“Abraham believed God, and It was counted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3)

“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:1-5, ESV).

The Faith of Abraham

Among the first-century Roman Christians, prior knowledge of Abraham is presupposed.¹ Despite his pagan ancestry, Abraham was called and justified by God (Gen. 11:27–12:4; Josh. 24:1-3), something the Gentile Christians could appreciate. As the ancestral father of the Israelite people, he would have been highly esteemed by ethnic Jews. 

Dialogically engaged with a hypothetical Jewish discussion partner (cf. 2:17), Paul alludes to Abraham as “our forefather according to the flesh.” The term “flesh” [sárx] is descriptively linked to physical Israel and the rite of circumcision (2:28) and accompanying “works of the law” (3:20), later applied to human weakness involving sinful living (6:19; 8:4-13). Contextually, therefore, the “works” [érga] that are separate from and unrelated to justification are not just any active deeds (cf. 2:6-7) but meritorious works stemming from the Law of Moses, requisites of old-covenant Judaism, as per the foregoing discussion (3:19-20, 27-28).² It is this particular category of “works” that Paul consistently contrasts with “faith” (3:27; 9:32; cf. Gal. 2:16; 3:2-5). 

The Works of Abraham

Actively doing something is not discounted here (cf. 2:10). Rather, the issue concerns one who “works” [ergázomai] so he can “boast” [kaúchēma] (cf. 3:27) and earn “wages” [misthōs] regarded as something he is “due” [opheílēma]. But this is not how Abraham (or anyone else) was justified. According to “the Scripture,” quoting Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (also vv. 9, 22; Gal. 3:6).  

Abraham’s response to God was more than a mere passive, intellectual concession, as the English word “believe” might suggest. Up to this point in his sojourn, not only did Abraham mentally assent to God’s word but he trusted in God enough to do what God enjoined every step of the way: “By faith Abraham obeyed …” (Heb. 11:8, 17). And he continued to walk in obedient faith for the rest of his life. Paul goes on to describe Abraham as the father of those “who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had …” (Rom. 4:12), in line with how the Romans already understood active “faith” [pístis] (1:5, 8, 12). Paul never interpreted “faith” as simply a mental assent to a doctrinal truth without any active response, nor did he view the requirements of God as “works” that humans have devised to save themselves, esp. the works (deeds, actions) of humble obedience (Phil. 2:12). 

Genesis 15:6 is also quoted by the Lord’s half-brother (Jas. 2:23) to counteract a dead “faith” void of obedient “works,” concluding, “You see that a person is justified by works [érga] and not by faith alone” (v. 24). Paul and James, writing to different audiences grappling with different issues, are complementary rather than contradictory. The “works” highlighted by Paul relate to the ritualistic observances of the Mosaic Law, while the “works” in James pertain to non-meritorious demonstrations of faith, legitimizing the shared use of the same OT text. While “faith” [pístis] is our fundamental response to God (Rom. 3:27-31; 5:1-2), both James and Paul clearly show that saving faith is an active, obedient, working faith (1 Thess. 1:3; Jas. 2:14-16), i.e., “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).  

The Righteousness of Abraham

 For Paul, genuine “righteousness” (cf. v. 6) is appropriated through the avenue of faith and is almost always contrasted with what can be described as law-oriented works righteousness (4:11-14; 9:30-32; 10:4-10). At the same time, righteousness “obligates the redeemed one to serve God faithfully” (BAGD 197). In an ethical sense, it characterizes the life of faithful obedience that is expected of all baptized believers (6:13, 18, 19, 20).³ 

Conclusion

Paul wants his readers to know that we are justified by the same kind of faith by which Abraham was justified – a working, active, obedient faith as opposed to a Mosaic-law-oriented-meritorious-works-righteousness apart from the gospel of Christ. Saving faith is not void of obedience any more than saving obedience is void of faith. To conclude otherwise is to ignore the groundwork laid in the first three chapters of Romans.   

--Kevin L. Moore 

Endnotes:

     ¹ On the example of Abraham in the NT, see Acts 3:25; 7:2-17; 13:26; Rom. 4:1-25; 9:6-8; 11:1; Gal. 3:6-7; 2 Cor. 11:22; Heb. 6:13-15; 11:8-19; Jas. 2:20-24.

     ² A number of passages employ érgon (“work”) without nómou (“of law”) but have the same meaning (BAGD 308); e.g., Rom. 4:2, 6; 9:12; 11:6; and Eph. 2:9.

     ³ The converse – unrighteousness – is the result of disobedience (Rom. 1:28; 2:8; 3:3-5; 10:21), for which the antidote is God’s righteousness manifested in Christ and the saving power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17; 3:21-26). 

Related Posts: Faith and Works, Bookends of Romans, Righteousness, Circumcision, Abraham's Faith (Rom 4:9-12), Abbreviated Gospel, Baptism (Rom 6:1-4) 

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