As we move into we see Paul laying out the encouragement that we can fully rely on faith for our salvation.  The struggle is real to grasp the full truth of faith alone.  Many cannot accept something for nothing.  But Paul shows us that we can rest in the truth of something (God’s grace given by love) for nothing (only our faith and acceptance.)

Paul takes his readers back to Abraham.  Abraham did good things, but he cannot boast that he was doing what God asked.  God didn’t lay out the rules or what needed to be done, but instead only asked that Abraham believe in God.  And it was by Abraham’s belief, his faith, that God credited righteousness to him.

Paul differentiates the difference between God’s promise and what we expect which is we must earn God’s grace.  But Paul says that if we must earn it, it no longer makes it grace, but instead that makes it a wage.  And that is not what God has set up.  He does not provide a wage to well earning Christians, but he provides a gift of grace that requires us to accept it and trust God at His word.

So what is God providing?  God has setup a table with all his righteousness.  A meal already prepared.  What must we do?  We only have to take a seat at the table and trust in God and his salvation through Jesus.

God is not asking us to clean up first before we can trust in him.  So many people thing they are not “good enough” to accept God’s grace.  Paul reiterates here that God does not require us to clean up first.  And to the Christian who trust in God but messes up, God’s grace does not leave us because we fall short.  Everyone falls short!  That is not how we enter relationship.  Was Abraham declared righteous before or after he was circumcised?  It was before!  It was Abraham’s trust in God that was the key to receiving God’s righteousness.

You can have righteousness and not know what the law is.  That’s ok.  We know what God says.  Trust him, and we receive righteousness.  And from that point on you can start to learn and work through what it means to being faithful to God.  The observance of the law is a reflection of of relationship with God.

But we warned of those who say that it is through works that get to faith.  Be warned of the statement that I can earn my own way.  Because that statement and life is deemed worthless. Because God gives no wages, but only a gift that needs to be accepted.  You will find your self working and working only to find yourself empty.  But instead accept God’s promise and be instantly filled.

Imagine you are walking down a street and you come upon a homeless child living in a box.  You decide you are going to adopt that child to give them a better life.  How would you announce that offer?  Would you offer the child a loving family and safe home only if they perform the assigned chores and follow the rules of the house without failure?  NO.  We would offer a loving family and safe home and the child only needs to accept that offer!  The same is true with our Heavenly Father.  The offer is there.  He says we can even come to him dirty and homeless.  His offer comes with no stipulations.

Accept God’s offer.  Believe in God’s promise of a righteous life, not in what we have earned, but by His gift.  Let Him capture your heart with His grace.

4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)

4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (ESV)

4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. (ESV)

5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (ESV)

9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. (ESV)