Romans 4:3

Romans 4:3. For what faith the Scripture! This introduces the Scriptural proof of the fact that Abraham has no ground of glorying toward God, and hence of the main position that the Old Testament teaches that justification is by faith. The passage quoted is Genesis 15:6, cited also in Galatians 3:6; James 2:23; but the E. V. varies the form in each case. The New Testament citations all follow the LXX: And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness (Heb: ‘And He reckoned it to him for righteousness'). The saying was with reference to the promise of an heir, as detailed in Romans 4:17-22. This believing was reckoned unto Abraham for righteousness. The word we translate ‘reckon' occurs eleven times in this chapter, and is represented in the E. V. by ‘count,' ‘reckon,' ‘impute;' elsewhere in this Epistle by ‘account' (so Galatians 3:6). The idea of putting to one's account is obvious; and the full expression is a technical one, the equivalent of God's act of justification. ‘That is transferred to the person and imputed to him, which in and for itself does not belong to him' (Cremer, Bib. Lexicon). The following explanations attempt to avoid this sense: his faith was taken into account with a view to making him righteous; his faith being a new principle of obedience, was regarded as already a complete righteousness; he was justified on account of the merit of his faith, not through his faith. But all these are opposed to the proper sense of ‘reckon' as well as to that of the entire phrase. Furthermore, they are opposed not only to the line of Paul's argument, but to the facts of spiritual experience: the confusion of justification and sanctification has invariably, sooner or later, led to a decrease of holiness. As respects the character of Abraham's faith, it differs from Christian faith, as the promise differs from the fulfilment of the gospel salvation, and as hope differs from fruition; but the essential element in both is unconditional trust in God's truth and mercy. How far Abraham, in thus believing, had faith in a Messiah, we cannot tell. In any case, his faith was not a purely subjective matter; it rested upon God, real and revealed, as its object, and the contents of his faith would correspond with the extent of the revelation. It is not for us, who have the personal Lord Jesus Christ as the object of our faith, to use the case of Abraham as a proof that one can have Christian faith and yet reject Him. Meyer goes so far as to say: ‘Abraham's faith had reference to the divine promise, and indeed to the promise which he, the man trusted by God and enlightened by God, recognized as that which embraced in it the future Messiah (John 8:56).' In the case of the Christian, the object of faith is the personal Messiah, the contents of faith respect [is person and work. One who believes in Him will not be seeking to diminish the contents of his faith.