Romans 4.23-24-The Justification of Abraham By Faith in Genesis 15.6 Serves as the Pattern for the Christian's Justification
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 6, 2008
Romans: Romans 4:23-24-The Justification of Abraham by Faith in Genesis 15:6 Serves as the Pattern for the Christian’s Justification
Lesson # 139
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:23.
This evening we will study Romans 4:23-24, in which Paul teaches that the judicial decision recorded in Genesis 15:6 that Paul quotes in Romans 4:3, 9 and 22 was written down for the benefit of his fellow Christians.
Abraham’s justification by means of faith that is recorded in Genesis 15:6 has relevance for his fellow Christian and serves as a pattern for their justification.
The fact that Paul is addressing his fellow Christian and not his Jewish countrymen in Romans 4:23-25 is indicated in that in Romans 4:24 he states that divine righteousness is credited to those who believe in the Father who raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Romans 4:23-24, “Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
“Now” in Romans 4:23 is the post-positive “transitional” use of the conjunction de (deV), which transitions from Paul’s statements in Romans 4:1-22 to another set of statements in Romans 4:23-25.
In Romans 4:23-24, Paul teaches that the judicial decision recorded in Genesis 15:6 that he quotes in Romans 4:3, 9 and 22 was written down for the benefit of Paul and his fellow Christian since Abraham’s justification by means of faith serves as a pattern for their justification.
Romans 4:23, “Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him.”
“Not” is the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), which emphatically negates the meaning of the 3rd person singular aorist passive indicative form of the verb grapho (gravfw) (graf-o), “was it written.”
Therefore, it says that the record in Genesis 15:6 of Abraham’s justification by means of faith in the Lord was “absolutely never” written for Abraham’s sake only but also for Paul’s fellow Christians.
“For his sake only” emphasizes that Genesis 15:6 was by no means written for Abraham only.
“It was credited” is the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my), which refers to a “judicial” imputation in which the justice of God the Father “credited” or “imputed” His righteousness to Abraham who exercised faith in the preincarnate Christ.
Romans 4:24, “but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
“But” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a statement that emphatically negates the idea that Abraham was the only person benefited by the eternal spiritual truth recorded in Genesis 15:6.
“For our sake also” marks Paul and his fellow Christians who in addition to Abraham are “benefited” by what is written in Genesis 15:6 through Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
“To whom” refers to Paul and his fellow Christians.
“It will be” is the verb mello (mevllw) (mel-lo), which signifies that the imputation of divine righteousness “without a doubt does take place” when a sinner exercises faith in the Father who raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
The present tense is a “futuristic” present which emphasizes that divine righteousness “is of a certainty” credited to the sinner who exercises faith in God the Father who sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to die spiritually as a Substitute for the entire human race.
Romans 4:24, “but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
“Credited” is the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my), which refers to a “judicial” imputation in which the justice of God the Father “credited” or “imputed” His righteousness to Abraham who exercised faith in the preincarnate Christ.
“As those who believe” is the verb pisteuo (pisteuvw) (pist-yoo-o), which means to “trust, place complete confidence in” the God the Father who raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
In Romans 4:24, Paul presents the Father as the object of faith.
In Romans 3:22, 26, and 4:5, he presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of the sinner’s faith for justification.
Also, John 3:16-18, 36, 6:35, 40, 7:38, 11:25, 26, 12:46, 14:6, Acts 4:12, 10:43, Galatians 2:16, 3:26, 1 John 5:1, 5 and 10 all present the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of the sinner’s faith for justification.
In John 5:25 and 1 Peter 1:21 and Romans 4:24, God the Father is presented as the object of faith.
On the surface, this appears to be a contradiction or confusion but this is emphatically not the case.
There are a couple of reasons why the Father is presented as the object of the sinner’s faith for justification in some passages while in many others, the Lord Jesus Christ is.
First of all, the answer to this apparent contradiction is given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ in John 12:44 when He said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him (the Father) who sent Me.”
He also said in John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
Therefore, the Lord is teaching that to believe in Him is to believe in the Father since the Father sent the Son into the world and the Son reveals the Father (John 1:18).
Thus, those who reject Jesus Christ and do not trust in Him as their Savior, are in effect rejecting the Father who sent Him into the world to be the Savior of the world.
This is why Paul presents the Father as the object of faith for justification.
Furthermore, the context indicates that Paul presents the Father as the object of faith for justification since he is emphasizing the work of the Father in raising His Son Jesus Christ from the dead.
Also, it was the Father’s unique role and function in the plan of salvation for mankind to be the member of the Trinity who would separate Himself from the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union on the cross (Matthew 27:46; Romans 3:26).
The Father’s role in the salvation of mankind was to be the Judge who would impute the sins of the world to His Son Jesus Christ and impute His Son’s righteousness to the sinner who exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
He has the sovereign authority to not only declare sinners righteous through faith in His Son but also to abstain from imputing the sins of the sinner who has trusted in His Son as Savior.
The Father’s role in the salvation of men was to act as Judge by imputing the sins of the world to the perfect human nature of His Son.
He is the member of the Trinity that separated from the Son in His human nature during the last three hours on the Cross as well as imputing His Son’s righteousness to the sinner who exercises faith in His Son as Savior.
The participle form of the verb pisteuo functions as a “temporal” participle, which is used in relation to the controlling verb.
It answers the question as to “when” the action of the controlling verb took place.
In our present context, the controlling verb is mello, whose thought is completed by the complementary infinitive form of the verb logizomai.
Therefore, as a temporal participle, pisteuo denotes “when” divine righteousness is credited to the sinner.
The present participle form of the verb pisteuo is contemporaneous in time with the action of the main verb mello, which as we noted is complemented by the present infinitive form of the verb logizomai.
This means that divine righteousness is credited “at the same time” the sinner does exercise absolute confidence in the Father who raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
The substantive participle form of the verb pisteuo functions as a “dative of time,” which denotes a “specific point in time when” the Father credits His righteousness to the sinner.
Romans 4:24, “but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
“In Him who raised” is composed of the preposition epi (e)piv) (ep-ee) and the verb egeiro (e)geivrw) (eg-i-ro), which means, “to raise from physical death.”
“Jesus” is the proper name Iesous ( )Ihsou$), which refers to the impeccable “humanity” of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“Lord” is the noun kurios (kuvrio$), which indicates the following: (1) Jesus of Nazareth’s equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.
In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42), however in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer spiritual death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).
Romans 4:24, “but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
“From the dead” refers to members of the human race who have died physically.
The foundation of Christianity is built upon the resurrection of Christ since the integrity of our Lord is at issue and as attested by many witnesses He did rise from the dead as He said He would (Acts 1:22; 4:2, 33; 17:18; 23:6; 1 Cor. 15:14).
The Lord Jesus predicted several times that He would rise from the dead on the 3rd day in fulfillment of the Scriptures (Matt. 16:21; 17:9, 23; 20:19; 26:32; 27:63f. 28:6f; Mark 14:28; Luke 9:22; Mark 8:31; 9:9, 31; 10:34; Luke 18:33; 24:7, 46) and openly declared that He was the resurrection (See John 11:25-26).
The resurrection of Christ is an historical fact of history that can be verified by eyewitnesses: (1) Disciples of Christ (Lk. 24:9-11; Acts 1:1-3; 21-22; 2:23-24; 31-32; 3:14-15; 10:39-41; 13:29-39) (2) Roman Guard Protecting the Tomb of Jesus (Mt. 27:62-66; 28:11-15) (3) Enemies of Christ (Mt. 28:11-15; Acts 2).
The resurrection of Christ can be verified by evidence: (1) The Empty Tomb (Jn. 20:2-9) (2) The Stone (Mt. 28:1-4; Mk. 16:1-4; Lk. 24:2) (3) Seal (Mt. 27:62-66). (4) The Grave Clothes (Jn. 20:2-9) (5) The Roman Guard (Mt. 27:57-60; 28:11-15; Mk. 15:42-45; Lk. 23:50-52; Jn. 19:38). (6) The Silence of the Enemies of Christ at Pentecost (Acts 2) (7) The Transformed Lives of the Disciples of Jesus (8) The Existence of the Christian Church (9) The Observance of the First Day of the Week (Sunday) as the Lord’s Day (10) Christ’s Appearances (500 on more than one occasion: 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Peter 1 Cor. 15:5; 2 on the way to Emmaus Lk. 24:13-15; 11 apostles Jn. 20:24-28; Paul Acts 9).
Luke alludes to this preponderance of incontrovertible evidence and eyewitnesses in Acts 1:1-3.
The proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus could have not been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned.
The burden of proof rests not upon those who proclaim the resurrection as a historical fact but rather the burden of proof rests upon those who either deny that the tomb was found empty, or attempt to explain the absence of the Lord’s body by some other rationale.
Remember the enemies of Christ went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the fact that the body of Jesus would not leave the tomb on the 3rd day.
The fact that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb despite the extreme security measures by our Lord’s enemies was indisputable evidence that He had risen.
The last thing the enemies of Christ wanted was to have His body leave that tomb and yet it did!
Neither the Romans nor the Jews could produce the body of our Lord to disclaim what the apostles were proclaiming to the world.
It was in the interests of these two groups to put an end to such talk by simply producing the body which they could not since He had in fact risen from the dead.