars would not have bought it, because they made the same sort of claim for Abraham. Since the law was so important, they wondered how Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs could have kept the law, and they came up with the idea that they had foreknowledge of the law.

The next thing we must note is that Paul seems to be completely dismissing the law, or even saying that the law is hostile to us. We must consider that Paul is only discussing the law in relationship to justification, that is, he is dismissing the law as a method of salvation. Put yet another way, he is dismissing the law as basis for a relationship with God.

The law was given as covenant with the people through Moses. There are two accounts of this covenant. In Deuteronomy, it is clear that the law is to be kept as part of a loving relationship with God (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). In Exodus, it is clear that the covenant was to lead the Israelites to be priests to the nations of the world (Exodus 19:5-6). If it was easier for the people to hold on to their special relationship to God than to be priests to other nations, and easier to write the law on their doorposts than their hearts, who can blame them?

Our Father Abraham

Everything is possible through God, Paul says in verses 16-17. It is God who “calls things that are not as though they were.” Paul says that Abraham was the first person of record to receive righteousness through faith, and as such he us the father of us all.

The New Covenant

In verses 18-25, Paul gives us a definition of faith. He says that though Abraham and Sarah were too old to expect children, Abraham was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Abraham, Moses, and David were great men through whom God accomplished great things, but they were only men, and they could not achieve righteousness through their actions. They were men of faith. Was their faith greater than ours? When God made his covenant with Abram, Abram’s first question was “How can I know?” (Genesis 15:8)

God is eager to make a covenant with each of us. Not a covenant of circumcision, or of law, but a new covenant through the blood of his son, Jesus. (Luke 22:20) If we believe in him, it will be credited to us as righteousness; our sins will be forgiven, covered up, and will never count against us.