When Romans 4:3 says “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” it means Abraham was made right with God not because of anything he did, but because he trusted God. God credited righteousness to him as a gift. That same gift is offered to anyone who trusts the God “who justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5). And real faith doesn’t stay invisible: Abraham’s trust showed up when he obeyed God and walked into the unknown.
That’s the short answer. Here’s why it matters for your life this week.
Is Faith Still Necessary Today?
It’s a fair question. We live in the age of information. When we’re uncertain, we search Google, ask an AI app, check the projections. Those tools are genuinely useful — but they can quietly become where we put our trust.
Many of us would say we have faith. We trust God with heaven and with eternity. But do we trust Him with our finances, our kids, the job interview, the news cycle? Or do we say we have faith while actually chasing certainty — trusting God only as long as the odds look good?
Romans 4 speaks right into that gap.
What Is Paul’s Main Point in Romans 4:1–12?
In true Pauline fashion, the center of the passage carries the main point. Paul quotes King David in Psalm 32:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” — Romans 4:7–8 (ESV)
Paul has just spent Romans 1–3 showing that every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). That’s not a popular message in a culture that says you’re perfect just the way you are. But it’s the doorway to good news. Because we are sinful, we need forgiveness. And when God chooses not to count our sin against us, we are blessed — supremely blessed.
So how do we receive that forgiveness? Paul answers with Abraham.
Was Abraham Justified by Works or by Faith?
Paul was writing to a young church in Rome made up of Jewish and Gentile believers. Some were insisting that the new Gentile Christians had to follow Jewish law — eat kosher, be circumcised, earn their place.
Paul’s response:
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” — Romans 4:2–3 (ESV)
Abraham’s right standing with God didn’t come from earning. If it had, Abraham could have taken the credit. Paul even points out (verses 9–12) that God counted Abraham righteous before he was circumcised, which makes Abraham the father of everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile alike.
Put simply:
We are sinful → We are in need of forgiveness → Grace comes through faith.
What Did Abraham’s Faith Actually Look Like?
Faith can feel abstract. So how do we see it? Look at Genesis 12. God speaks to Abram, already 75 years old, and tells him to leave his country, his relatives, and his father’s house “to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Not a map. Not a five-year plan. Just a promise.
And then one of the most remarkable sentences in Scripture:
“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” — Genesis 12:4 (ESV)
Imagine being told to hand over your phone, sign out of your bank accounts, and start driving west until God says stop. Most of us would have a few questions. Some of us would have a flat-out “no way.”
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, began a well-known prayer with the words, “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.” That isn’t a lack of faith. It’s faith in its purest form: God, I don’t know, but You do — so I’ll follow You.
Abraham’s faith became tangible through obedience. So the chain continues:
We are sinful → We need forgiveness → Grace comes through faith → Faith is made tangible in obedience.
Doesn’t Obedience Sound Like Works?
This is where it’s easy to get confused. Paul is clear that we can’t earn God’s favor: “to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due” (Romans 4:4). But obedience that flows from grace is completely different from obedience that tries to earn grace.
The writer Dallas Willard put it memorably: grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.
Many Christians today aren’t trying to earn salvation, and that’s good. But sometimes we drift into something else: entitlement. We pray a prayer, check a box, and go back to normal life, letting others serve and others carry the load. At root, earning and entitlement say the same thing: God owes me. The gospel says the opposite. Jesus’ sacrifice was a gift we never deserved, and gratitude for that gift gets us off the couch and onto the field.
A Modern Example of Radical Faith
In 1977, the Rev. Dr. Al VanderMeer left a growing church in Michigan to come to the Quad Cities and plant a church. When someone asked how big the new church was, he said: one person — his wife. He took a pay cut, rented an apartment, and started meeting in a Holiday Inn. When asked why, his answer was simple: God had called them to Iowa.
That church became Christ’s Family Church. Within a few years it bought land and built the building we still worship in today. Nearly fifty years later, God is still moving through that one act of obedience, including a church in Eldridge that CFC planted 25 years ago.
How Can I Grow in Faith This Week?
You don’t need to move to Alaska to have real faith. Start here:
Listen to God’s voice. Slow down and pray. What’s been on your heart? A person to talk to about Jesus? A question about serving?
Start small. Faith the size of a mustard seed is enough. Feel called to ministry? Serve in kids’ ministry. Feel called to missions? Start with your neighbors. We need across-the-street missionaries as much as across-the-globe ones.
Stay faithful and watch God move. Abraham didn’t give up. He kept trusting.
This week’s challenge: During morning, noon, and night prayer, ask God how you can walk in obedience that day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “counted to him as righteousness” mean?
It means God credited Abraham with a right standing before Him, as a gift received by faith rather than as wages earned by good works (Romans 4:3–5).
Is Romans 4 saying good works don’t matter?
No. Romans 4 says good works can’t earn salvation. But genuine faith shows itself in obedience, the way Abraham’s faith showed when he left home at God’s word (Genesis 12:4).
Why does Paul use Abraham as his example?
Abraham is the father of the Jewish people, and God counted him righteous before he was circumcised. That makes him the father of all who believe, Jewish and non-Jewish alike (Romans 4:11–12).
What is a practical way to grow in faith?
Start small. Pray and listen, take one small step of obedience (serving, talking with a neighbor, praying for someone), and stay faithful over time.
Join Us On Sunday
If you’re asking what it really means to trust God, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Join us at Christ’s Family Church, 4601 Utica Ridge Road in Davenport; serving Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, Rock Island, and the whole Quad Cities. Sunday services are at 9:00 & 10:40a.
And if you’ve never trusted in Christ and want to talk about what it truly means to follow Jesus, Pastor Zachary would love to meet with you.