What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:1-12)

Abraham is a central figure to those who follow the biblical religion. He is the great patriarch. Paul calls him “our forefather.” A doctrinal argument based on Abraham ought to carry much force, and thus the apostle refers to him to advance and to illustrate his doctrine of justification.

When we consider any prominent biblical character other than Jesus Christ, we understand that the individual does not attain greatness because of his own works or merits, but because of the sovereign kindness of God. That is, God decides to extend kindness to the man for reasons that are within God himself – in his own virtues, plans, and wishes – and not within the man. We should never think that God chooses a person because the man possesses this or that quality, or because the man has performed such and such a good deed. No, if God wishes to find a certain quality in a man, he would produce it in the man, and if he wishes for him to perform a certain deed, he would cause the man to do it. The man himself counts for nothing.

Abraham did not obtain righteousness by his works, but righteousness was credited to him as he believed the promise of God. Although he was old and childless, he was told that he would become the father of nations, and that his offspring would be numerous like the stars. God enabled Abraham to believe this, and even though he was not the first to have faith, he became a prototype or pattern of those who would also receive the gift of faith.

It is important to grasp not only the fact that righteousness came to him through faith in the promise, but since the promise itself has to do with our justification, it is also important to understand the meaning of this promise, as in what it was that God promised Abraham. The true fulfillment of the promise has never been about natural descendents, although the fulfillment would entail the development of a nation of natural descendents. Rather, the promise has always been about the increase of spiritual descendents through the Son of Promise – typified by Isaac, and fulfilled by Jesus Christ. As Paul said to the Galatians, “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:6-9).

Abraham knew this, and so Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). He not only anticipated it, but as a prophet, he “saw” it as well. And of course, he rejoiced not because he foresaw some random fellow, but he appreciated the man’s significance. In other words, Abraham was very informed and “Christian” in his theology, and in his grasp of God’s promise. His understanding of it was what we would call the gospel of Jesus Christ: “God…announced the gospel in advance to Abraham.” Thus when he believed in God’s promise, he believed it with the Christian meaning in mind. This means that Abraham was a Christian, and this was the basis of his justification.

He was before Moses, so that he was not justified under the law or by the law. Paul’s argument in his letter to the Galatians is that “The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise” (Galatians 3:17). God rescued the Israelites from Egypt on the basis of his promise to Abraham in the first place, and the law did not then nullify this. But it was added to regulate the people until the Son of the promise would arrive and to increase their guilt so as to drive them away from striving for the righteousness of works to the righteousness that comes by faith in the Son. The whole scheme, in fact, is rather simple and obvious.

Now if the promise is about faith and not blood, then those who have the blood but not the faith are bastards. So when the Jews insisted that Abraham was their father, Jesus answered, “If you were Abraham’s children…then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things” (John 8:39-40). The Jews were thinking about their bloodline, as if that was the pivotal issue, but Jesus referred to the spiritual traits, because that had always been what the promise was about. By this standard, the Jews were not the children of Abraham. Jesus said that they were children of the devil (John 8:44).

David is another significant figure in the biblical faith. God installed him as a king and established his royal line, and he would become the human ancestor of the Messiah. God’s promises to David built upon the earlier promises to Abraham, which built upon the original promise he made in Genesis, that the woman’s offspring would crush the serpent. All the promises were in fact made about Jesus Christ, and were fulfilled in him and by him.

Just as Abraham saw and believed in Jesus, David also saw him and became a follower of the Christian faith. As he saw God speak to Jesus, he said, “The Lord said to my Lord.” Thus he understood that although the Christ would be his natural descendent according to the human nature, this same Christ would also be Lord over him according to the divine nature. David knew that the Messiah would be the incarnation of God, and so he acknowledged him as Lord.

David knew what it was to sin. He exploited his position as king to commit adultery with a woman, and after she became pregnant, he arranged to have her husband killed in battle by ordering his comrades to trick him and to abandon him. For a time he did not repent, but then a prophet came and told him a story about a rich man who took a poor man’s only treasure. The king pronounced a death sentence on the rich man, but the prophet declared, “You are the man!” Then David repented, and the prophet relayed to him God’s forgiveness, although some consequences were still forthcoming.

You exclaim, “Then he was not a good man, was he?” In accordance to God’s decree and control, he often behaved admirably, but his failures were spectacular. By God’s wisdom and design, perfection would not arrive until Jesus of Nazareth. All of history intends to make this point clear, or as Jesus said, “No one is good – except God alone.” Even Abraham, Moses, and David were sinners, and would have been doomed to an everlasting hell if not for the grace and power of Jesus Christ, which were extended to them through faith even before he arrived in human form.

People who proclaim the goodness of all men do not know what they are saying. Their idea of good is so evil that even David would have been declared good, although he was an adulterer and a murderer. If this is the idea of “good,” then let us not insult Jesus by calling him that. True goodness is perfection. It is not only a passive sinlessness, but a positive excellence. By this standard, God alone is good. Therefore, we should either avoid calling Jesus “good” as we would casually call others the same, or we must acknowledge that he is God.

David also knew what it was to receive forgiveness. He said, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” Just as Abraham did not obtain his righteousness by works, David did not make up for his sins by his works. A man can never make up for his sins. All must depend on God and not on the sinner, and a sinner is saved when God chooses to forgive him, and when he decides not to count his sins against him.

When the non-Christian man enjoys fullness and comfort, he thinks that he has earned his station in life. But when he suffers he does not think that he has earned it – he complains that he does not deserve it. When his sins are not repaid with immediate calamity, he thinks that he is lucky or fortunate to get away with things. But the follower of God has entered into a different kind of life, a superior level of existence and perception. He does not say, “I am fortunate that this happened” or “Unfortunately, that happened to me.” He knows that it is God who does all things, and he rejects the pagan ideas of freedom and desert, and of chance and fortune.

The Christian man is not fortunate – he is blessed. He lives in a state of peace and wellness and joy because of God’s kindness toward him through Jesus Christ. He does not get away with sin, but God himself paid the price with his Son’s life, and delivered this benefit to him through faith. Thus his sins are not counted against him, just as the righteousness of Christ is counted as his righteousness. Truly blessed is the man on whom God effects this salvation.

As for circumcision, God commanded it for Abraham, but it was not circumcision that justified him. Righteousness was credited to him before he was circumcised, and circumcision was nothing more than a sign and seal for the righteousness that he already possessed apart from circumcision. Therefore, Abraham is the “father” of the uncircumcised who receive righteousness through faith and who remain uncircumcised after they have received righteousness through faith. And he is the “father” of those who are circumcised only if they “walk in the footsteps of faith” of him who received righteousness without circumcision.

This doctrine is a stern rebuke against those who would attribute an inordinate significance to mere signs and seals, such as baptism and communion, when God himself has already credited righteousness and granted his Spirit to his chosen ones apart from them. Even though these signs and seals were commanded by God and ought to be applied, to elevate them to a level that God has never placed them, or to assign powers to them that God has never associated with them, is to commit an evil akin to the preaching of another gospel.

Now perhaps the Evangelicals and the Reformed cheer me on – perhaps not – but I am talking about them. The Jews and Catholics are so far from the kingdom of God that they need to be thoroughly converted. But are the Evangelicals and Reformed converted? They are not if they preach the signs and worship the seals rather than Jesus Christ. Give them no respect or attention, and laugh at their threats. I do not care what they call themselves, but if they are bored with a simple and sufficient faith or if they wish to interfere with mine, then I am kicking them out of my life. They can join the Catholics, and indeed some have. As Christians, false doctrines and traditions have no authority over us, and churches and denominations have no power in themselves. There is no need to obey them, nor can they force us to believe or to do anything – we have the freedom to live the truth in Christ.

Abraham and David were more Christian than most church members today. They believed in an almighty and sovereign God, and in his promise that he would spread the faith to many nations. They believed in the resurrection and in the incarnation of the Son of God. They believed in Jesus Christ and were counted righteous apart from the signs and seals of this righteousness. How pathetic a person must be to follow Abraham’s circumcision but not his faith, when his circumcision was a mere sign of his faith. This is the condition of many people, not only the Jews, but also many who call themselves Christians. The true heirs of Abraham are not those who have been circumcised, or those who have been baptized, or those who have participated in the Lord’s Supper, but those who follow in his footsteps of faith, that is, his faith in Jesus Christ.