Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
한국어 日本語
More Objections Answered regarding Romans 4
by Robert P. TerryUpdated January 1, 2025
This article supplements and partly overlaps two other articles that deal with Romans 4.
Hebrews 11:8-9 and Imputed Righteousness
Romans 4:17-22 and the Demonstration of Abraham's Faith
What about Hebrews 11:8-9? Wasn't Abraham justified by faithful living?
Opponents of justification by imputed righteousness have tried to explain away the plain words of Romans 4:3-5 by interpreting the word "faith" as faithfulness or faithful living. However, in Romans 4:2, Paul draws our attention to the faithful living of Abraham, and says that those acts of faithfulness, though certainly worthy of praise before men, gained him no standing with God.
In Isaiah 51:2, we learn that God had exclusively called Abraham, blessed him, and multiplied him, resulting in the faith and obedience we read of in Hebrews 11:8-9. All of this happened before Genesis 15:6 where we are first told that Abraham's faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. Romans 4:2 is significant because it tells us that these works of Abraham, including the faith and obedience mentioned in Hebrews 11:8-9, did not contribute to his justification. This is why Paul carefully positions the content of Romans 4:2 directly before speaking of Abraham's justification by faith in Romans 4:3. He was preemptively refuting the very objection that so many opponents of imputed righteousness are appealing to. Paul then insists that it was "ungodly" Abraham (Romans 4:5, cf. Joshua 24:2-3) who was justified apart from works (including the "Spirit-produced works" of Hebrews 11:8-9), on the basis of believing God with respect to the gospel that was preached to him beforehand concerning Christ coming through his seed line (Galatians 3:6-8, 3:16, John 8:56).
Paul quotes Psalm 32:1-2, but what about Psalm 32:5-6?
Opponents of imputed righteousness have tried to read Romans 4 through the lens of Psalm 32:5-6 where David speaks of confession of sins as being the prayer of all godly people. The Apostle Paul does quote part of Psalm 32:1-2 in Romans 4:6-8, but he is very selective in what he quotes. He does this on purpose so as not to confuse the act of justification itself with an act that characterizes people who have already been justified. There is no cause and effect relationship between justification and confession of sin, but they are highly correlated. Paul uses Romans 4:6-8 to prove his conclusion in Romans 4:5 that God justifies ungodly people who do not work. It is important to notice how Paul speaks of the "ungodly man," whereas David speaks of the "godly man." For Paul, this distinction was not a small one. This is why he carefully excluded the latter half of Psalm 32:2, "And in whose spirit there is no guile" from his quotation. Confession of sin is literally confession of ungodliness. Such a person makes no pretensions about his condition, and thus "in his spirit there is no guile." So, for David to call a person who confesses their sins "godly," he would have to be referring to someone who was already justified. Confession of sin before justification does not result in justification, but it can prepare conditions that help lead to justification. Certainly, Paul's ungodly man in Romans 4:5 makes no pretensions about being godly, and this is why he is described as one who does not work. In this respect, there is no guile in his spirit, for he recognizes his wretched state and does not try to hide it or cover it. However, recognition of one's wretchedness must not be confused with justification. Only God can cover sins and not impute iniquity. Justification occurs when a person believes God.