Romans 4:5

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that Justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Justification of the ungodly

The first sound of these words is startling. What! is it, then, the idle or the vicious person, he that does nothing or nothing that is good, and merely has faith or belief, who is to be treated as righteous? And is God the justifier, not of the godly, but of the ungodly? A moment’s examination of the words will show that the apostle never entertained the sentiments which at first sight they appear to exhibit.

1. The very expression, “His faith is counted for righteousness,” intimates that righteousness is essentially worthy and acceptable. If faith is received in the stead of righteousness, then surely righteousness is of as much value, at least, as that which is accepted in its place. If righteousness be the debt which man owes to God, and it pleases God, in consideration of man’s failure, to take his faith as an equivalent, it is clear that righteousness, the debt, is even of more value than faith, which is taken, in kindness and pity, as an equivalent. And a clue is here put into our hands by following which, with the context to aid us, we shall no doubt be guided to a satisfactory interpretation, and a clear result.

2. “His faith is counted for righteousness.” But what righteousness? The righteousness which ought to have been; which is due; which is not paid. He who “worketh not” owes long arrears of righteousness; he has been a sinful man; he is a debtor to a large amount. But when he turns away from sin, and believes heartily and truly on God, then his faith, which is a pledge of future righteousness, is graciously credited to him for those long arrears, and the debt remains no more against him. “By grace are we saved through faith.” The single consideration, then, that it is past righteousness which is intended in the text, lights it up at once with a holy, and cheering, and satisfying light.

3. And that this consideration is introduced, not only allowably but necessarily, appears from the context (Romans 4:6). To impute righteousness without works is evidently synonymous with forgiveness of sin; it is to treat one who has not worked as if he had worked. But then there is a condition--faith, which, working by love, produces henceforth the fruits of righteousness. So the imputation of righteousness without works, or the non-imputation of sin, is by no means a dispensation from future righteousness, but exactly the contrary. This is the doctrine of St. James, as well as of St. Paul; the doctrine of our Saviour and of His most touching parable of the prodigal son; and is the doctrine not only of the New Testament, but of the Old. Abraham, before he knew and believed in God, was not the righteous man that he was after he believed in Him; and his faith was counted to him for righteousness; his past sins were forgiven. Since Jesus came and died, there is a louder call to repentance and a stronger array of motives, and a more general justification. A sincere and earnest faith in Him will move, if anything can move, the heart to love and gratitude, and the life to duty. And the heart being thus moved to love and gratitude, and the life to duty, past sin is forgiven, the ungodly is justified, and faith is counted for righteousness; not, surely, because this powerfully moving faith dispenses with righteousness, or is above righteousness, but because it moves to it and secures it. (F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D.)

Justification by faith

I. The general ground of the doctrine.

1. Man was made in the image of God, holy as He is holy, and perfect as He is perfect. To man, thus upright, God gave a perfect law, to which He required a perfect obedience, which man was capable of rendering. To this was superadded the commandment not to eat of “the fruit of the tree,” with death as the penalty annexed.

2. Man disobeyed, and the sentence began to take effect. His soul died, being separated from God, his body became mortal, and he hastened on to death everlasting. Thus, “by one man sin entered into the world,” and we have inherited the sin and penalty of our representative,

3. In this state we were when God gave His Son to be a second general Parent and Representative, and as such “He bore our sins,” and by that one oblation of Himself He has redeemed all mankind. In consideration of Christ’s death God has reconciled the world unto Himself, not imputing their former trespasses.

II. Its nature.

1. Not the being made righteous; that is sanctification, which follows justification, but is a distinct and inward gift.

2. Nor the clearing us from the accusation--

(1) Of Satan.

(2) Of the law--theories found nowhere in the Bible.

3. Nor that which implies that God is deceived in those He justifies, viz., accounting them to be otherwise than what they are.

4. But that act of God the Father, whereby, for the sake of Christ’s propitiation, He forgives sin (verses 6, 7).

III. Its subjects.

1. The ungodly and only such. As the righteous need no repentance, so they need no forgiveness; which contradicts the absurd supposition that holiness is necessary to justification. Only sinners can be forgiven.

2. Him that worketh not. But do not men feed the hungry, etc., before justification? Yes, and these may in a sense be called good works--“good and profitable to men”--but no work is good which is not done as God wills and commands, and God hath willed that all our works should be done in charity, i.e., that love to Him from which love to man proceeds. But none of our works can be done in this love while the love of the Father is not in us.

IV. Its condition. Faith, i.e., a sure trust and confidence that Christ died for my sins, and loved me, and gave Himself for me. This is the only but the necessary condition, for “he that believeth not is condemned already.” (J. Wesley, M. A.)

Justification the gift of grace received by faith

1. The man who has obtained justification may be looked upon as in possession of a title deed, which secures to him a right to God’s favour. The question is, How comes he into possession of this title deed? Did he work for it, and thus receive it as a return for his works? No; he did not work for it; and thus it is that justification is to him who worketh not--that is, he did nothing antecedent to his justification to bring this privilege down upon him; nor subsequently, for it is a contradiction to allow that he has to work to obtain what he already has; nor at the time, for he came to it by believing. But then, as in the case of a man coming into an estate, no sooner does he lay hold of the deed than he begins, and that most strenuously, to qualify himself for the possession: and, with a foot which touches lightly that earth from which he is to ascend so soon into the fields of eternal glory that are above him, to aspire after the virtues which are current there; and, by an active cultivation of his heart, labour to prepare himself for a station of happiness and honour.

2. But beware of having any such view of faith as will lead you to annex to it the kind of merit which is annexed to works under the law. It is God who justifies. He drew up the title deed, and He bestowed it. It is ours simply by laying hold of it. Ye are saved by grace through faith. By which is a house enlightened by the sun, or by an open window? The answer may justly enough be that it is by the window--and yet the window does not enlighten the house--it is a mere opening for the transmission of the light of the sun. Christ hath wrought out a righteousness for us that is freely offered to us of God. By faith we discern the reality of this offer: and all that it does is to strike out, as it were, an avenue of conveyance, by which the righteousness of another passes to us; and through faith are we saved by this righteousness. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

The fitness of faith in order to justification

1. It is obviously the only way in which a testimony can be received; and God has been pleased to appoint that such only as receive His testimony shall reap the benefit of what it reveals.

2. It is a medium of justification by which the whole glory is secured, as it ought to be, to “the God of all grace”; agreeably to the nature and design of the whole scheme of redemption, by which “the loftiness of man is bowed down, and the haughtiness of man is laid low; and Jehovah alone is exalted.”

3. It is a method of justification which unites it inseparably with sanctification. The truth must be received by faith into the mind in order to its operating with its holy influence on the affections and desires of the heart. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

Salvation not by works

Observe what happens when the cry rises at sea, “A man overboard!” With others on deck, you rush to the side; and, leaning over the bulwarks, with beating heart you watch the place where the rising air bells and boiling deep tell that he has gone down. After some moments of breathless anxiety, you see his head emerge from the wave. Now, that man, I shall suppose, is no swimmer; he has never learned to breast the billows; yet, with the first breath he draws, he begins to beat the water. With violent efforts he attempts to shake off the grasp of death, and by the play of limbs and arms to keep his head from sinking. It may be that these struggles but exhaust his strength, and sink him all the sooner. Nevertheless, that drowning one makes instinctive and convulsive efforts to save himself. So, when first brought to feel and cry, “I perish!” when the horrible conviction rushes into the soul that we are lost. When we feel ourselves going down beneath a load of guilt into the depth of the wrath of God, our first effort is to save ourselves. Like a drowning man, who will clutch at straws and twigs, we seize on anything, however worthless, that promises salvation. Thus, alas! many poor souls toil, and spend weary, unprofitable years, in the attempt to establish a righteousness of their own, and find in the deeds of the law protection from its curse. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Faith a universal possibility

Faith is natural to man; the mightiest principle in the soul. It is the foundation of trade; the wheel of commerce; the bond of social life; the abiding root of the family tree. And such is the faith that reposes on the Son of God. Faith is not the creation of theology or Christianity. It is older than either. It is not something supernaturally implanted in a man when he becomes a Christian. It is no new faculty bestowed. That principle which trusts a parent’s love, and produces obedience to a parent’s will, is the same principle exercised in another region which makes us one with God. Thus, the salvation which God has provided for all becomes a salvation not only worthy the acceptance of all, but possible to be accepted by all. Salvation becomes a universal possibility, because it is offered to a capacity which all men possess and exercise. (R. Henry.)

The way of salvation

I. The way of the natural man. “Worketh.” He wishes it to be of desert.

II. The better way--by faith. This is--

1. The old way.

(1) Abraham’s.

(2) David’s.

2. The blessed way. (J. Lyth, D. D.)