How then is one to trust such a claim? For those of a religious persuasion, it seems unthinkable to place one’s trust in something other than the core tenets of one’s religion. Therefore, would it not be helpful to examine the very one who was the first to believe as all those who follow? Would it not be helpful to see what it actually was that the religious one follows? Paul brings this very example to the forefront as he examines the life and faith of Abraham; the patriarch of those who in Paul’s day were religious. In this examination, Paul asserts that it was not Abraham’s obedience to the Law that was the source of salvation for him but rather the faith itself that was imputed to Abraham by God. In chapter four, verses one through three Paul says,
“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.””
The belief Abraham possessed was the trust of God’s promises that He would make Abraham a great nation although Abraham had no natural born son. The deadness of Abraham’s paternity was a barrier to this promise. The deadness of Sarah’s womb was a barrier to this promise and without the divine intervention of God, no child would be born let alone a nation. Some will attempt to claim that Abraham’s act of belief was the work that prompted the “reckoning” (ἐλογίσθη) of righteousness but a correct understanding of the story of Abraham and a clear acceptance of Paul’s illustration here naturally leads one to see that what Abraham did was believe the promise which seemed impossible by human standards. Why did Abraham believe what was otherwise impossible and insanity to believe? God moved to make the promise, endue Abraham with the belief to trust the promise and then fulfill the promise as a demonstration of His faithfulness to bring about what He has said. All this is precisely what Paul offers as proof to the religious, that the founder of Judaism did not find favor with God through works but through faith; that is, a simple trust in the fact that what God had promised would actually occur. In this way, God’s declaration of faith, that is declaring the Abraham justified, can only be accomplished by the One who has authority to make such declarations. Declarations that are not dependent upon nationality or lineage. It is not dependent on rites, observance or rituals. The declaration of being justified is dependent upon God who has the authority to declare. As the judge adjudicating the case of rebellion before His throne, only God may decide whether the evidence of guilt is sufficient, only God may decide whether the payment is acceptable and only God may declare the convicted offender free of any further culpability. Again, if this transaction depended upon possession of or obedience to the Law, only those who demonstrated such tendencies would or could be saved; everyone else would by necessity be excluded. Given that Paul has already established that all persons are guilty of breaking God’s Law and that no one even has the slightest inclination toward the things of God; all people stand in rightful judgment and without hope of earning any form of salvation. Because of this, Paul specifically says that it was for this purpose that God declared Abraham justified before the giving of Law and before the community of Israel. God declared Abraham justified apart from these things so that the basis of justification would be founded upon God and not upon any other thing.
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