As Paul examined how man is justified before God; that is, how he attains the righteousness which is revealed in the gospel (Romans 1:16), he has shown that the righteousness of God is separate from the Law and undeserved by man.

As he continued his search, he raised the question every Jew should have been interested in: What about Abraham? Had he attained righteousness through works? He poses that question by asking, “What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather hath found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not toward God. For what saith the scriptures? And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness” (Romans 4:2-5). The problem with which Paul dealt was with the Jew. He believed Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the Law in order to be saved (Acts 15:4). Unwittingly, the Jewish stand regarding the Gentile would have excluded Abraham from being accounted righteous in God’s sight. As the question from Romans 4:25 shows, Abraham was both uncircumcised and lived 430 years before the Law was given when it was said of him that he was “accounted righteous” through his faith. So, Abraham was in the same state as were the Gentiles of Paul’s day, yet what Jew was willing to affirm that Abraham’s condition was no different from the Gentiles, that he was lost because he was not circumcised nor kept the Law?

Many of today’s religious leaders make no difference between one who seeks to earn his salvation through works, and one who obeys a command God gave and through his obedience demonstrates his faith in God. Would we ever have heard of Abraham had he never left Haran at the Lord’s command, or had he never sought to sacrifice his son Isaac? It was through Abraham’s leaving home and country to go to Canaan that he demonstrated his faith in God. It was not until he had laid Isaac on the altar and lifted his hand with a knife to plunge it into his son that God responded, “Do thy son no harm. Now I know that thou fearest God” (Genesis 22:12).

When Paul wrote, “Now to him that worketh, his reward is not of grace, but of debt” he did not speak of obeying a command God gave such as to repent and be baptized. He was speaking of one who thought he could earn salvation by keeping the Law, and that because he had obeyed, God “owed” salvation to him. Many Jews believed that he could. Moses had written, “The man that doeth the righteousness of the law shall live therein.” On the other hand, when Paul further wrote, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness” (Romans 4:5), the statement cannot be taken to mean, “He that obeyeth not.” His faith is reckoned for righteousness. Two different attitudes are illustrated in Paul’s statement. There were those who believed that physical obedience was all that was necessary to be saved: faith played no part in redemption. Then there is another attitude: one immediately obeyed the Lord’s commands, knowing that whatever he did, he did not deserve to be saved. If he was saved, it was by God’s grace. David wrote, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin” (Romans 4:7; cp. Psalm 32:1-2). According to David, righteousness does not come through earning it, it comes through grace and forgiveness. Upon that basis, Abraham, though neither circumcised nor a keeper of the Law, was accounted righteous, and if he could be then so could the Gentile who walked by faith as did he.