Romans 4:4-8

Passage

And to the one who works, the wages are not credited according to grace but according to what is due.  And to the one who does not work but while being faithful on the basis of the one who declares the ungodly to be righteous, faithfulness is credited to him into righteousness.  Just as David also says about the blessing of the man to whom God credits as righteous apart from works, “Blessed is the one whose lawlessness was being forgiven and whose sins were being covered.  Blessed is the man for whom the Lord should surely not count sin.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul uses an analogy with respect to work.  When an employee works for someone, they expect to be paid.  At the same time, the employer expects the work to be done properly.  There is no grace in this scenario.  If the work is done correctly, the employee is paid.  If the work is done incorrectly, then the employee is released from employment.  If we wish to relate to God in this manner, we should expect the good and the bad.  We should expect God to evaluate us on our merit.  To be honest, if we wish to relate to God in this manner, we should expect to be released from “employment.”  The truth is that we cannot live in the manner that God asks us to live on our own merit.

If you had an employee who messed up as much as we sin against God, what would be the prudent way to handle that employee?  Why can you be grateful the God does not see our relationship with Him in the same light as an employer views employees?

Second Thought:

In order to set up his point, Paul turns to David.  Remember David’s legacy.  He is called “a man after God’s own heart.”  There are few people in the Bible – especially in the Old Testament – who have the personal relationship that David had with God.  However, also remember the David and Bathsheba and Uriah story.  Remember the conflict David had with Absalom.  Remember how many wives David had.  Certainly David was not perfect and did not abide by God’s Law in all things.  Therefore, David cannot be righteous because of his own merit.  He is certainly righteous, but righteous through God and not his own merit.

How smart is Paul to use David as an example of the point that he is trying to make?  Why is there often comfort among believers when thinking about God’s relationship with David in spite of all the sinfulness that David had?

Third Thought:

Paul makes a clear point at the end of this reading.  What is important is not how great my works are but how blessed I am to have God not count my sinfulness against me.  For me, this is the nail in the coffin to the salvation by works argument.  No matter how many good things I do and no matter how much I convince myself that I believe, I have to realize that when I do things based on my own strength I am guilty and need to be forgiven.  If we are going to start counting the things I do on my own strength, I’m going to be in the hole pretty quickly when it comes to sinful behavior.

How blessed are you to hear that God does not count sin against those who humble themselves before God?  How does this thought make you feel about your relationship with God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 4:9-12