Romans 4:1-8

Abraham Believed God

“Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

I can’t tell you how many times I have read these words yet not fully understood their connection or importance to Christianity. Paul just stepped it up a notch. Using the Scriptures, he is making the case that the founding father of the Jewish people was not saved by all the laws that came afterward, but rather by the simple fact that he believed God—he had faith in God. Faith was the determining factor.

People are not counted righteous because of what they do. They cannot earn their salvation, as we have been discussing in previous posts. The free gift of salvation is bestowed on us through faith—through believing and trusting in God.

This hits me a little harder because, in my own walk and understanding of God, I have often operated in somewhat of a blend of the Old and New Covenants. As we spoke about in Romans chapter 3, Jesus ushered in a New Covenant, based on better promises according to Hebrews 8:6, which bears looking at:

“But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.”
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Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Notice that it says there was a need for a second covenant to replace the first. Just let that sink in.
Yet what Jesus accomplished goes even further. Through Him, God is restoring what was lost through sin. What mankind could never accomplish through human effort, Jesus accomplished for us. He came to bring us back into right relationship with God.

And one more observation, free of charge. Consider this statement by Jesus:

““I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We have already passed from death into life—spiritually. The rest will follow later.

That is an incredible thought. Eternal life is not merely something we are waiting to receive someday; in Christ, it has already begun. Something has already changed. We were spiritually dead, but through faith in Christ we have been made alive. Our physical bodies are still awaiting their redemption, but spiritually, the transaction has already taken place.

The Old Covenant was based on laws written on stone, with its system of sacrifices, priesthood, and regulations pointing people toward their need for God and ultimately toward the coming Messiah. But those sacrifices had to be offered repeatedly because they could never permanently remove sin.

Jesus changed everything.

The New Covenant is secured by Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross. What the blood of bulls and goats could never accomplish, the blood of Jesus did. He paid the price once, for all time.

The Old Covenant served its purpose in God’s plan, preparing and preserving His people until the coming of Christ. But now the Lord has come, and through His death and resurrection He has begun restoring what was lost through sin in the Garden.

I say begun because we have not yet experienced the complete fulfillment of everything salvation promises. We have been saved, we are being transformed, and one day, when Christ returns, even our mortal bodies will experience the fullness of that redemption.

There is still more to come!

However, God has not left us here empty-handed while we wait. He has given us a down payment of His goodness in the form of the Holy Spirit, whom He has sent to live within us and help us navigate our time here on earth.

Consider the following Scripture:

“It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I love that wording: “the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”

Think about what a first installment means. It is a deposit—a pledge that there is more to come. God has given us His Holy Spirit as His guarantee that everything else He has promised will follow.

We have already received forgiveness. We have already been made alive spiritually. We have already been brought into relationship with God. We already have His Spirit living within us. Yet we are still awaiting the redemption of our bodies, the resurrection, and the fullness of eternal life in His presence.

The Holy Spirit living within us is God's assurance that He will finish what He started.

And this brings us right back to Abraham.

Abraham did not possess everything God promised him the moment he believed. Much of it was still in the future. Yet Abraham believed God. He trusted the promise because he trusted the One who made it.

And so must we.

We may not yet see the fullness of everything God has promised us, but we have something Abraham did not have in the same New Covenant sense—we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us as God's guarantee that the rest is coming.

God has already put down the deposit.

God is good for it!