Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness...
Romans 4:3
Paul is the author of the Epistle to the Romans. He definitely feels that there is great decadence and corruption in the people of Rome at that time. He is teaching the Roman people in this part of his letter about righteousness. He means a right relationship with God, and how their lives will show it.
The Jews regarded Abraham as the great founder of the race, and the pattern of all that a man should be. He was the man to whom God had first spoken, and Abraham heard and obeyed God. God had come to Abraham and asked him to leave home and friends and relatives and his livelihood, and had said to him, “If you make this great venture of faith, you will become the father of a great nation.” Abraham took God at his word and abandoned his life to him. Paul says that was faith, and it was Abraham’s faith which made God regard him as a good man.
We do not need to torture ourselves with a losing battle to earn God’s love. We need to accept in perfect trust the love which God offers to us. After that, any person of honor is under the life-long obligation to show himself worthy of that love.
Priscilla W. Hardesty
