Read the following slowly and let your lips move. I do not mean to insult you by this but the mind gets ahead of the reading if you don’t.
Points to Ponder:
1) The is no faith AND................
2) Faith is the gift of God.
3) God is God and we are not.
Rom_4:3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Rom_4:9 Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith.
Rom_4:13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.
Rom_4:16 So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.
Rom_4:19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though,
at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.
Rom_4:22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
Gal_3:6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Gal_3:7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
Gal_3:8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when He said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”
Gal_3:9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
Gal_3:14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing He promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
Heb_11:8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.
Heb_11:17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
Jas_2:23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.
Please reread all of Romans as if it were the first time, and without the preconceived idea that it teaches “faith alone.” Then you will understand that Paul is refuting the Judaizers’ position that we need to follow the “works of the Law,” i.e., works of the Old Law, namely circumcision and the Mosaic code. He is definitely not saying that we do not have to keep the moral law. Indeed, he uses the example of the Gentiles keeping the moral law without the Mosaic Law as proof that we no longer need the Mosaic Law.