¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

To the patriarch Abraham Paul now turns. Until now it has been Moses, although his name has not been used before chapter 5 and then only four times in the entire letter. However, the New Testament refers to “Moses,” “the Law” and “the Law of Moses” synonymously, and Paul refers to the Law about 78 times. The Law was the ultimate authority for the Jews. Shortly, Paul will turn us to King David. These three are the biggest names in Jewish history.

Abraham, who was considered the Father of the Jewish people, carries a unique and significant weight. Paul refers to the genealogical connection the Jews all have with him, tracing their gene pool back to that individual who lived about 2,000 B.C. All ethnic Jews are descended of him (“according to the flesh”) by definition. Abraham with his wife started it all.

Paul turns to this great man of faith as an example of justification, seeing that he was the very first human to be justified by God. The story is told in Genesis 15, where God promised Abraham that his descendants would be innumerable, like the stars in the heavens (Gen 15:5). Scripture records, “Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). The New Testament quotes this verse no less than four times (Rom 4:9, 22; Gal 3:6; Jas 2:23). Righteousness (i.e. justification) is intrinsically connected to faith. Theologians put it this way: faith is the necessary and sufficient requirement for being justified. That means in order to be justified, a person needs to have faith, and faith is all he needs.

There is no boasting in faith, which could feasibly take place if one could be justified by keeping the law. Abraham certainly did not become right with God that way; in fact, the declaration of God that Abraham was righteous pre-dates the Law of Moses by 430 years (Gal 3:17). Notice two words carefully: 1) Abraham believed God, that is, he simply believed what God told him about his descendants. 2) It was “credited” to him as righteousness. Like depositing a check to a person’s bank account, God deposited righteousness—that is, counted it—to Abraham. That righteousness did not come by Abraham’s doing, but by Abraham’s believing. Faith is not something he could boast in, because it simply acknowledges God. Paul elucidates this further in the next verses.

Lord, I do believe that You have credited righteousness to my spiritual account.