The Audacity of Grace: God Justifies the Ungodly Text: Romans 4:1-8
Introduction: The Two Religions
There are, at bottom, only two religions in the world. They are not Christianity and Islam, or Christianity and Buddhism. The two fundamental religions are the religion of human achievement and the religion of divine accomplishment. One is the religion of the ladder, where man tries to climb his way up to God. The other is the religion of the cross, where God came down to man. One is the religion of works, wages, and boasting. The other is the religion of faith, grace, and worship. Every man-made religion, from the most primitive paganism to the most sophisticated secular humanism, is a variation on the first theme. They all operate on the principle of karma, of merit, of earning your way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only religion of the second kind, and it is an offense to the pride of man.
The doctrine of justification by faith alone is not a minor point of theological disagreement. It is the continental divide of all theology. It is, as Luther said, the article upon which the church stands or falls. If we get this wrong, we get everything wrong. If we attempt to mix these two religions, adding a little bit of our work to Christ's finished work, we do not create a hybrid; we create a heresy. We nullify grace entirely. The apostle Paul understood this, and in this fourth chapter of Romans, he goes to the very heart of the Old Testament to prove that his gospel is not an innovation but is the ancient faith of the patriarchs.
He is going to bring two of Israel's greatest heroes into the courtroom as star witnesses for the prosecution of works-righteousness. He will call Abraham, the father of the faithful, and David, the king after God's own heart, to the stand. And he will ask them one simple question: how is a man made right with God? Their answer, as we will see, demolishes every attempt we make to justify ourselves and leaves us with nothing but the audacious, scandalous, and glorious grace of God.
The Text
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 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 wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
(Romans 4:1-8 LSB)
Abraham's Empty Hands (vv. 1-3)
Paul begins with the patriarch's patriarch, the fountainhead of the Jewish people.
"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God!" (Romans 4:1-2)
This is a brilliant rhetorical move. Paul anticipates the objection from his Jewish readers. "You're preaching this radical gospel of grace, Paul, but what about our father Abraham? He was a righteous man! He obeyed God, he left his home, he was willing to offer up Isaac!" Paul grants the premise for the sake of argument. If Abraham was justified, declared righteous by God, on the basis of his performance, then he would indeed have grounds for boasting. From a human perspective, Abraham's resume was impressive. He could look at his life and find things to be proud of.
But then Paul drops the hammer: "but not before God!" In the ultimate courtroom, before the bar of absolute holiness, human boasting is silenced. All our righteousnesses, as Isaiah says, are as filthy rags. What looks impressive to us is stained and worthless before a perfectly holy God. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and the ground is level at the throne of judgment. No one will have anything to boast about. So, if Abraham could not be justified by his works, then the case is closed for everyone else. If the father of the nation couldn't do it, his children certainly cannot.
So how was he justified? Paul does not appeal to tradition or reason, but to the final authority:
"For what does the Scripture say? 'ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.'" (Romans 4:3)
This is the bedrock. Paul quotes Genesis 15:6. The word "counted" here is the Greek word logizomai. It is an accounting term. It means to credit, to reckon, to impute. It's a bookkeeping entry. God looked at Abraham's faith, his simple trust in the promise of God, and He credited that faith to Abraham's account as if it were perfect righteousness. It is crucial to understand this. It was not Abraham's act of believing that was meritorious. Faith is not a "work" that earns salvation. Faith is the empty hand that receives the gift. God did not say, "Abraham's faith is so wonderful it is now righteousness." No, God credited righteousness to him on the basis of his faith. This is the great doctrine of imputation. It is an alien righteousness, a righteousness from outside of us, credited to our account.
Wages vs. Gift (vv. 4-5)
Paul now explains the logic of this divine accounting by contrasting two mutually exclusive systems.
"Now to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness," (Romans 4:4-5 LSB)
Here are the two religions in their starkest form. The first is the system of works. In this system, you perform a task, and you receive a wage. The wage is not a gift; it is a debt. Your employer owes it to you. If salvation operates on this principle, then God owes heaven to those who perform adequately. The problem, of course, is that no one performs adequately. We are all failed employees who have broken our contract with the divine employer.
The second system is the system of grace. And notice who the recipient is: "the one who does not work." This is offensive to our bootstrap sensibilities. This is the person who shows up to the divine paymaster with nothing to offer, no timecard to punch, no record of service. He has abandoned all attempts to earn his salvation. And what does he do instead? He "believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly." This is one of the most scandalous and glorious phrases in all of Scripture. God does not justify the righteous, the religious, or the respectable. He justifies the ungodly. He declares righteous those who are, in and of themselves, guilty and wicked. This is the heart of the gospel. God's grace is not for those who are tidying themselves up for Him. It is for rebels and enemies and sinners. And for the one who abandons his own efforts and trusts this God, his faith, that empty-handed receiving, is "counted as righteousness." It is a gift, not a wage.
David's Blessed Assurance (vv. 6-8)
As if Abraham's testimony were not enough, Paul calls his second witness, King David.
"just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 'BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.'" (Romans 4:6-8 LSB)
Paul quotes from Psalm 32, a psalm David wrote after his horrific sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. If anyone knew what it was to be ungodly, it was David in that moment. And how did David find peace? How was he restored? He speaks of the supreme "blessing", the makarism, the profound happiness, of the one to whom God "counts righteousness apart from works." There it is again. It is a righteousness that is reckoned, imputed, and it has nothing to do with our performance.
And what does this imputed righteousness look like from the sinner's perspective? David describes it with three powerful phrases. First, our lawless deeds are "forgiven." The word means to be sent away, to be released. Second, our sins are "covered." They are hidden from the sight of the holy Judge, covered by the blood of the sacrifice. Third, and most powerfully, the Lord "will not take into account" our sin. Here is that same accounting word, logizomai, again, but this time in the negative. God does not credit our sin against us.
This is the doctrine of double imputation. Our sin is not counted to us because it was counted to Christ on the cross. And Christ's perfect righteousness is counted to us when we believe. God's divine ledger has been perfectly balanced, not by erasing our debt, but by transferring it to His Son's account, and then transferring His Son's infinite assets to ours. This is the blessing David sang about. This is the righteousness Abraham received. This is the gospel.
Conclusion: Abandon Your Ladder
The message of this passage is a radical assault on human pride. It tells us to throw away our ladders. It tells us to stop trying to impress God. It tells us to come to Him as Abraham and David did, with empty hands and guilty consciences, and to simply believe His promise.
Are you trying to be justified by works? Perhaps you are not building a tower of Babel, but just a small, respectable brick wall of good deeds. You go to church, you try to be a good person, you give to the poor, and you hope that on the last day, your good will outweigh your bad. Paul is telling you that this is a fool's errand. You are operating in the system of wages, and the only wage your sin has earned you is death.
The gospel invites you to abandon that system entirely. It invites you to be like the man who "does not work." It invites you to admit that you are ungodly. And it invites you to believe upon the God who justifies people just like you, not because of what you have done, but because of what His Son has done for you. This is the only path to the blessing David describes. It is the only way to have your sins forgiven, your shame covered, and your guilt removed forever. It is the only way to stand before God, not in the filthy rags of your own righteousness, but clothed in the perfect, imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.