“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as a righteousness.”
– Romans 4:3
That sentence is so key to understanding everything in the Bible, everything in the gospel, and everything in our lives. It all hinges on belief in God. And what Paul is talking about in Romans 4:3, he’s talking about Abraham. He did all kinds of things in obedience to God, his willingness to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. But that’s not why it was credited to him as righteousness. It was credited to him as righteousness like he was justified before God. He had a relationship with God because he believed God because he took God at His word. When God said do something, he believed this is best and so he did it.
Believing and receiving
And so, when we think about, yes, the Gospel, we think about salvation. How are we saved from our sins? It’s through our works out there and what we can do for God. it’s to believe in God, it’s to believe that God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. He rose from the grave so that we could be forgiven of our sins.
And the way we’re forgiven, we saw this in Romans 3. It’s a gift to be received by faith, by believing in Jesus. And then this is how God intends us to live, by believing him. Believing him to wake up in the morning, open up His word and say, “I believe your word. I’m trusting you and your word to lead me, guide me, and direct my life today. I want to build my life upon your word. I’m believing you.”
This is how God intends us to live—by believing Him.
Romans 4:3 Tells Us to Have Unwavering Faith
And in the middle of all kinds of temptations to wander from His word to say, “No, no, no, I believe God’s word is best.” He will lead me and guide me in what is best. I’m trusting in Him.” And so, I want to encourage you as you live today, well, first of all, in the Gospel, if you’ve never believed in God, trusted in Jesus to save you from your sins, start there like this is where life starts through putting your faith in Jesus. And then as a Christian. As one who has believed God, which has been credited to you as righteousness, because you’ve trusted in Christ. Then live every day like all day long with belief in Him to say.
Romans 4:3: We Believe God
Let’s pray together. God, we believe you. God, we trust you, we trust your word. You are our salvation, you are our Lord, you are our life. All of our life is based on your promises that we believe. We believe that because we’ve trusted in Jesus, we have eternal life. We believe that because we have trusted in Jesus, we have forgiveness of sins. That through faith, this gift of salvation has been given to us. We banked our life on this for eternity on you, we believe you. And not just for eternity, but for today we believe you.
Asking for Help to Walk in Faith
Help us to follow your word today. Help us to, as Romans 4:3 talks about, walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had. And help us to live with the radical obedience in our lives that springs from belief in you, the trust in you. Not the pleasures pursuits of this world, not the ways of this world. No, we believe you, oh God. And as we believe you, help us to walk with you. Just as belief brought us to enter into a relationship with you, may belief be the means today by which we enjoy a relationship with you. Help us to walk with faith in you today in everything we do. Help us to live by faith, believing you every single moment. in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
