A Promise We Could Never Earn

Paul begins with Abraham. If Abraham had earned God's approval through his works, he would have had something to boast about. But Scripture says his right standing with God came through believing God. Paul compares this with a worker's pay. Wages are owed for work done; a gift is freely given. God does not owe us forgiveness because we have worked hard enough.

Notice who God welcomes: people who are guilty and cannot make themselves right. Faith is not another kind of payment. It is trusting the God who gives what we cannot earn. Paul then brings in David, who described the joy of having sins forgiven rather than counted against us. I find great comfort here. Our hope is not that God will overlook the truth about us. Our hope is that He truly forgives.

Paul asks whether this blessing belongs only to the circumcised. Circumcision was the physical sign of God's covenant, His binding promise to Abraham and his family. For many Jewish readers, it marked who belonged to God's people. But Paul draws attention to the order of events: God counted Abraham righteous before Abraham was circumcised.

The sign did not create Abraham's right standing with God. It confirmed the right standing he already had through faith. This means Abraham is the father of all who believe, including Gentiles who have not been circumcised. He is also the father of circumcised people who share his faith, not merely his outward mark.

Religious signs have meaning, but they cannot take the place of trust. Belonging to a believing family or taking part in worship cannot do our believing for us.

God's promise that Abraham and his offspring would inherit the world did not come through keeping the law. It came through the right standing God gives by faith. Paul describes the wide reach of God's promise, beyond one family or one land. If receiving it depended on keeping the law, faith would have no purpose and the promise would fail.

The law exposes wrongdoing and brings judgment. Without a stated command, there is no breaking of that command, though sin still exists. The law cannot provide the rescue sinners need.

That is why the promise rests on grace, God's freely given kindness. It is secure for all who share Abraham's faith, whether Jewish or Gentile. Abraham trusted the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist. The promise rests on God's power, not ours.

Abraham's situation gave him no natural reason to expect a child. He was about one hundred years old, and Sarah could no longer bear children. Yet God had promised that Abraham would become the father of many nations. Abraham faced the facts without treating them as the final word.

Paul highlights the settled direction of Abraham's faith. This does not mean Abraham never struggled. It means that his trust rested on God's ability to do what He had promised. As Abraham trusted, he gave God glory by treating Him as faithful and able.

I want us to notice what made this faith strong. It was not Abraham's power to produce a result. It was the power of the One he believed. This passage is not a promise that every personal wish will come true. Abraham's hope rested on a promise God had actually made.

The words about Abraham being counted righteous were not recorded for Abraham alone. They were written for us as well. We also receive a right standing with God through faith. Our trust is in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Paul ends by joining Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus was handed over to death because of our sins. He was raised so that we could be made right with God. His resurrection declares that death did not defeat Him and that His saving work truly brings life.

We are not being asked to copy Abraham's life until we become worthy. We are being invited to trust the same faithful God, now revealed through what He has done in Jesus. Abraham looked ahead to God's promised work. We look to the Savior who has died and risen.