A Case Study of the Gospel (2) How Abraham WAS made right with God (Rom 4.16-25)

In the first half of Romans 4, we saw how Abraham was not made right with God — not by works, not by circumcision, not by the law. Now Paul unpacks how Abraham was made right with God — by faith. He has already told us the answer four times in this chapter (verses 3, 5, 9, 13), but now he unpacks what that means. And he tells us something in these verses about what saving faith looks like — which is very helpful, very practical, and very important, because not all faith is saving faith.

1. Why Must We Be Saved by Faith? (verse 16)

"Therefore the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring." Paul gives two reasons why salvation must come by faith.

First, so that it may be by grace. If the promise came any other way — through anything we do rather than by faith — then it would not be a gift. It would be something earned. But salvation is a gift, because we do not deserve it and we cannot earn it. The only way we can receive it is if God gives it and we simply accept it.

I will never be able to buy a Ferrari — not even a second-hand one. But I could own a Ferrari if a rich friend gave me one as a gift. Give me the keys and I could drive off in it right now. But if it depends on my resources, on my bank account, then I have no hope whatsoever. That is how salvation works. Faith is not some sort of good work that earns us salvation. Faith is just the empty hand of the beggar held out to receive a coin. It involves our activity — it is something we do — but it is not something we contribute. It is resting on what God does, not what we do.

Second, so that it can be guaranteed. Imagine that salvation depended on your performance — on how well you keep the Ten Commandments, how many hours you spend praying, how pure you keep your heart. Can you imagine how horrible life would be? You could never go to bed, never rest, never relax. Your whole life would be one agonising nightmare: "Have I done enough today? Where am I on the graph? Am I just underneath the borderline? Maybe if I get up early tomorrow and do another hundred extra good things, that will push me over." If salvation depends on what you do, it can never be guaranteed. It is like saying to a child, "I will buy you a bike for Christmas if you get a hundred percent in all your exams." Maybe she will get the bike, maybe she will not.

But Paul says that is not how it works. The promise comes by faith so that it may be guaranteed. If you are a Christian this morning, if you are trusting Jesus Christ to be your Saviour, then your salvation is guaranteed. You do not need to worry. You do not need to be afraid. You are going to make it to heaven.

2. What Does Saving Faith Look Like? (verses 17–22)

Verse 16 calls Abraham "the father of us all." If you are a Christian, Abraham is your father — the father of everyone made right with God through faith like he was. Paul is saying Abraham is the prototype believer. You know what a prototype is? If Elon Musk brings out a prototype of a new Tesla model, the prototype is the first one made — the first in the series, showing you what all the others are going to look like. Abraham is the prototype believer. Paul walks around this model pointing out different features: "This is what faith looks like, and this, and this."

The key feature is that saving faith is God-centred. This is vital for us to understand, especially in a place like Galway, because faith in itself can be a really good thing or a very dangerous thing. Its value depends entirely on where you put it.

Imagine someone diagnosed with aggressive cancer who has a sincere, unshakeable faith that drinking goat's milk will cure them. They believe they need no chemotherapy, no surgery, no medicine — just goat's milk. Their faith may be strong and sincere, but it is useless. In fact, it is worse than useless — it is harmful, because they are putting faith in the wrong place. They need to put their faith in their oncologist and the treatment he recommends.

The tragedy is that so many human beings today are putting faith in false religion to save them. Their faith is real. Their faith is sincere. Their faith is very strong. But the object of their faith is false, and so their faith will lead them not to salvation but to destruction. Abraham did not just have faith full stop — he had faith in the true and living God. Verse 3: "Abraham believed God." Verse 17: "He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed." Verse 21: "He was fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

What God was promising Abraham was ludicrous by human reckoning. Both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the idea on different occasions. Paul says in verse 18: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed." Abraham was not some naive, gullible, primitive fool. He understood the facts of biology perfectly well. Verse 19: "Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah's womb was also dead."

And yet, in spite of all appearances, Abraham believed that God was able to do whatever he promised. He believed in the God "who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" (verse 17). If Abraham had been depending on what he and Sarah could do, they would have had no hope at all. But he was not depending on human ability. He was putting his faith in God — in God's power, grace, faithfulness, and wisdom. He took God at his word and trusted him to do it. That is what saving faith looks like.

3. How Are We Saved by Faith? (verses 23–25)

Verses 23–24: "The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." This is not just about Abraham. This is about how you are saved.

Think about the promise Abraham believed: he would have a supernatural son — a miracle baby who would bring blessing to the whole world. Abraham's body was as good as dead, and Sarah's womb was dead. But God brought life out of this dead couple. This miracle child Isaac was actually just a picture of a far greater miracle baby — an infinitely greater supernatural Son that God would send into the world, born not to a barren woman but to a virgin woman. God promised Abraham that through Isaac all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That promise was fulfilled because Jesus Christ was born in the line of Isaac, and through Jesus, salvation and blessing come to all the nations of the world.

How does Jesus give life to the world? Paul gives the answer in a nutshell in verse 25: "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." On the cross, the Son of God died the death we deserve. He took the punishment for all our sins. He went to hell in our place so that we never have to. He paid the infinite debt we owe God because of our countless sins — paid it in full, with nothing left for us to pay.

But if Jesus had only died and not risen, we would only be half saved — and half a salvation is no salvation at all. It is not enough that we are not condemned; we need to be positively made righteous. Having our sins paid for leaves us in a kind of neutral no-man's land. It is like someone who needs a heart transplant: it is not enough to take out the old, diseased heart — you need to put in a new, healthy one. In Christ, God has done everything needed to save us completely. On the cross, Jesus was treated as a sinner in our place. In the resurrection, he was declared righteous in our place. He dies for us and he rises for us — so that our sins are condemned in him and we are made righteous in him.

A Beautiful Picture of the Gospel

This whole case study of Abraham is such a beautiful picture of how a person gets right with God. Here is a man who recognises that, left to himself, he has no future. His body is as good as dead. He has no hope, no strength to do anything about his situation. His life is destined to end in emptiness. Then God comes to him with a promise: "I will give you everything you need — a future, hope, blessing, more blessing than you can possibly imagine." The man believes the promise, clings to it, and casts himself on the God who made it.

That is a picture of us. Left to ourselves — no hope, no future, no resources, dead in our sins. Then God comes with the wonderful promise of the gospel and offers us life and hope and an eternal, glorious future. He says, "I have done everything that is needed. You do not have to pay anything. It is a free gift. It is yours for the taking. All you have to do is reach out in faith and take it."

Listen to the full sermon above or explore more from the Romans series.

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