Romans: The Gospel for Everyone — Week 9 - Romans 4:1-12

Does God change his mind? Reading the Old and New Testaments, some sense two different Gods—judgment then grace. Romans 4:1-12 answers by calling two heroes of the faith to the witness stand. Abraham, who lied about his wife and tried to fulfill God's promise his own way, did nothing to earn the covenant; "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness"—and this came before circumcision and before the law. David, after his sin, declares the same blessedness of forgiveness in the Psalm Paul quotes. The word credited appears seven times: an accounting term for what we did not have being placed to our account by faith. God never switched plans. Salvation has always been by grace through faith, and Jesus has always been the plan from Genesis forward. The closing challenge is to examine Scripture personally and decide whether you believe.