Romans Chapter 4 Vs. 5

 

Abraham Justified by Faith

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Rom 4:5

But salvation is always a sovereignly given gift of God’s grace to those who believe. Since faith is contrasted with work, faith must mean the end of any attempt to earn God’s favor through personal merit.

If work could get you into heaven, then there would be no place for faith. In the flesh, we all die, but the life of importance is in the spirit which takes faith to inherit.

No one can work themselves into heaven. That is not the key that opens the door. The key is faith without works. The secret is, after you have had faith and it has opened the door for you, then you desire to work for Him.

Galatians 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

So, faith plus nothing makes us righteous.

“Justifieth the ungodly”: Only those who relinquish all claims to goodness and acknowledge they are ungodly are candidates for justification.

So conversely to Vs. 4, a person who is not working but is believing on (these participles are in the pres. tense) God who justifies the wicked (asebē, “the ungodly, impious”; cf. Rom. 5:6), his faith is credited as righteousness (cf. Rom. 4:3). Abraham was the latter kind of person as the Scripture stated. He was justified not because he worked for it but because he trusted God.