What does Romans 4:5 mean? (2024)

FAQs

What does Romans 4:5 mean? ›

No one can do sufficient good works so that God owes them. Everyone is sinful and cannot cause themselves to be in righteous standing before God. However, if we believe God, our faith is credited to us as righteousness, making us just before God.

God does not wait for us to become godly, or righteous on our own apart from Him, before welcoming us into His family. Because of our faith in righteous Jesus, God justifies us in spite of our sinfulness. There is no greater gift than this.

God is not, therefore, saying that the wicked are just when they are not (which is what Proverbs 17:15 opposes). Rather, He is making those who are inherently wicked to be legally (though not inherently) just such that His judgement that we are righteous accords with reality.

In Romans 4, Paul tells us that if we want to know how salvation works, we only need to look to Abraham. His story was recorded for our sake (vv. 23–24). How God worked with Abraham is how God works, period.

The point is this: When Paul says in Romans 4:22 (and verses 3, 5, and 9) that "faith is credited as righteousness," he does not mean that our faith is our righteousness. He means that our faith unites us to Christ so that God's righteousness in Christ is credited to us.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

We can never be more justified than when we came to faith in Jesus—nor any less—for it is Christ's righteousness and not our own that makes us right in God's sight. Today, Sinclair Ferguson displays the wonder of the gospel.

Forgiveness is wonderful, but justification goes even deeper. You may have done something you shouldn't have done, and you can be forgiven for it. But justification removes the guilt. You are acquitted of your guilt as a sinner and made acceptable to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 17:15 says: He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. (NKJV) Along with the KJV I also enjoy the Message Bible translation….

God loves righteousness and hates iniquity (Heb. 1: 9). God is a holy God and a righteous Judge and He will approve the righteous and in anger judge the wicked. The Scriptures say at least six times that God “is slow to anger” (Neh.

Who was Paul speaking to in Romans 4? ›

Paul addressed each group separately and sort of put them in their place. So, when he said what he said at Romans 4:1 he was specifically addressing the Jews in that congregation, who were descendants of Abraham.

KJV For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Romans 4 is all about the faith of Abraham. God declared Abraham righteous because of his faith, not because of his works. A declaration of righteousness was God's gift, not a payment. This righteousness is available to everyone, circumcised or not.

Being righteous literally means to be right, especially in a moral way. Religious people often talk about being righteous. In their view, the righteous person not only does the right thing for other people but also follows the laws of their religion.

Beatitude, any of the blessings said by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as told in the biblical New Testament in Matthew 5:3–12 and in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6:20–23.

We will receive eternal life without being judged since Christ is willing to cover us with his righteousness. But our works will be judged following the resurrection to determine our eternal rewards within the kingdom.

To humble oneself is to acknowledge God as Lord and to obey as servant. In order to do so, then, the Son had to take “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). “We, as creatures, must obey our Creator, and he, as our brother, did the same.”

This verse contains a strong admission of Israel's sin and guilt as well as a tribute to God's forgiveness. If God punished every sinner as that sinner deserves to be punished, no sinner would be allowed to enter heaven.

The Greek word translated credited means to reason and decide something. God is the one that decided. Paul has already declared that Scripture clearly says not a single person is righteous from their own merit, not even Paul (Romans 3:9–18).

Abraham, by helpless, unseen faith, believed in God's promises. He only saw one promise become a reality; the birth of his son, Isaac. As a result, his trust in God was credited to him as having God's righteousness; not his own. In verses 4-5, Paul clearly contrasts the futility of works with true salvation.