Abraham And Righteousness Romans 4 3 Terms And

Abraham And Righteousness Romans 4: 3

Terms And Theology ²Righteousness § Thayer says, “In a broad sense: the state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God” § It is doing things right, properly, appropriately according to as God

²Accounted § Greek word “logizomai” § Thayer says, “to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over; to take into account, to make an account of; metaphorically to pass to one’s account, to impute”

²Some have determined (in their theology) that “impute” means “transfer” § The sins of Adam are imputed to all mankind § The righteousness of Christ is imputed to one who believes in Christ § This is part and parcel of the doctrine of Calvinism and fits in with both Total Inherited Depravity and the Perseverance of the Saints § Nowhere in the New Testament is logizomai used as transfer and it is never rendered as such

²Albert Barnes (1798 -1870), a Calvinist commentator, rejected this usage. He noted, “I have examined all the passages, and as the result of my examination have come to the conclusion, that there is not one in which the word is used in the sense of reckoning or imputing to a man what does not strictly belong to him; or of charging on him what ought not to be charged on him as a matter of personal right. The word is never used to denote imputing in the sense of transferring, or of charging that on one which does not properly belong to him…No doctrine of transferring, or of setting over to a man what does not properly belong to him, be it sin or holiness, can be derived, therefore, from this word” (p. 96)

What Was Accounted To Abraham? ²Genesis 15: 6 – it was his faith being credited ²Galatians 3: 6 – it was his faith being credited ²“…it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4: 3) § What was it that was accounted to Abraham? “Abraham believed God” was what was accounted to Abraham § In other words, it was his faith! § The faith was his own and the righteousness was his own!

About Abraham’s Faith ²James 2: 21 -23 § Abraham had this faith before he offered Isaac § His works demonstrated the depth and truth of his faith (James 2: 18) § “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (James 2: 24)

²What about us? § Servants are to obey (Rom. 6: 16) § A righteous person does righteousness (1 Jn. 3: 7) § Christians are to live righteously (Titus 2: 12)