How God Has Always Saved People (Romans 4:1-12)

Big Idea: God's people have always been saved by grace through faith—nothing more, nothing less.

The most important question we'll ever answer: How can we be made right with God? This is a one-question final exam. Pass or fail. Everyone faces it. There's only one right answer. And the stakes are eternal.

Here's how most of us naturally want to answer: we can earn a right standing before God. It's how we answer everything else. Work hard. Beat the odds. Try harder. Do more. We bring the same playbook to God.

But in the book of Romans, Paul argues the opposite. How can we be made right with God? There’s only one way, he says: by putting our faith in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished at the cross. Not our performance. Not our résumé. His finished work on the cross. It’s the only way. It’s the only right answer to the most important question we will ever face.

This goes so completely against how we think that we have a hard time accepting it. Something in us wants to approach God based on our own righteousness, to believe we have something to contribute, to treat it like everything else in life. But this will never work, and Paul is going to show us why using two case studies. When we get Paul’s point, it changes everything.

Two Case Studies

In the Old Testament, two names tower above the rest: Abraham and David.

Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation, the friend of God, the man through whom all nations would be blessed. He's the acknowledged father of God's people and, apart from Jesus himself, arguably the most significant person in Scripture.

David was a man after God's own heart, the greatest king Israel ever knew. Under his reign, the nation reached its peak. He is the king from whose line the Messiah would come, the standard by which all future kings would be measured.

These weren't ordinary believers. They were giants of faith. If you wanted to build a case that someone could contribute to their own salvation, that human righteousness could matter in the equation, these are the two people you'd choose.

You can imagine the Jewish believers in Rome bristling at Paul's teaching: "Wait, Paul. What about Abraham and David? They were righteous. Are you saying their works didn't matter? You're dishonoring them!"

This wasn't a minor objection. It cut to the heart of everything. If Abraham and David were exceptions to the gospel, then maybe there were other exceptions too. And if that were true, Jewish believers would have a legitimate advantage over Gentile believers—better lineage, better credentials, better standing before God.

And yet look at what Paul says as he considers these two case studies.

Abraham

Take Abraham. Paul asks the question in verse 1: “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?” It’s a key question: did Abraham gain a right standing with God based by performing good works or keeping the law, or was he saved by grace alone?

After all, rabbis taught that Abraham was justified by his righteousness. Think about his life.

• When God said "go," Abraham left everything—home, family, security—immediately. No questions, no negotiations. This wasn't passive belief; it was costly obedience. Abraham proved his devotion by choosing God over comfort.
• Abraham believed God would give him descendants even when it seemed impossible. The twenty-five year wait was itself a test Abraham passed. Each year without fulfillment was another opportunity to grow bitter or give up. Instead, Abraham stayed faithful.
• Then there’s Abraham's greatest act. When God asked him to sacrifice Isaac — his long-awaited son, the carrier of God's promises — Abraham obeyed immediately. He submitted regardless of personal cost.

In fact, some rabbis taught that the faithfulness of Abraham (and the other patriarchs) created a kind of “spiritual bank account” that later Jews could “withdraw” from when they needed righteousness.

So is Abraham an exception? Was Abraham saved by his good works? If so, there’s a problem, Paul says in verse 2: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” it would give us legitimate bragging rights for eternity. We could honestly say, "I earned this. I'm here because I was wiser, stronger, or more committed than others who fell short." Heaven would echo with the sound of self-congratulation rather than wonder at God's mercy.

But that isn’t the case at all, even with Abraham. Look at what Paul says in verses 3 to 5:

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…

How was Abraham saved? Not by his own works. He was saved because he "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

That phrase "counted to" matters—it appears repeatedly throughout this chapter. It's an accounting term describing how something gets credited to someone's account. Picture opening your bank app and discovering a deposit you didn't make. You didn't earn it. No one owed it to you. Someone simply chose to give it.

This is where we encounter the theological term "imputed." Here's what it means: Just as Adam's sin is imputed to us through our natural connection to him, God imputes Christ's righteousness to those who belong to him. In a divine exchange, Jesus receives the credit for our sins while we receive the credit for his righteousness and all he accomplished through his suffering.

That's what happened with Abraham. When he believed God, God credited him with righteousness he didn't possess. God treated him as perfectly righteous, not because he was, but because he believed.

Paul pushes further. He says if you go with the works plan, you get paid what you're owed: "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due." You don't want this. If you sign up for the plan where God pays you what he owes, you're in serious trouble—because the only thing God owes sinners is judgment.

But there's another way: "To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." When we stop relying on our own goodness, when we quit trying to earn our salvation, when we simply believe and put our faith in Jesus—God credits us with a righteousness that isn't ours.

There's only one way to be right with God, and it's been this way from the beginning. It doesn't matter how good you are. The only way is faith—holding out empty hands to receive God's gift. The only way is abandoning all hope in ourselves and what we can do, and believing in God's promise to save us through Jesus. This has always been the only way.

Friends, this means we need to ask ourselves an honest question. When you think about standing before God, what gives you confidence? Is it that you're a decent person? That you've tried hard? That you're better than most? That you go to church, read your Bible, serve faithfully? Those things aren't bad in themselves, but if you're counting on them to make you right with God, you've missed the point completely.

Abraham teaches us that the ground of our acceptance isn't our spiritual achievements. It's God's gift, received through faith alone. The most qualified person who ever lived couldn't earn this. So stop trying. Come to God with empty hands and a believing heart. Tell him you're abandoning the works plan and trusting entirely in what Jesus has done. That's how Abraham was saved. That's how we're saved too. It’s the only way we can be saved.

David

Okay, that’s one case study, but Paul gives us another one to drive the point home. Look at verses 6 and 7:

…just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

What about David? We've already talked about his credentials: David was a man after God's own heart, Israel's greatest king, the one from whose line the Messiah would come. But David, too, was saved not by his works, but simply because God credited him with righteousness he didn't earn or deserve.

David was a great man with great faith. He was also a great sinner, guilty of adultery and murder. His sins were so serious that God's law made no provision for them. There was no sacrifice he could offer, no ritual that could cleanse him.

David had no right to God's pardon. He had no record of his own to trust in. His only hope was righteousness credited from outside himself, righteousness he could never produce. The same is true for us.

So what does David say in Psalm 32? Not, "Blessed are those who are righteous and deserve to be saved." No. He says, "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

There's only ever been one way to be right with God: faith alone in Christ alone. This was true in Abraham's day, in David's day, and it's true now. Any teaching that says otherwise isn't just wrong; it’s dangerous.

There are only two ways to live. One is trying to earn your standing before God by trusting in your own righteousness. But this path leads to misery. Self-righteous people live weighed down, constantly performing, comparing, judging others, never quite measuring up to their own standards. They're either proud when they feel they're winning or anxious when they sense they're falling behind. And here's the brutal truth: it doesn't work. None of us are good enough.

But there's another way, the only way that leads to life. True joy comes from admitting your sins and hearing Jesus say, "I forgive you. All of it. Completely." It comes from knowing that a righteousness you didn't earn has been credited to your account, not because you deserved it, but because you trusted in what Jesus did for you, what you could never do for yourself.

One More Thing

Paul's made his case, but the argument isn't over. He pictures someone raising an objection, likely a Jewish Christian troubled by where this is heading. Paul's logic seems to put Jews and Gentiles on equal footing, which feels wrong. After all, Abraham and David were justified by faith, yes, but they were also circumcised. So here's the question: Is justification available to everyone, or only to those who've been circumcised like Abraham and David? Do you need to meet certain conditions first before God will accept you?

Listen to what Paul says:

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Here’s the key question: is circumcision part of the deal? Paul’s answers with a question: When was Abraham made right with God? If you study the Hebrew Scriptures, it was at least 20 years before he was circumcised. Abraham is actually an example of someone who was made right before God even though he hadn’t been circumcised. His circumcision was sign and a seal of his justification before God.

So, Paul says, he is not only the spiritual father of everyone who believes whether they’re circumcised or not. He’s the spiritual father of both Jewish and Gentile believers.

No ritual can save us. In the old covenant, circumcision was a distinguishing mark of God's covenant people. In the new covenant, believer's baptism is a distinguishing mark. Baptism is important, but it can't save you. It comes after being made right with God.

How many of us secretly wonder if we've done enough to be accepted by God? We believe in Jesus, but we keep adding extras to the deal. Paul's point cuts through all of that: Abraham was made right with God before he did the thing that defined him as one of God's people. God accepted him first, then gave him the sign.

The same is true for you. If you're in Christ, God has already declared you righteous. Baptism doesn't make you acceptable; it declares what's already true. Your obedience flows from being accepted, not toward being accepted. Stop adding to the gospel. You're already in if you believe. Now live like someone who's been declared righteous, not someone still trying to prove you deserve it.

The most important question you will ever face is how you can be made right with God. Here is the only right answer according to Romans. God's people have always been saved by grace through faith—nothing more, nothing less. It’s never about doing more or working harder. It’s about resting in what Jesus has done for you, and coming to him in repentance and faith.

Maybe you're tired of feeling you haven't done enough, or tempted to rest in your good works. Maybe you're haunted by the sense you've fallen too far behind. Hear this: the ground beneath your feet, if you're in Christ, is not your own effort but his finished work. Your failures won't disqualify you; your successes won't improve your standing.

If you're clinging to your record, lay it down. If you're burdened by shame, step into the joy of forgiveness. If you wonder where you stand, hear God's verdict: counted righteous through Jesus, now and forever.

Every story of salvation God has ever written—Abraham’s, David’s, yours, mine—is a story of grace received by faith. There’s no other way. The answer to “How can I be made right with God?” will never change: Jesus, by grace, through faith.