Faith, Grace and RighteousnessRomans 4
FAITH
Romans 4:2-5 AMP
2 For if Abraham was justified [that is, acquitted from the guilt of his sins] by works [those things he did that were good], he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed in (trusted, relied on) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living, right standing with God).” [Gen 15:6] 4 Now to a laborer, his wages are not credited as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation [something owed to him]. 5 But to the one who does not work [that is, the one who does not try to earn his salvation by doing good] but believes and completely trusts in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).
~ Faith (belief) leads to God bestowing/reckoning/crediting upon us His righteousness (Jesus), which/who in turns justifies us and yields the promise that we become heirs of the world through grace alone (Eternal Life).
~God can only see us through His righteousness.
GRACE
Romans 4:16-17 AMP
16 Therefore, [inheriting] the promise depends entirely on faith [that is, confident trust in the unseen God], in order that it may be given as an act of grace [His unmerited favor and mercy], so that the promise will be [legally] guaranteed to all the descendants [of Abraham]—not only for those [Jewish believers] who keep the Law, but also for those [Gentile believers] who share the faith of Abraham, who is the [spiritual] father of us all— 17 (as it is written [in Scripture], “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the sight of Him in whom he believed, that is, God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
~Grace is the purpose of God to give you the righteousness and the promise that you do not deserve. GOD’S GRACE ACTIVATES OUR FAITH!!!
Otherwise “grace would no longer be grace.”
-John Stott
“Faith is the restful experience of the work of grace in our lives. If we think of that first act of justifying faith in Christ, we can say faith is to grace what seeing is to light and what hearing is to sound and what waking up is to the alarm clock. Faith corresponds to grace the way tasting sweetness corresponds to honey on the tongue.” -John Piper
Ephesians 2:4-5 AMP
“4 But God, being [so very] rich in mercy, because of His great and wonderful love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace—His undeserved favor and mercy—you have been saved from God’s judgment).
Ephesians 2:8
“For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; 9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].
RIGHTEOUSNESS
1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV
“It is because of him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
John Bunyan regarding 1 Corinthians 1:30…
“By this scripture, I saw that the man Christ Jesus … is our righteousness and sanctification before God. Here therefore I lived for some time very sweetly at peace with God, through Christ” (Grace Abounding, p. 91).
QUESTIONS:
- Unpack the statement, “God can only see us through His righteousness.” What or who is His righteousness?
- If there was no need for faith, would there be a need for grace? How do these two work hand in hand?
- List some ways we get outside of God’s plan of “credited righteousness” and shift into “performance-based righteousness?”
- How can “righteousness through faith” (Romans 4:3) reconcile with “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17)?