READ: Rom. 4:1-15: … that he might be the father of all those … who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised …
Paul gives further depth. He goes back in time to Abraham, especially because the Jews so often appealed to him. He was the man with whom God made His covenant. They descended from him. He received from God the command for circumcision as a sign of the covenant.
So it was safe to measure yourself against him. In itself that is good, but the question is: what was Abraham’s relationship with God really like? Paul examines how his justification came about. At what moment and for what reason was Abraham declared righteous before God? In other words: when and how was righteousness credited to him by God?
Paul quotes Gen. 15:6. At that time, Abraham had already obeyed the call of the LORD and gone to the land of Canaan. With that call he had already received rich promises (Gen. 12:2-4). In Gen. 15 the LORD expands on His covenant. He promises Abraham a son of his own as heir and ancestor of a great people, and He points him to the stars in the sky. This is a matter of marvelous grace. Verse 6 then says about Abraham: “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
That faith did not come through a work of the law, nor was Abraham circumcised at that time. Abraham offered nothing on his part, but simply believed God at His word. That faith—which was not a merit either—God counted to him as righteousness.
So Abraham, as a sinful man, still stood right before God. From his side it was only grace, grace that was granted at that time because Christ would one day pay for Abraham’s sins too, at the cross of Golgotha (see Rom. 3:25).
Paul now draws a conclusion: the blessing of Ps. 32:1 applies not only to the circumcised but also to the uncircumcised, if they walk in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith. To plead on works of the law makes faith empty.
What made Abraham show such great faith?
Sing: Ps. 32:1