Paul's Case for faith in Romans 3-4

Paul's case in the book of Romans could not be argued more astoundingly than he has argued in Romans 3:21-4:25. This comes directly following Paul’s universal condemnation of man’s sinfulness in light of God’s righteousness. The case begins on the foundation that there is now revealed a righteousness from God for mankind apart from the Law of Moses (Romans 3:21). This righteousness may be acquired through faith in the Lord Jesus. (3:22) The need is universal, and Paul points this out again in 3:23, along with the justification which comes by God’s grace through faith in the work of Christ in redemption by His blood sacrifice which works as an atonement for our sins.(3:24-25) Paul gives the reasoning why this was the method in 3:26, which is so that God is both just, because He has still required death as the payment for sin; and the justifier, because He can now freely pardon sinners and impute their sins to Christ.

The result of this offer to trust Christ leads then, to a universal solution. The universal problem is sin; and the universal offer, to those who trust in Him, is pardon for any who put their trust in Christ—whether Jew of Gentile. This excludes boasting because it is apart from our own righteous deeds of obeying the Law. However, this doesn’t mean the Law is disregarded; on the contrary, it is upheld because Christ has suffered and died in our place. This is the argument of 3:27-31.

At this point, in Chapter 4, Paul calls two witnesses to prove his case: Abraham and David. These two, Paul argues, demonstrate that faith has always been the method by which God has saved His people from their sin. This is shown in verses 6-7 (speaking of David) and verses 10-11 (speaking of Abraham). Paul argues that it was faith that saved Abraham, as evidenced by the verse in Genesis 15, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Abraham’s circumcision, in obedience to God’s command, came after His justification, argues Paul, not before.

At this point, it may seem that James is at odds with Paul. After all, Paul is here saying that Abraham was justified through his faith, and yet in James 2, James says that Abraham was justified through his works. Is our Bible now contradictory? Not at all! (though I’m not sure anyone in this class thought so anyways…) The harmony comes when we understand what each writer was speaking of by the term “justified”. Paul is speaking of justification before God, as has been noted above. However, James’ use of justification is used in terms of justification before men, as evidenced by the examples given. The way to harmonize these two would be to say that our justification before God is immediate and internal, but in order for men to see that we have been justified, they must see our actions—our “fruits of repentance.” This is what James is speaking of—the outward sign of justification before men showing the inward work of justification before God. It is important that these two be harmonized in this way, because if they are harmonized in the reverse order, we are left with earning our justification by our works before men, and this would clearly contradict other Scriptures.