- 9. Faith is Righteousness
Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
This is a statement of fact, a truth; it explains something that happened in the physical world as something that happened in the spiritual world. Abraham believed God. That was the historical event. The Lord counted that as righteousness. That was the spiritual truth. The Word makes a connection between the earthly and the heavenly. The NT uses this historical event to make a theological point for all believers: we are all counted righteousness through faith. We are saved by faith, not by works. This is the promise that we take to heart when we are saved, converted, forgiven and made righteous.
We know we are not righteous; we know God demands righteousness; and we know we cannot make ourselves righteous in any sense by any means. What can we do? God tells us what He did, and revealed it to us. He died for us the ungodly, gives us faith to believe it, and counts us as righteous on account of Christ. God has done the impossible and made it real. And that’s a promise you can live with.
Once we realize and admit that we are not righteous, that we must be so to have eternal life, and that we cannot establish our own righteousness then we are ready to receive the promise. We hear it, we read it, we learn it, we take it to heart, and we live in it. It is not presumptuous and audacious to assert: “I am righteous.”We know we can confidently say so because we believe God’s promise. It is not pride, but humility, to make such a boast. We may boast in the Cross. We make our boast in the Lord. We brag about our good God and Savior. This promise is guaranteed.