“To him that worketh not” (Rom. 4:4-8)
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| Parable of the Pharisee and Publican, Image from Wikimedia Commons |
I cannot imagine anything more important than to be able to know that God is for you, not against you, that you can have real and immediate access to him, that he hears your prayers, that he loves you and cares for you, and that all the power of heaven is at work to bring you to the everlasting enjoyment of the glory of Christ in heaven. Not all the praises of men, the satisfaction of worldly success, the triumph of conquering the most difficult task, or the comforts and pleasures of this life, can even begin to stack up against or compare to this greatest of all privileges.
But that is what we are talking about when we are talking about the justification of a sinner by faith in Christ before God. We are not simply arguing for one doctrinal scheme over others; we are arguing that the Bible really does teach that no matter who you are, no matter what your past, no matter how this world looks at you and scores you and judges you – you can be a son or daughter of the Most High God, heir to inconceivable, infinite riches and the promise of never-ending, ever-increasing joy in the presence of God. It certainly warrants all the attention of our minds and the attraction of our affection, shouldn’t it?
This is what the apostle Paul is talking about here in Romans 4. Recall that in verses 1-3, he is arguing that the patriarch Abraham was justified, not by good works, but by faith alone. He demonstrates this by Scripture, quoting Genesis 15:6. In other words, the apostle has been arguing that the gospel message of justification by faith alone is the only way consistent with Scripture. Now, in the following verses, especially verses 4-5, the apostle is going to make another very important argument, namely, that we must be made right with God by faith and not by works because this is the only way that is consistent with grace.
You will note that there are two persons imagined here: “him that worketh” in verse 4, and “him that worketh not” in verse 5. The one who works is a person who is working to make himself or herself right with God (cf. ver. 2). And the one who does not work is a person who has stopped looking to their works to make themselves right with God.
According to the apostle, those who are working for their acceptance with God are seeking to put him in their debt: “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt” (4). Such a person looks at salvation as if it were something to be earned, as wages given to him as his due. He is putting God in his debt. But the person who is not working for their acceptance with God is the person who believes the gospel promise that God is the one who in Christ justifies the ungodly (5). This is the person who realizes that they are ungodly, that there is nothing in themselves to commend themselves to God. Their trust is not in their good works but in the God who saves by grace.
This last person is the only person of whom the apostle says, “his faith is counted for righteousness” (5). It is not the person who is relying on his or her own efforts and good works and wisdom to procure salvation who is saved. It’s the people who realize that they cannot save themselves and cast themselves on Christ alone for acceptance with God who have their faith counted for righteousness. I remind you that to have one’s faith counted for righteousness simply means, as we pointed out last time, to be justified by faith.
These two verses which imagine these two persons and their two positions are perfectly illustrated in that famous parable spoken by our Lord, about the Pharisee and the publican. It is introduced by Luke with the words, “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” (Luke 18:9). “Him that worketh” is another way of describing those who “trust in themselves that they are righteous,” which inevitably goes along with a sort of superior attitude, despising others. If you think you’ve got God in your debt, then you will end up thinking a lot of yourself!
Here is the parable: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (10-12). This is a perfect description and illustration of “him that worketh” (Rom. 4:4), isn’t it? Then comes a description of “him that worketh not” (5): “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Look at the conclusion our Lord gives regarding these two men – you will notice that it is the same as the apostle Paul in Romans 4: “I tell you, this man [the publican, him that worketh not] went down to his house justified rather than the other [the Pharisee, him that worketh]: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
Now it may be shocking, as I’m sure it must have been to some of Paul’s original audience, that Paul is essentially calling Abraham “ungodly” in verse 5. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, that’s verses 1-3. But then in verse 5, the apostle says, as a sort of general principle, that those who do not rely in their own good works, but believe in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. This principle is a general one, and applies to Abraham as much as it does to anyone else. The point is that when God finds us, no matter how changed we become as a result of our conversion to God, he initially finds us dead in trespasses and in sins. He does not find us to be godly but ungodly.
This was true of Abraham. When God initially called Abraham, he didn’t find a dedicated servant of God; he evidently found him a dedicated pagan in a pagan family. Joshua, Moses’ successor, reminded the Israelites of this: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods” (Josh. 24:2). The point is that God didn’t call Abraham to himself because he thought he had found a godly man. No, he found him in idolatry. He found him as an ungodly man. And God called him, and Abraham responded, not by trusting in his works to recommend him to God, but by trusting in the grace of God and his gospel. It is the same with us.
The point is this: we can never rely on our good works to justify us before God. Our good works can never justify us in the sight of God. And God does not in fact justify godly people; he justifies ungodly people. He does not justify the righteous but sinners.
This is further demonstrated in Paul’s quotation of Psalm 32: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:6-8). Note that God imputing righteousness in verse 6 is explained by God not imputing sin in verse 8. This shows conclusively that Paul didn’t think of the righteousness imputed as something in us, for the ones who are being counted righteous are in fact sinners – they are the same people who need to have their sins passed over, and not imputed, and forgiven. God justifies sinners; he imputes righteousness to them apart from their works. This is the gospel.
That’s the overall exposition of the text. But several question immediately arise, don’t they? One is, how all-encompassing is this negation, “to the one who does not work”? And then another question that immediately follows that is, do works have any role in the life of a Christian? Is “him that worketh not” a complete description of the Christian life? It comes down then to three questions. In what sense do works not apply in the Christian life, and in what sense do they apply in the Christian life? The Biblical answer to the first is that works do not apply in justification, and the answer to the second is that they do apply in sanctification. That leads to a final question: is there a sense in which the not working in our justification enables and motivates the working of our sanctification? I want to argue that there is such a sense. We can summarize our approach to this text as a matter of justification, a matter of sanctification, and a matter of motivation.
A Matter of Justification: In what sense do works not apply to the Christian life?
We need to remember that what the apostle is talking about here in Romans 3-4 is justification. He is talking about how we get right with God and on what basis we are accepted by him into his favor. That is a gift of grace alone given to faith apart from any consideration of works. Romans teaches us that we are never justified by works. Not at the beginning of the Christian life, not in the middle, nor at the end. It’s not that we begin to be justified by grace and then end up being justified by works. Rather, our justification before God, our acceptance with him, is from beginning to end a matter of faith alone, “from faith to faith,” or “by faith from beginning to end” (Rom. 1:17).
It is important to underline this because many have taught a sort of half-way scheme when it comes to grace and justification before God. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, argues correctly that justification is an act of the grace of God by faith, but then goes wrong when it says that it can be lost, and having been lost, can only be regained by the sacrament of penance (Council of Trent, Session 6, Chapter 14). This makes justification finally to be a matter of works, which is what Paul denies.
It's interesting in this connection that the apostle quotes Gen. 15:6, for this took place after Abraham was called to a life of faith, which is recorded in the 12th chapter of the book of Genesis. Is Paul saying that Abraham was not justified until the events in chapter 15? No, surely not. However, he is showing us that, even after a long record of obedience and faith (and repentance!), Abraham’s acceptance with God and his status as righteous before him was always through faith and never through works. The same is true for us. There is never a point in our lives where our good works (no matter how good they are) contribute to our justification. It doesn’t matter what the work is, whether it is baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or “fasts, alms, prayers, and the other pious exercises of a spiritual life” (Council of Trent).
Others short-circuit what the apostle is arguing for by claiming that the works he is talking about are only items in the Mosaic law that served as boundary markers between Jew and Gentile. They argue that when Paul says we are not justified by works, he means only that you no longer have to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law in order to be a part of the people of God, the church. This is sometimes called the New Perspective, and one of its chief and most persuasive advocates in our day is the British scholar N. T. Wright. Sadly, according to this perspective, justification by grace at the moment of faith gets replaced by a justification of works at the moment of the Final Judgment.
Now it is true that Gentiles do not have to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law in order to be in the church. But this is not what Paul is talking about here. He is not talking about the law in terms of things that kept the Gentiles out; he is talking about good works in general that are relied upon for the purpose of meriting salvation. The fact that Paul is talking about Abraham is significant here. As Paul will argue in the next few verses, the justification of Abraham had nothing to do with circumcision, and the Mosaic law wouldn’t come for another 400 years. The apostle really is dealing with a legalistic mindset that sought to put God in its debt by good works and to seek acceptance with him on that basis. It is that mindset that Paul is arguing against when he says, “to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
Brothers and sisters, we never gain God’s favor, love, acceptance, or friendship on the basis of our own personal deeds of obedience, love, and good works. All who are united to Christ by faith are immediately and permanently righteous before God with the righteousness of God. It is for that reason that the apostle can say of any believer at any moment in their life of faith, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). If you belong to Christ, you don’t have to wonder if you are justified, for you are right now.
However, it is true that works do play a part in the Christian life, just not in justification. That leads to the next question.
A Matter of Sanctification: In what sense do works apply to the Christian life?
Justification is not the only thing that happens to us when God saves us. Thank God, he finds us as ungodly, but he does not leave us there. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17). God begins to transform us and by the Holy Spirit to make us godly men and women. So where do works come in? They come in as part of our sanctification. So if we ask the question: is “him that worketh not” a description of every part of the Christian life? the answer is clearly no. The Christian is a person who does live a life of good works.
Here are some important Biblical texts for that. First, consider our Lord’s words in the Sermon on the Mount: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 5:16). Here our Lord not only commends but commands good works. They are to be obvious in fact, something that others can see. It is in this way that we glorify our Father who is in heaven. A Christian is by definition one who follows the Lord, who obeys his teaching. So you can’t even call yourself a Christian if you do not live in the light and let your light shine like a candle on a candlestick, or a lamp on a lampstand.
Or consider how the apostle himself over and over again prays for good works, and praises God for good works in the lives of believers. About the Colossians, he said that “we also . . . do not cease to pray for you, and to desire . . . That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:9-10). He writes Timothy that he is to exhort the Christians in Ephesus to “do good” and “be rich in good works” (1 Tim. 6:18).
But then the final proof of this is that this is one of the things our Lord died for. These are such important words: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Tit. 2:11-14). Now those who embrace the doctrines of grace are often heard to say that Christ is a successful Savior. I agree that he is. But that must mean that he is successful in accomplishing every purpose for which he died, and Paul makes it very clear to Titus that our Lord came to redeem us from all iniquity, not only in terms of the forgiveness of sins, but also in terms of purifying us, making us zealous for good works. The grace of God teaches us something, and that something is that we should be godly. Yes, God’s grace finds us as ungodly people. But it does not leave us there, does it? Thank God for that! By the way, this purpose of purification does not just await us in heaven; it is something God is doing in us in this present world. As Paul writes to the Galatians: our Lord “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:4).
This is why we can say that we are not saved by works but we will be judged in the Final Judgment by our works. The Bible teaches both. And the reason is that though the good works are never a ground of our acceptance with God – never! – they are the evidence of the grace of God in our life. It’s why Paul wrote, just a few chapters before in Romans 2, that God “will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Rom. 2:6-10). It is because we are saved by grace through faith unto good works (Eph. 2:8-10).
So again, no, we cannot say that “him that worketh not” is a blanket description of the Christian life. Christians are to work hard at killing the sin in their lives, at loving God and loving their neighbor, doing good, rich in good works. You don’t coast into heaven. We are to exercise ourselves unto godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). We are to live disciplined lives. There is a cost to it. There is sweat involved. We are to labor in the kingdom. Jesus said, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Lk. 13:24), and the word “strive” there is the Greek word agonizomai, which appropriately sounds a lot like “agonize”! Agonize your way into the strait gate!
These Scriptures show us that not only should good works characterize believers but that they are necessary in the sense that if a person is without them they are not saved. Again, not that good works save us – they do not – but they are the inevitable fruit of grace in the life of those who are saved. Our Lord said that “every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Mt. 7:17-20). When our Lord makes a tree good (saves a person), he makes its fruit good (gives them a new nature that produces good works).
This then leads us to the final question. Think of it this way: is there a reason to insist on separating justification and sanctification? Some see them as basically the same thing. We’ve been arguing that they are not the same thing: justification is not by works whereas you can’t be sanctified apart from good works. But since we are arguing that they are both necessary (and they are), isn’t this really a distinction without a difference? Well, I want to make a case that it does matter that we keep justification and sanctification separate, and that thinking of them in this way actually matters in a very practical way. Let me put it to you in the form of a question:
A Matter of Motivation: How does the “not working” of our justification serve the “working” of our sanctification?
In his letter to Titus, Paul writes, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men” (Tit. 3:8). How does this go along with Paul’s claim that it’s not the one who works but believes that is justified?
Paul will of course deal with this later in chapter 6. His point there will be just that grace makes us different by making us dead to sin. We go from being dead in sin to being dead to sin. And that makes a difference in the life. But that’s not the point I want to make. The point I want to make is how the truth of the freeness and graciousness of our justification before God serves as a motivation for our sanctification. Justification is what Paul is talking about here in Romans 4. And what I want to point out this morning is that the reality that we are justified before God by sheer grace and mercy, without any consideration of works, is a truth that frees us to be holy and happy and hopeful.
Here is how it happens: the truth of justification by grace through faith alone frees us from seeing works as the burden of an impossible task to experiencing it as the joyful response to a good God.
Putting people under intense pressure is often the best way of cutting off their best effort, isn’t it? When you’ve got a sword hanging over your head on a thread, it’s hard to focus on anything else. I think that is a lot like the situation we find ourselves in when we think that if we’re not good enough, then God won’t accept us, and so we keep on trying to be better. But it’s an impossible task, because we all sin and come short of the glory of God. Our conscience won’t let us rest. And so we end up feeling like we’re spinning our wheels; the reality is that this is exactly what we’re doing. Holiness becomes a burden and God a tyrannical taskmaster. Like Martin Luther before he saw the truth of the gospel, we end up begrudging God’s good law and hating the Lawgiver.
John Bunyan has the perfect picture of this in his famous book The Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s the picture of Christian with the burden on his back, this great burden of his sin and guilt that is tied to him and which he can’t get rid of. It’s hard to see the joy of obedience when you’re trudging around all the time with this burden. But that’s exactly what it’s like when we imagine that it’s our obedience that saves us and makes us acceptable before God.
But when you see that God doesn’t accept us into his favor and friendship because we were able to do enough to put him in our debt, but that he does so freely, by grace, and that our works don’t come into it at all, then how can we not respond to this but with pure joy, and then out of love to want to gladly serve God with all our hearts? Now obedience is not an impossible task but the response of love. It’s not something we have to do to be saved, but something we want to do for one who saved us.
I think this is part of the reason why King David said, “Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” Blessed, happy! It’s important that we see that this blessedness is not the relief of a sinner who wants to go on in his sins without the threat of punishment. No, it’s the relief of someone who wants to grow in his obedience and service to God without the threat of punishment. David will go on to say, “I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:5). That’s repentance. Note how the Psalm ends: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (11). Who is rejoicing? The righteous, the upright in heart. The joy that comes from forgiveness is a joy that leads to, not away from, uprightness and godliness. It’s the blessing that is expressed in the very first Psalm: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:1-2).
My friend, do you know this blessedness? Do you know the blessedness of forgiveness based on grace not works, but which fills your heart with longing and love to God and Christ so that you want to serve him with all your might? Do you know what it means to say, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart” (Ps. 119:1-2)? Not because you are trying to work for God’s favor, but from it!
There is one caveat I think I do need to add here, though. The blessedness David speaks of it clearly a felt thing. But it is not only a felt thing. The reality is that if you belong to Jesus Christ and are united to him by faith, then you are blessed whether you feel it or not. There is a felt peace and there is an objective peace, and both are included in the words of the apostle when he writes, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). It is both experienced by you and objective to you. Thank God for that. My friend, if your faith is in Jesus, you may feel at this very moment very low, and you may not even know why. You may be struggling with anxious thoughts, and even with despair. But know this: your Head is in heaven, and no matter how high the waves of the sea rise about you, you will not drown. Your righteousness is in heaven, and no matter how your conscience accuses you, you will not be lost. Even this blessedness can become a burden if you are looking for it as a sign of salvation. No, my friend, it’s a precious gift of God. But may we know it more and more!
There is a verse that Charles Wesley wrote that I think encapsulates this perfectly. He wrote that our Lord,
That is what I am trying to say here. The sins we are striving to overcome are canceled sins. We are not striving to cancel our sins; we are striving against sins that are already canceled. That is truly freeing, isn’t it? As John Piper puts it, we are fighting forgiven sins. Praise God! And that ought to fuel obedience and fan the flames of desire to please Christ our Lord. Does it do it for you? Don’t you want to be more holy for the one whose blood makes the foulest, the most ungodly sinner, clean and justified and righteous before God?
Conclusion
Certainly Rom. 4:4-5 is one of the most important texts in all the Bible when it comes to the doctrine of justification by faith, because it shows conclusively that we are not justified because of anything in us, and that the righteousness which brings us into the favor and fellowship of God is not our righteousness but Christ’s. I think Lloyd-Jones was right when he put it this way, that these verses are “in many ways the strongest statement concerning justification which this Apostle ever made. He who makes the clearest statements about justification by faith, here goes beyond anything that he says anywhere else.”
But what I’m saying also is that when we read this, there are several wrong ways to respond to this. One wrong way is simply to interact with this text on a purely intellectual level, and as something to give you ammunition against Roman Catholicism or other divergent theological positions. Another wrong way is to read this and to infer that holiness and good works have no place in the Christian life, and to respond to this in a sort of antinomian way. Rather, what I’m arguing is that we ought to see clearly the great truth that we are saved by grace though faith, and that our justification before God is not based on works whatsoever, and that this ought to have a profound effect upon us. This effect springs out of the blessedness that we now feel and know, and it ought to lead us to be more holy and more happy.
And if you have not yet embraced Christ as your Savior, this verse ought to teach you that there is no hope for you or anyone else apart from Christ. Apart from the righteousness of Christ imputed to sinners through faith, we are just ungodly people who are exposed to the just judgment of God. Knowing that faith is counted for righteousness ought to move you to put your trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Don’t wait to make yourself good enough; put your trust in the one who justifies the ungodly.
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