What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Now, to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God, who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them." 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 circumcision as a sign, 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 then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

“Our father Abraham" was an important phrase that Jews of Paul's day jealously guarded. A circumcised Gentile convert to Judaism was not allowed to refer to Abraham as “our father” as this was only something a natural-born Jew was allowed to say. A Gentile convert had to call Abraham “your father". Paul throws out that distinction and declares that through faith in Christ, all can now stand united and say, “Our Father Abraham." It must have been a shock and possibly an outrage for the Jewish readers of this letter to see Paul, a Jew himself, calling Abraham the father also of uncircumcised people. Paul declares rightly that faith in Christ, not circumcision (or works), is the vital link to Abraham and being grafted in as part of Israel. It is far more important to have Abraham’s faith than it is to have Abraham’s circumcision, meaning Abraham's inner faith, which led to obedience to God, was far more important than his outward works, acts of obedience, or ethnic genealogy. That remains true today as well. It is far more important to know what is on the inside of a person and how that faith leads to good works rather than just focusing on what the works themselves produce.

The early church in Rome had many of the same questions and concerns people have today related to the idea of faith and works and the Old versus New Covenants. Some wondered what the point and purpose of God's actions were before Christ if Jesus had changed everything. We might ask something similar today: Why study the Old Testament? Are the Old Testament laws and principles still relevant? What was the point of the Mosaic Law? How did salvation work for people who lived before Christ was born? Building on thoughts from the previous chapter, Paul begins answering these questions using Abraham as an example to make his point. Abraham was the most esteemed man among the Jewish people of his day, even greater than the “George Washington” of the American people. Many Jewish teachers at the time were using Abraham as a reason why they should live according to the Law and that their salvation and deliverance would come through their own ability to keep the law. They believed Abraham was justified by his works and by his keeping of the Law, even though the Law itself would not be given at Mt. Sinai for many hundreds of years after Abraham lived. Ancient passages from the rabbis say, "We find that Abraham our father had performed the whole Law before it was given" and that “Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord.”

Paul did not agree with this and argued against this very flawed approach, using the same example as Abraham to make his own case. Paul taught that righteousness, justification, and ultimately salvation did not come to Abraham except that he believed in God, had faith in God, which led to obedience, and looked to God for his salvation, not to his own works. Old Testament scripture agrees with Paul's stance. Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham’s righteousness did not come from performing good works but only from belief and faith in God. In fact, Abraham was counted as righteous in Genesis 15:6, yet he did not receive the covenant of circumcision until Genesis 17, which was at least 14 years later. This proves that Abraham's righteousness wasn’t based on circumcision or keeping the law (a sign of the covenant) but was based on his faith in God alone. Also note that the Apostle Paul does not say Abraham was made righteous in all of his doings, but God accounted (or credited) Abraham as righteous. Our own justification (or salvation) is not God making us perfectly righteous, but his counting us as righteous because of the work of Christ. That word used in the passage, which is translated to 'counted' or 'credited,' is the Greek word 'Logizomai.' It was an accounting or book-keeping term that meant: 'to put down to one's account and to let revenues be placed on deposit at the storehouse.' Essentially, it was the idea of putting credit down on a person's account. Thus, God put to Abraham’s account, placed on deposit for him, and credited to him, righteousness. Remember that righteousness is also more than just the absence of evil and guilt. It is a positively added good, meaning that God does not only declare us innocent but righteous in his eyes because Christ is in us.

Paul also explains and makes an important distinction between grace and works. The idea of grace stands opposite to the principle of works; grace has to do with receiving the freely given gift of God, while works have to do with earning our merit before God. Works place God in debt to us, whereas grace puts us in debt to God, and these two distinctions are worlds apart. Even today, we are not saved or counted righteous because of any good deeds or by keeping a certain standard of holiness and purity but because of our faith in Christ and the grace that comes as a result of that. Holiness, purity, and righteous living should flow from our lives as a result of God's forgiveness, not as a cause of his forgiveness. Through Paul's teaching, we can better understand that there are not two ways of salvation: saved by works through law-keeping in the Old Testament and saved by grace through faith in the New Testament. Everyone who has ever been saved – Old or New Testament – is saved by grace through faith. Ultimately, all salvation comes through Jesus and nothing else. In this way, Jesus was correct when he declared that he is The Way, The Truth, and The Life and that no one can come to the Father except through him.