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In chapter three, Paul establishes that justification by faith excludes boasting, for boasting is an expression of pride and pride will not be accepted in the kingdom of God. Pride was the very first sin. It was the sin of Satan who said, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:13-14) Pride made Satan want to be like God and usurp the place of God, but it actually brought him down "to the grave, to the depths of the pit." (Isaiah 14:15) Salvation by grace through faith is the one doctrine that undercuts all boasting, for not even the 'best' of us can win God's approval. Scripture does not say that we are justified because of our faith nor on account of our faith. The Bible says that we are justified by faith and through faith. Faith is the instrument or the channel by which the righteousness of God in Christ becomes ours. In order for God's righteousness to become ours, we must believe that He, and only He, has provided it for us. The faith with which we believe in Jesus Christ is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Faith does not come to you and me because we think we live up to God's law, please Him and therefore deserve it. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Faith is ours apart from the law. It is a gift from God. How can we understand faith? The best way is recognizing that biblical faith has three elements; knowledge, belief, and trust. A. The beginning of faith is knowledge of the truth. Faith must have content. The object of Christian faith is Christ; and our faith rests on knowledge of Him. We learn to know Him through the study of the Scriptures. That knowledge leads us to love Him and consequently to follow and obey Him. Our faith must be in Christ, His life and work.B. The second element of faith is personal belief. The idea here is that, important as the content of faith is, it is nevertheless possible to know this content and still be lost. (An example is the devil, who undoubtedly knows the Bible, yet does not believe it in a personal sense. The demons "believe" but "shudder", says James 2:19). You and I must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our own sins. If you or I had been the only ones in the world, Jesus Christ would still have died for our sins to redeem us. When the truth received by the mind takes root in the heart, the believer is able to internalize the gospel message. C. The third element of faith, trust or commitment, is yielding of oneself to Christ, which goes beyond knowledge, and even being personally moved by the gospel. It is the point at which we pass over the line from belonging to ourselves and instead make Jesus Christ our Lord and Master. We are ready to follow Him whatever the cost. It is what was seen in Thomas falling at the feet of Jesus, exclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:26-28) In chapter four, Paul is going to show that belief in Jesus is the only way anyone, whether born before Him or after, has been saved. With the call of Abram (or Abraham), God inaugurates a new departure in His dealing with humanity. God begins to prepare one special people, the Hebrews (or Israel) to become His means of salvation for all peoples. To this end they need to be separated from idolatry and moral corruption of surrounding kingdoms and be uniquely related to God Himself. (Exodus 19:4-6) Abram's father, Terah, was originally an idolater "who served other gods" and worshiped the sun and moon. (Joshua 24:2-3,14-15) They lived in Ur, a corrupt and immoral city at that time. God called Abram to leave Ur and go to a land He would show him. Abram responded in faith and obedience. The nation of Israel and our Christian heritage were formed from this man. The name Abraham is one of the great names in history. His name will continue to be great through all eternity. While the call to Abraham marks a transition from a universal calling to a particular people, the reminder is given at the very beginning of Israel's history that the scope of God's concern and promises was universal. "...all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:3) The Jewish nation was formed from the multitude and from the Jewish nation would come the Savior of the whole world. The place at which Paul begins with Abraham is the same place we must begin ourselves, if we would be saved. It is the acknowledgement that there was nothing in Abraham that could have commended him to God. How was Abraham saved? The answer, as Paul shows, is that he was not saved by his own works. "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Romans 4:3 and Genesis 15:6) He believed the words of God, what God promised to him. The context of this Genesis 15:6 is the incident in which God took Abraham out under the night sky and promised him offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, even though at this time Abraham was eighty-five years old and had no children. Abraham's belief and God's accrediting him righteousness is the doctrine of justification by faith. It is the first verse in the Bible to speak of:1) "faith" 2) "righteousness" and 3) "justification." We know that people were saved before Abraham, but this is the first time any individual is specifically said to have been justified, credited with righteousness by God. How was this accomplished? When God saved Abraham, He did not pretend that something was true when it was not. As Paul views it, that righteousness was nothing other than the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Abraham believed in a promise. (The word "promise" appears four times in verses 13, 14, 16, 20 and as a verb in verse 21.) God made a multifaceted promise to Abraham, involving personal blessing, a land to be given to him and his posterity, blessing on his descendants, and a Redeemer to come. (See Genesis 12:2-3, 7; 15:5; 22:17-18) The first and most important thing about Abraham's faith is that it was faith in these promises of God. Abraham did not merely believe God in absence of all external supports; he believed God when the external evidences were actually and sharply to the contrary. This does not mean that faith is irrational; nothing is more rational than to believe God. But it does mean that true faith stands with God and His Word, even when doing so appears foolish from a human perspective. Abraham believed God wholeheartedly. We also must believe the Word of God and the promises He makes through His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 1:1) Then we will be credited with righteousness. The doctrine of
justification by grace through faith lays the foundation for a religion
which may be preached to everyone under heaven. This doctrine suits the
character of God and His relation to all people on earth. God is a
universal, not a national, God. Who may come to Jesus Christ? All who
trust in His atoning work, for all are lost in sin, yet all alike are
the desire of Jesus' saving love.
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