Given, Not Earned (Romans 4:1-5,13-17)

Sometimes we can hope for things in life, even though we might never earn enough to own them for ourselves

For example, in recent years the price of housing has increased so much that many people are saying that younger generations won’t earn enough to afford buying their own home. There might also be other things, such as a new car or caravan, a luxury cruise along a European river, or if you’re a bit younger, the latest gaming console, that we might hope for but never own, even if we work for years to try to afford them.

What do you think it would it be like to hope for something you could never earn enough to have, but someone gave it to you as a free gift? How would you react if somebody freely gave you something you hoped for but could never earn for yourself?

In this week’s New Testament reading, Romans 4:1-5 and 13-17, Paul highlights the difference between something that is earned and something that is freely given. In verses 4 and 5 he writes, “When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners” (NLT). He is saying that this thing called “righteousness” is like a house, a new car and caravan, an overseas holiday or possibly the latest gaming console – we can spend years or even our whole lives trying to earn it, but we will never be able to make it our own. God knows that, so instead of demanding that we to earn it ourselves, he gives it to us as a free gift, paid for in full by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

“Righteousness” is a big theological word with lots of layers of meaning attached to it. To more fully appreciate what Paul is saying, it will be good for us to take some time to explore what Paul means and why it’s important for us. “Righteousness” and “justification” come from the same Greek word and mean basically the same thing which is why Paul uses them interchangeably. Its most simple meaning is something that is ethically and morally right. When Paul talks about “justification” he means to make someone “righteous” or to remove everything that is wrong and replace it with everything that is right. To make someone “righteous” is to “justify” them or make what was wrong right again. We tend to do that when we get caught doing something wrong – we try to “justify” ourselves by trying to make it look as though we are in the right and haven’t done anything wrong.

Paul’s argument in his letter to the Romans is that we can’t actually make ourselves right or justify ourselves by working for it or trying to earn it. When we try, we get ourselves more in debt to God. Jesus taught us to love God and our neighbours (Matt 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28), and to love others as he has loved us (John 13:34, 15:12,17). When we try to justify ourselves and make ourselves “right”, we do it for ourselves more than out of love for God or others, so we fall further and further from being the people God wants us to be. The more we try and the harder we work, the further we end up from what we hope for.

God knows we can never earn righteousness which is why he gives us what he’s looking for in us as a gift. Paul writes that “people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners” (v5 NLT). Other translations say that God “justifies the ungodly” (NIV) or “makes even evil people right in his sight” (NCV). Instead of expecting us to work for something we could never earn, God freely gifts it to us in Jesus as an act of extreme and generous grace. Jesus paid in full for everything we need to be made right in ourselves and justified in God’s sight through his sinless life, his innocent death on the cross, and his victorious resurrection from the dead. Just like a very generous person might pay for our house, new car and caravan, European river cruise, gaming consol, or whatever we might hope for, Jesus pays the full price for us to be righteous in God’s sight and gives it to us as a gift. We never have to work for a gift. If we did, it would be a wage given out of obligation. Instead, God makes the wrong things in us right through Jesus and then gives it to us free of charge with no expectations or obligations. God gifts it to us freely as an act of grace which we receive through faith in his promise.

Faith in God’s gift of righteousness to us in Jesus also gives us a right relationship with God as he forgives us, accepts us, and loves us. God’s justifying love for us in Jesus means that God calls us his dearly loved children with whom he is pleased (Matt 3:17) because of what Jesus has done for us and because Jesus lives in us through faith. The righteousness God gives us and the right relationship he establishes with us also give us new and right relationships with each other. Because God justifies us and makes us right as his gift to us in Jesus, we never have to justify ourselves to others or try to earn their forgiveness, acceptance or love. God has already given us his forgiveness, acceptance and love, so we have more than enough grace from God to share what he has given us by forgiving others (Colossians 3:13), accepting others (Romans 15:7), and loving others (John 13:34) in the same way he has justified us by forgiving, accepting and loving us. Imagine what it would be like to never feel like you have to justify ourselves to others. Instead, we can help people encounter God’s justifying grace by living in new and right relationships with others in the grace God gives us, especially those who need it the most but might deserve it the least.

At our Wednesday evening Bible study, Pastor Eugene asked us if we would prefer to earn something good or receive it as a gift. Most of us said we would prefer to earn it for various reasons. Maybe that is why grace is so hard for us to grasp. It is difficult to think that anyone would be so generous to offer us a house, new car or caravan, European river cruise, gaming console, or anything else we might hope for, as a free gift. It can be even more difficult for us to grasp that God gives us the righteousness he wants to see in us. He makes everything that is wrong in us right again, so we can live in a right relationship with him. This is his act of grace to us, given as a gift which is paid for in full through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It isn’t something we have to work for like a wage because we could never do enough to earn it. That’s why he gives his righteousness to us as a gift, which we receive through faith, so we can freely do what’s right in our lives and never have to justify ourselves again.

More to think about or discuss:

• What is something that you hope for which you could never earn by yourself? How would you react if someone offered it to you as a gift? Would you find it hard to believe? Or would you trust the giver of the gift and enjoy what had been given to you?
• How do you understand the difference between a wage and a gift? Why do you think Paul emphasises the gift given in grace over the wage which we earn?
• What do you think it means to be justified? What do you think it means to be righteous? What do they look like in your life? How might your life be different by trusting that God gives you his righteousness and justifies you as a gift of grace paid for in full by Jesus?