Romans 4.22-Whenever the Condition of Faith is Met, Justification Inevitably Follows
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 5, 2008
Romans: Romans 4:22-Whenever the Condition of Faith is Met, Justification Inevitably Follows
Lesson # 138
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:13.
This evening we will conclude our study of the sixth section of Romans chapter four, which is contained in Romans 4:18-22 and deals with the spiritual principle that Abraham became the father of many nations as a result of his faith in the Lord.
We will complete this section of Romans chapter four by noting Romans 4:22, which teaches that Abraham’s faith in the Lord’s ability to fulfill His promise of a child to him was credited to Abraham by God as righteousness.
Romans 4:13, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
Romans 4:14, “For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified.”
Romans 4:15, “for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
Romans 4:16, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Romans 4:17, “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
Romans 4:18, “In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, ‘SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.’”
Romans 4:19, “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb.”
Romans 4:20, “yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.”
Romans 4:21, “and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”
Romans 4:22, “Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
The statement “IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS” is capitalized because Paul is quoting Genesis 15:6b.
Although, the New Testament writers employ Genesis 15:6 to teach that justification is through faith alone in Christ alone, it does “not” mean that Genesis 15:6 records the moment when Abram first got saved.
There at least three reasons for this.
First of all, Abram had already obeyed the Lord’s call to leave Ur and Haran (Acts 7:2-5; Gen. 12:1-5).
Secondly, the Lord had entered into a covenant agreement with him as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3 and 15:4-5, which is something the Lord would never do with an unbeliever.
Thirdly, the perfect tense of the verb `aman, “believed” demonstrates that Abram’s faith did “not” begin after the events recorded in Genesis 15:1-5 since it represents the state of Abram trusting in the Lord, which flowed from his initial faith in the Lord the moment he got saved in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Bible Knowledge Commentary, The Old Testament, “Abram’s faith is recorded here because it is foundational for establishing the Abrahamic covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant did not give Abram redemption; it was a covenant made with Abram who had already believed and to whom righteousness had already been imputed” (page 55, Victor Books).
Therefore, since Genesis 15:6 does not record the moment Abraham was justified by faith, Romans 4:22 should be taken in a “logical” sense rather than a “temporal” sense meaning that this passage does not record the moment Abraham was declared justified but rather it presents the spiritual principle that whenever the condition of faith is met, justification inevitably follows.
Romans 4:22, “Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
“Therefore” is the inferential conjunction dio (diov) (dee-o), which is the strongest inferential conjunction and is used to coordinate what follows with what precedes.
In Romans 4:22, Paul employs the inferential use of the conjunction dio in order to coordinate his statement to follow in Romans 4:22 with his preceding statements in Romans 4:1-21.
The word dio denotes that the inference or conclusion Paul will present in Romans 4:22 from the spiritual truths that he presented in Romans 4:1-21 is self-evident.
The inference that is self-evident from the spiritual truths presented in Romans 4:1-21 is that Abraham was never declared justified by God through observance of the Law or circumcision but rather by means of his faith in the Lord.
Also, this word not only denotes that the inference from Romans 4:1-21 is self-evident but also it denotes a conclusion or presents a summarization of his statements in Romans 4:1-21.
“It was credited” is the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my), which means, “to credit and regard as something.”
The verb appears 11 times in Romans chapter four.
Thus, far we have seen the word in Romans 4:3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11.
As was the case in Romans 4:3, 5, 9, the verb logizomai in Romans 4:22 means that God the Father “credited” His righteousness to the spiritual bank account of Abraham.
“Righteousness” is the noun dikaiosune, which refers to the righteousness of God in the sense of His perfect “virtue” and “integrity,” which was imputed to Abraham the moment he exercised faith in the Lord to deliver on His promises.
As was the case in Romans 4:3, 5 and 9, the verb logizomai in Romans 4:22 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.
The verb means that God the Father “credited” His righteousness to the spiritual bank account of Abraham.
Abraham was spiritually bankrupt as a sinner by nature and practice.
Therefore, the word indicates that the Father “credited” His righteousness to Abraham as a result of exercising faith in the Son of God who promised him a son and innumerable descendants while Abraham was at the time childless.
This word brings into view the doctrine of imputation, which is the function of the justice of God in crediting something to someone for cursing or for blessing.
There are two categories of imputations: (1) “Real”: crediting to a person something which belongs to him. (2) “Judicial”: crediting to a person something which does not belong to him.
There are five great imputations related to salvation: three are real and two are judicial.
Real Imputations: (1) Imputation of human life at the moment of physical birth (Genesis 2:7). (2) Imputation of Adam's original sin in the Garden of Eden at physical birth (Romans 5:12-19). (3) Imputation of eternal life to the sinner when he exercises faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior (John 3).
Judicial Imputations: (1) Imputation of sins to impeccable human nature of Jesus Christ on the Cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). (2) Imputation of divine righteousness to the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6).
In Romans 4:22, the verb logizomai refers to a “judicial” imputation in which the justice of God the Father “credited” or “imputed” to Abraham His righteousness as a result of the childless Abraham exercising faith in His Son’s promise to give him a son and innumerable descendants.
The first judicial imputation, the imputation of personal sins to Christ, made possible the second judicial imputation, the imputation of divine righteousness.
During the last three hours on the cross, God the Father imputed every sin in human history-past, present and future to the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union.
Consequently, Christ voluntarily suffered the penalty for this imputation as our Substitute, which was spiritual death (Matthew 27:46).
2 Corinthians 5:21, “He (Christ) who never knew sin experientially (Christ was impeccable), on behalf of us (as our Substitute), was made (the representative of) sin in order that we might become the very righteousness of God in Him.”
The first judicial imputation, the imputation of personal sins to Christ, made possible the second judicial imputation, the imputation of divine righteousness.
These two judicial imputations produce an exchange: (1) The sinner’s sins go to Christ (2) The righteousness of God goes to the sinner.
Also, the imputation of divine righteousness at the moment of spiritual birth is not only made possible by imputation of the sins of the world to Christ on the Cross but also through the imputation of Adam’s sin in the garden at the moment of physical birth (Romans 5:12-19).
At the moment of physical birth, every member of the human race becomes a sinner because he has received the imputation of Adam’s sin in the garden.
The imputation of Adam’s sin at physical birth results in every person having the nature of Adam, which resides in the genetic structure of the physical body and can never please God but is selfish and self-centered and always disobedient to God.
This imputation means that every person born into the world is born physically alive but spiritually dead, but qualified for the imputation of divine righteousness through faith alone in Christ alone.
1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”
The reason why God imputed Adam’s sin in the garden to every member of the human race at physical birth is given in two passages of Scripture:
Galatians 3:22, ‘But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”
Romans 11:32, “For God has shut up all in (Adam’s) disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”
At the moment of spiritual birth, God imputed His righteousness to the believer so that he is “positionally” the righteousness of God.
By “positionally” I mean that God has given His righteousness as a gift to the believer and He views the believer as righteous as Him, which in turn sets up the potential for the believer to experience this righteousness in time.
Therefore, the moment a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, God the Father imputes the righteousness of Christ so that He becomes the believer’s righteousness.
1 Corinthians 1:30, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
In Romans 4:22, the verb logizomai not only conveys the idea of “crediting something to someone,” but also “regarding a thing as something.”
This concept expresses the idea of God “viewing, holding an opinion of, regarding, treating accordingly” the sinner’s faith in Jesus Christ as righteousness.
As was the case in Romans 4:3, 5, and 9, the word in Romans 4:22 is used with the prepositional phrase eis dikaiosunen, “as righteousness.”
Romans 4:22, “Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
“AS RIGHTEOUSNESS” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “AS” and the noun dikaiosune (dikaiosuvnh), “RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Together, these three words (logizomai and eis dikaiosune) indicate that the Lord “credited and regarded” Abraham’s faith in Him “as righteousness.”
Therefore, the verb logizomai not only denotes the doctrine of imputation but also justification since the latter means that God acknowledges His righteousness in the sinner as a result of imputing His righteousness to the sinner when the sinner exercised faith in Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of “justification” is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.
The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace. (2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior. (3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer. (4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.