First off, for some reason I can't type right today, so please excuse any typos that may, and probably will, come along.
Now, the title today is not for you, it is for those Paul was writing to. He just spent, according to us, three chapters telling the Church in Rome that no one is righteous, especially the Jews who were looking down on the Gentiles for not first being Jews before they became Christians. Now you may be thinking, "Oh Acts 15 and the Council of Jerusalem! They should know!" Except the church in Rome was most likely not started by that time.
There is massive parallel here as well to our culture today, I'm speaking of mostly American culture.
This picture really shows first how many who are outside of Christianity see us, and second, correctly depicts many Christians in American culture today. I heard this story about a preacher that went into a church on his first Sunday, never meeting the congregation before. He comes in dressed as a homeless person and is ridiculed, looked down upon, spoken poorly about, and asked to leave by the people in the congregation. Only 3 out of the large congregation greet him. The service starts and he sits in the back, and finally an elder comes up and introduces the new preacher. He walks up front, unshaven, dirty, and in rags and simply quotes Matthew 25.31-46, the Sheep and the Goats passage.
That is the same problem that the Church in Rome was having. There were those who thought they were "holier than thou" and tried to lord over the Gentiles, believing in their own righteousness, and Paul sends them this letter saying, "No. You're not righteous." Then we see in chapter 4 Paul shows them an example that no one can be righteous on their own. He uses an example all the Jews will know, because he is the father of them all. He uses Abraham. Let's look at what this chapter would look like to us instead.
So you think that you're righteous on your own? Look at your heroes of the faith. Billy Graham, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Judah Smith, Mark Driscoll, Max Lucado, the list can go on and on. All of them are sinners, all of them struggle with something. Look at Mark Discoll now, having to step down from his position because of anger and control issues. Everyone on the above list have sins that they struggle with, it just hasn't come to light in the public, but I'm sure those who they ask to keep the accountable know what they are. They can't be righteous on their own because they're human just like you and me.
They are not justified by what they do, because if they could the could boast before God. But no one can boast before God because of our sin. But instead, they are counted as righteous because of their faith in God and in his work. If you work for your job, you expect to get paid, that's how the world turns. In Romans 6 we see that sin is paid for in death, and we see in Romans 5 that only one sin is enough to condemn us no matter how much good we do. So naturally we deserve the wages for which we work, which is death. That would not be considered a gift, but instead what we are due, what we earned. But if we don't work for ourselves, and instead believe that we can be justified by the work of God, then our faith in counted as righteousness, just like our heroes.
And because we can be justified by faith, and have our sins forgiven, we are blessed. Now for our heroes who are also blessed in this way, did it come before or after they did something worthy? Well if the blessing came after then it could be said that they earned their righteousness, but if it was before then their righteousness was a gift. Their works are but a seal, a sign of their salvation. In the same way we follow in the foot steps of those who mentor and teach us, following in faith, upholding the law by faith, working because of our faith. Not to earn righteousness, we already have it because of our faith, but to show our righteousness, to show we are sanctified (holy/set apart).
In the following passage, and finishing up the chapter, Paul begins to get even more theological.
God had promised Abraham that he would have a massive family and be a blessing to the world. This came before the Law was ever given, and Abraham took it by faith that God would give him what he promised, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness, and the promise was fulfilled. It is by the grace of God, given through faith, that the promise can be given to his offspring, which also includes us, being those who share the faith with Abraham in God.
Something that's really cool here is what Paul writes: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, including the one who shares the faith of Abraham 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.
That's a bit chopped up, but man is that powerful. Turn to Ezekiel 37 and read that. Look at Romans 6 and see how we are alive in Christ. God brings life to the dead, including us who were dead in our sins! This is because of our faith in his works, and we are now a part of the promise given to Abraham, making us a part of the New Israel. Not only that but we are new creations as well, being something that had never existed before and God has made us exist because of his love for us! How freaking awesome is that?!
Yet our faith, our hope is not easy, Paul writes that Abraham had hope against hope. Faith doesn't make sense to those who are perishing. I talk with atheists pretty regularly and all they do is try to poke holes in my faith and my theology, "Oh well if you say God does this then this must be true as well." No, God's infinite and a lot of times doesn't make sense to us. So we hope against hope. We no longer hope in ourselves, something we know. Instead we hope in something that so many try to dissuade us from, and put our lives into someone else's hands. And because of this, times will get hard, we will be tested. Yet he gives us the strength by giving us himself to work through us to withstand the hard times to get to his promise of the resurrection, which is given to us by Jesus the Christ, our Lord and King, who himself was raised from the dead so that we might be justified as well.
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