Romans 4:1-12

Did you notice in the start of these verses Paul calls Abraham our father to Roman Christians who were mostly Gentiles? Typically we call Abraham the father of the faithful. If we are people of the true faith in Jesus Christ, that is what we are. The main theme of these verses is that we are saved by grace alone and not by works. Hence we have the quotation from the Old Testament that states: "Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness." To those who want to work their way to Heaven what they would do would be counted as a small payment on a debt that never could ever be paid. Now in verse 5 we have the word justify or justified. It means to be totally cleansed of guilt. It is used in a negative way in chapter 3:20, "by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified", then in verse 24, "we are justified freely by His grace through faith in Christ", then in chapter 5:9, "we are justified by Christ's blood." In verses 6-8, when we know Christ sin is not put on our account. This is found in Psalm 32. It's a wonderful Psalm about repentance and turning to God and the difference it makes. We are not talking here about Jews who received a sign of circumcision because Abraham was not circumcised when he first believed God. This means receiving God's grace has nothing to do with any outward works. It is simply believing that Christ died for our sins and we have nothing else to pay for our right to go to Heaven. However, Abraham did act on his faith and it did show in his life.