Romans Ch. 4-5

[joseph]

Romans Ch. 4 & 5

Chapter 4 answers the most important question in the world – how does
sinful man become righteous enough to stand before a holy God? The
answer – imputation.

Imputation is the banking term which means that God credits our
account with his own righteousness through faith. “Abraham believed
God and it was ‘credited’ to him as righteousness” (4:3).

“Now when a man works, his wages are not ‘credited’ to him as a gift,
but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but
trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is ‘credited’ as
righteousness.(4;4-5)

The word translated as “credit” or sometimes “reckoned” comes from the
Greek word “logizomai” which comes from the word “logos,” meaning
“something said or thought” from which we get “the Word” as in Word of
God. The point being that God speaks righteousness into humans just
as he spoke creation into being. When God speaks or declares
something, it is. Thus our righteousness is a gift from God which
does not depend on human effort (works). When a man works for
righteousness he gets paid his rightful wage (4:4); and the “wages of
sin is death” (6:23). But when he receives the gift of God’s imputed
(spoken, declared) righteousness through faith in Christ, it is true
“blessedness” (4.6). Thus, God imputes his righteousness to us through
faith and not our effort. It depends on him, not us. That’s good news.

Ch. 5

Chapter 5 builds upon the concept of imputation to further establish
the equally important understanding of “justification,” introduced in
Ch. 3 (vs. 24). “Justified” is a legal term meaning to be declared
“innocent” as in a court of law. Not because the judge is feeling nice
but because legally our guilt has been imputed to Christ, and his
innocence has been imputed to us. Therefore the judge is just when he
raps the gavel and declares us “not guilty.” The result is “peace with
God. (vs.1).

This wonderful act was accomplished on our behalf by Christ’s atoning
death on the cross (vs. 6-8) in which Christ atoned for, covered, or
took upon himself the guilt of our sin. So Paul introduces another
banking term – reconciliation - which means to bring together. Once we
were separated from God because of sin but now because of what Christ
has done on the cross, our sin was atoned for by being imputed to him
and his righteousness imputed to us in its place. We were therefore
justified (declared “not guilty”) by God and brought together with him
in peace.

So, one can see that learning “theological” words such as imputation,
justification, atonement, and reconciliation is not just an academic
exercise, it actually gives us greater understanding of our faith and
a solid ground to stand on when we are tested.