The Ancient Truth About Righteousness: Why Faith Has Always Been God's Way

As we walk through Romans one reality seems constant… Grace is nothing new. In fact, grace is all there has ever been. When it comes to how we stand right before God, this truth is an ancient practice of God’s: God has always made sinners righteous through faith alone. 

The Universal Problem 

Before we can appreciate the solution, we must understand the problem. Humanity isn't merely a collection of people who occasionally commit sins. We are people enslaved to sin itself. There's a critical difference between doing wrong things and being in bondage to wrongness at our core. 

The Law—God's perfect standard—reveals this bondage with painful clarity. It diagnoses our condition with precision, showing us exactly where we fall short. But here's the limitation: the Law can diagnose you, but it cannot heal you. It can expose the disease but cannot provide the cure. 

This is where everything changes. Two life-altering words shift the entire narrative in Roams 3:21: "But now..." 

But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law. What we could never achieve through effort or moral striving has been given as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. We are justified—declared righteous—not because of anything we've done, but as a gift of His grace through the redemptive work of Christ. 

The Faith That Saves 

It's crucial to understand that not all faith saves. Faith in faith itself is powerless. A five-year-old boy tying banana leaves to his arms and believing he can fly has faith—but that faith cannot overcome gravity. Faith only saves when its object is Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. 

It's Christ's blood—His sacrifice—that satisfies God's justice and turns His wrath away from us. Because salvation rests entirely on what Christ has done, all human boasting is excluded. No one can claim, "I earned this." Our only boast is in Christ crucified. 

Abraham: The Prototype of Faith 

To prove that justification by faith isn't some new doctrine but God's ancient plan, we need look no further than Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. If Abraham himself—the patriarch, the founder—was justified by faith apart from works, then the case is closed. 

Genesis 15:6 records a pivotal moment: "Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." 

Notice the sequence: Abraham believed God, and that faith was credited to him as righteousness. He didn't earn righteousness through perfect obedience. He didn't accumulate enough good deeds to tip the scales in his favor. God credited righteousness to Abraham's account based on his faith. 

Understanding "Credited Righteousness" 

The word "credited" is an accounting term that unlocks the entire gospel transaction. When God justifies us, He performs what could be called a double-ledger transfer—two simultaneous exchanges that change everything. 

On our ledger, we had zero assets. We possessed no righteousness. But we had accumulated massive debt—the deficit of sin that separated us from God. When salvation occurs, two transactions happen: 

First, our debt is transferred to Christ's account. On the cross, Jesus was charged with our sin. Our liability was removed and placed on Him. 

Second, Christ's righteousness is deposited into our account. His perfect obedience, His flawless life, His complete righteousness becomes ours—not as a loan to be repaid, but as an irrevocable gift. 

This is what theologians call "imputed righteousness." Christ became sin on our behalf so we could become the righteousness of God. Our account is cleared—not because we earned it, but because righteousness was credited to us by grace through faith. 

Faith itself isn't the asset. Faith is the instrument that connects us to the transaction. The benefit is immediate: you are instantly in right standing with God, possessing immediate moral perfection in your spirit. The process of sanctification—the transformation of our minds and lives—is our brain catching up to what has already happened in our spirit. 

Wages Versus Gifts 

There are only two ways to receive something: you can earn it as wages, or you can receive it as a gift. 

If we earn wages, we work for them, and payment is owed for work performed. But if we receive a gift, we did nothing to earn it—it comes purely from the giver's generosity. 

One day, everyone will stand before God and either earn their own wage or receive the credited gift of life. If you're paid what you're owed based on your works, the wage of sin is eternal death. But to those who believe—who don't rely on their works but trust in the One who justifies the ungodly—faith is credited as righteousness. 

This is the "trust transfer"—moving trust away from ourselves and placing it entirely on Jesus Christ. 

David's Testimony 

Abraham isn't the only witness. King David, Israel's greatest monarch, also testified to this truth. Despite his significant sins—adultery, deceit, murder—David's hope wasn't in his works but in God's forgiveness. 

In Psalm 32, David describes the blessed person whose sins are forgiven, covered, and not counted against them. An imperfect, guilty man is declared blessed, not because of what he has done, but because of what God has done for him. 

Both Abraham and David stand as witnesses across the ages: righteousness is credited by faith, and sin is not counted against those who trust in God. 

Before the Sign 

Here's a critical detail: Abraham was justified in Genesis 15, long before he was circumcised in Genesis 17. Circumcision was given as a sign and seal—an outward symbol confirming the righteousness he already possessed by faith. 

The same principle applies to baptism today. The power is in the blood, not the tub. These outward acts are pictures of an inward work, but the outward act doesn't accomplish the inward transaction. Only faith in Jesus can do that. 

Because Abraham was justified while uncircumcised, Gentiles can be justified the same way. God justifies all people on the same basis: not by works, not by ritual, but by faith alone. 

The Credit You Need 

Not all credit is bad. You need faith credit—the credit of God's righteousness applied to your account. 

When Jesus was questioned about the works of God, He responded simply: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." 

The question isn't whether you believe God exists. The question is whether you've made the trust transfer—whether you've stopped trusting in your own goodness and placed your complete trust in Jesus Christ as the One who justifies the ungodly. 

This ancient truth remains unchanged: salvation comes through faith alone; in Christ alone. Remember the old American Express card commercial. Some poor soul was in dire financial trouble, and American Express was there to save the day. The slogan was: Don't leave home without it. My friend the only credit that saves the day is faith credit where God’s righteousness is credited to us through faith. — without that faith credit you won’t get home. 

In Awe of Him, 

Pastor Greg (PG)