Romans Lesson 47
Romans 4:20 - 5:1
August 9, 2026
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Class Notes
Romans 4:20-21, Continued
Romans 4:20-21 - No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
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Class Notes
Romans 4:20-21, Continued
Romans 4:20-21 - No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Last week we looked at a big potential difficulty about verses 20-21. And we saw that difficulty when we compared what Paul tells us here with what we read in Genesis. On the surface there seems to be a disconnect between Paul’s description of Abraham’s faith and what we read about Abraham in Genesis.
But after investigating that issue, and after looking at what James tells us in James 1 and James 4, we saw that what looked like a difficulty on the surface was actually a great encouragement. Why? Because the lesson we learn from Abraham’s faith is that we can have questions and doubts, and yet still have the faith of Abraham!
If God could say that Abraham did not waver concerning the promise of God and was fully convinced that God is able to do what he has promised, then the same can be true about me. Yes, I sometimes have questions, I sometimes have doubts, and I sometimes try to take matters into my own hands. And do you know what? All of that was also true about Abraham, the man of faith!
As with Abraham, everything about us and everything in us must be focused on and directed toward God. Yes, Abraham had questions and doubts, but Abraham never walked away from God. Abraham never turned his back on God.
And look at how God responded to Abraham’s doubts and questions in Genesis 15. We do not see a rebuke, but instead we see a reaffirmation of the promises.
And what did God do after Abraham laughed? God named the promised son Isaac, meaning “he laughs!” And so every time Abraham called Isaac to dinner, Abraham remembered his laughter and God’s faithfulness! Don’t we see there the very thing that James told us - Abraham was a friend of God! What we see there is friendship.
Did Abraham doubt? He did, but he walked with God. Did Abraham have questions? He did, but he walked with God. Did Abraham sometimes have his own plans? He did, but he walked with God. And that is faith - walking with God, trusting in God, relying on God, believing God, and obeying God. That is the faith of Abraham. And that must be our faith as well.
And what happens when we have a faith like that? Paul tells us right here in verse 20. “But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.” That will also happen to us.
As we walk with God, we, too, will grow in our faith as we give glory to God. Not glory to ourselves for anything we have done, but glory to God for all that he has done, is doing, and will do. And don’t we sing about the glory we see in our walk with God?
When we walk with the Lord
in the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey.
That great song is describing the great faith of Abraham. And that must be our faith as well.
And remember, Abraham was 75 years old in Genesis 12 and 100 years old in Genesis 21. There were 25 years between the promise of Isaac in Genesis 12 and the birth of Isaac in Genesis 21.
What happened during those 25 years? I think Paul tells us right here. Abraham grew strong in his faith - that is what happened.
How strong would Abraham have grown in his faith had Isaac been born in Genesis 12? I think that, as with most things, we grow more from being challenged and tested than from immediate gratification and success. That is another example we find from the faith of Abraham. He grew in his faith while he waited for the promised son.
There is a parallel in verse 20 that we shouldn’t miss. Verse 20 tells us that Abraham “gave glory to God.” Paul used almost the same words to describe the pagans in Romans 1:21 who did not honor God.
As one commentator describes him, Abraham was the anti-idolater. Most of the human race at the time of Abraham had turned away from God to instead worship created things and the works of their own hands, including Abraham’s own family back in Ur (Joshua 24:2). But not Abraham. Abraham worshiped God and only God.
And Paul links that worship here to Abraham’s constant walk of faith - “but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”
If we are double-minded and unstable, we cannot worship God as we should. If we are filled with chronic distrust, we cannot honor and glorify God as we should. There is a direct connection between our lifelong walk of faith and our worship of God, and I think we will see Paul return to that same theme later in Romans 12.
Romans 4:22
Romans 4:22 - That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
That is why - what is “that”? I think “that” is everything between this verse 22 and verse 3.
Verse 22 is the bookend to verse 3. They both quote the same verse - Genesis 15:6. And the verses in between explain what Genesis 15:6 means. They explain why Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness.
As we have seen, those verses first do that by explaining how it was not counted to him as righteousness. It was not counted based on something Abraham did to earn it. It was not counted based on Abraham’s circumcision. And it was not counted based on Abraham’s perfect obedience to a law from God.
Those verses then explain how it was counted to Abraham as righteousness. It was counted based on faith. It happened because of something God did, not because of something Abraham did. Abraham, like us, could not save himself. Abraham’s salvation, like ours, was a free gift of God’s grace.
And what sort of faith did Abraham have? Those verses also answer that question. And the most encouraging thing about that answer is that we can also have the same faith. Abraham was not super-human. He sinned just like we do. He had questions and doubts just like we do. And yet, Abraham walked in faith with God. Abraham was a friend of God. Abraham was faithful to God unto death.
But does Paul really want us to follow Abraham’s example? Is that really something we can do? Yes to both questions - and that is what Paul tells us in the next three verses.
Romans 4:23-25
Romans 4:23-25 - But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Let me start with two facts about the Bible.
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Fact #1: The Old Testament cannot be understood apart from the New Testament.
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Fact #2: The New Testament cannot be understood apart from the Old Testament.
We can understand parts of each apart from the other, but we cannot understand all that has been revealed to us in either one apart from the other. We learn both of those facts from these verses. Yes, Genesis 15:6 was written for Abraham’s sake, but Genesis 15:6 was also written for our sake. To understand all that God has revealed about Genesis 15:6, I must study both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
And that’s not just true about that one verse. Paul will later tell us that the same is true about the entirety of the Old Testament.
Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
When I read Genesis 15:6 or any other verse in the Old Testament, I need to study the New Testament if I want to understand everything that I can about that Old Testament verse. Genesis may explain how Genesis 15:6 applied to Abraham, but Genesis does not explain how that verse also applies to me. For that, I need to study Romans 4.
And, likewise, if I want to understand what Paul is telling me here in Romans 4 about justification by faith, I need to study Genesis 15:6. I need to study the life of Abraham in the book of Genesis, as we have done.
And so we have our two facts. And the reverse is also true. If we want to completely misunderstand the New Testament, then we should just ignore the Old Testament. Our wish will be granted. And likewise, if we want to completely misunderstand the Old Testament, then we should just ignore the New Testament. Sadly, many have taken those two paths, and their resulting confusion is evident.
But was that true even when all we had was the Old Testament? If so, then that means no one really understood the Old Testament until after the New Testament had come. Yes, that is what it means, and that is true.
There were aspects of the Old Testament that could not be understood until after Christ came and the mystery of the gospel was revealed. I think these verses are telling us that, but Peter also tells us that. Peter says that both the prophets and the angels had questions about what had been written!
1 Peter 1:10-12 - Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
But what about those today who try to live under the Old Testament even after the New Testament has been given? Paul describes them elsewhere.
2 Corinthians 3:14-16 - But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
There is no clearer indication that you have completely misunderstood the Old Testament than if you fail to see Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus describes such people.
John 5:39 - You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.
Another thing that verses 23-24 tell us is that God’s plan of salvation has always been based on grace. These verses tell us that 400 years before the law of Moses, God’s plan was that salvation would be something we were given rather than something we earned. It was never God’s plan that we would be saved by perfect obedience to a system of law.
God did not start out with the law of Moses and then change to something else when he saw that no one could keep that law. We know that was not what happened because of what God said about Abraham 400 years before the law of Moses was given.
The purpose of the old law was not to save those who were under that law. The purpose of the old law was instead to be their “guardian until Christ came, in order that [they] might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). Justification was always to be by faith, not by law.
That was always God’s plan. When God prophesied the defeat of Satan in Genesis 3:15, he did not say that Satan would be defeated by the law - but rather he said that Satan would be defeated by Christ. And Paul will end this letter to the Romans by pointing us back to that very prophecy in Genesis 3.
Romans 16:20 - And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
So we know that Genesis 15:6 applies to us, and not just to Abraham. But how? How does that verse apply to us? Paul answers that question in these closing verses of Romans 4. Let’s read his answer again.
It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Throughout Romans 4, Paul has been telling us how Abraham is uniquely positioned with regard to the Jews and the Gentiles. That uniqueness is why Abraham can be called the father of all who believe - both the faithful Jews and the faithful Gentiles. That was not true of everyone, but it was true of Abraham.
But Abraham was not unique in every way. There is another way in which Abraham is just like us. Abraham was not saved by earning his salvation. He was not saved by circumcision. He was not saved by perfect obedience to a system of law. Instead, Abraham was saved by faith. Those things are true of all who are saved - including Abraham, including Paul, and including us.
That is what Paul tells us about the faithful people of God in these closing verses, but let’s focus on how Paul describes the faithful people of God in these verses. We are those who “believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
We have already talked about the word “dead” in that description. We have seen that same Greek word several times already in this context - God gives life to the dead in verse 17; Abraham was as good as dead in verse 19; and Sarah’s womb was dead in verse 19. And then here we are reminded that Jesus was dead, but was raised from the dead by God the Father. In every case, it is God who gives life to the dead.
The resurrection of Christ is the basis for our hope. Paul tells us that here, but Peter also tells us that same thing.
1 Peter 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
And notice the connection there between the resurrection of Christ and our new birth. Paul will make that same connection later in Romans 6.
Romans 6:4 - We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
And so what can we say about those today who claim to have faith in the one who raised Jesus from the dead - but who refuse to obey God’s command to be baptized for the remission of sins? How can they claim to trust and rely on God when they refuse to obey God? And worse, they convince others to disobey God. That is not faith. Instead, that is faithlessness.
Paul closes Romans 4 by telling us two things about Jesus. First, he tells us that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses,” and second, he tells us that Jesus was “raised for our justification.” Let’s look at each of those statements.
Paul tells us that Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses. But who did that? The verb is passive. Who did the action? Who delivered Jesus up for our trespasses?
Was it Judas? Matthew 26:15 tells us that he asked the chief priests, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?”
Was it the Jewish leaders? Matthew 27:2 tells us that they delivered Jesus over to Pilate the governor.
Was it Pilate? Matthew 27:26 tells us that he delivered Jesus to be crucified.
Each of those verses uses the same Greek word that is translated “delivered” here in Romans 4:25, and so they each, at least in some way, delivered Jesus up.
But that is not all that Paul tells us here. Paul does not just say that Jesus was delivered up. Instead, Paul says that Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses. Whatever delivery is meant here, it was a delivery for a particular purpose. Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses.
So let me ask those questions again.
Did Judas deliver Jesus up for our trespasses? No, he did not. He delivered Jesus up for money (Matthew 26:15).
Did the Jewish leaders deliver Jesus up for our trespasses? No, they did not. They delivered Jesus up for envy (Matthew 27:18).
Did Pilate deliver Jesus up for our trespasses? No, he did not. He delivered Jesus up to prevent a riot (Matthew 27:24).
So who was it then? Who delivered Jesus up for our trespasses? Paul answers that question later in this same letter.
Romans 8:32 (ASV) - He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?
God the Father was the one who delivered up God the Son for our trespasses. And we also see that fact in the Old Testament. When we studied the book of Zechariah, we saw a prophecy about this delivering up by God.
Zechariah 13:7 - “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered…”
That prophecy is quoted and clarified in Matthew.
Matthew 26:31 - Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’"
“I will strike the shepherd.” That is God the Father talking about God the Son. God the Father delivered up God the Son for our trespasses.
But we can say more than that. Not only did God the Father deliver up God the Son for our trespasses, but God the Son delivered up God the Son for our trespasses. Jesus delivered up himself.
John 10:17-18 - For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
Galatians 1:3-4 - Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
Hebrews 9:14 - How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:26 - But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The Handout for Lesson 47 includes additional verses that teach us this same thing about the death of Christ - Christ sacrificed himself. No one took his life from him. Jesus laid down his life of his own accord. Jesus gave himself. Jesus offered himself. The Bible tells us that over and over again.
But do you know what? Our song book doesn’t tell us that. Our song book tells us the opposite. Our song book tells us that the Jewish leaders and the Romans were the ones who sacrificed Christ.
If anyone ever asks you to prove that our song book is not inspired, please point them to the song Lamb of God by Twila Paris (or, for that matter, to just about any song written by Twila Paris).
“Your gift of love, they crucified.
They laughed and scorned Him as He died.
The humble King they named a fraud
And sacrificed the Lamb of God.”
If that last line is not false teaching, then nothing is false teaching. The Jewish leaders did not sacrifice Jesus. The Romans did not sacrifice Jesus. Instead, the Bible tells us that they crucified Jesus. The Bible tells us that they killed Jesus. Killing and crucifying are not the same as sacrificing.
Acts 2:23 - This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Acts 2:36 - Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
Acts 3:15 - And you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 - For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind.
The Jewish leaders killed Jesus. The Jewish leaders did not sacrifice Jesus. The Romans killed Jesus. The Romans did not sacrifice Jesus.
Oh, but some might say: “That is just poetic license.” Really? What poet has been given a license to teach the opposite of what the Bible teaches about the sacrificial death of Christ? And on what basis could we ever say that false teaching ceases to be false teaching if we make it rhyme? I think some poets need to have their license revoked!
But some might say: “What does it really matter? It’s just a song, right?” Wrong. It’s not just a song. It is a song that we are offering to God in worship. And as for not being important, what is more important than the sacrificial death of Christ? And what could be more wrong than to attribute that loving sacrifice to someone other than Christ?
But some might say: “I like that song. It has a catchy melody. I like it, so I plan to keep singing it despite what it says.” That defense explains why we are surrounded by 1000 different religious groups, each calling itself a church and each teaching something different. That is what happens when our desires become the standard instead of letting the Bible be the standard.
Others might say: “But most of the song is true!” Really? Is that now our standard? That most of what we teach is true? Do we need to point out that Satan uses that same standard? I think that most of what Satan says is true (he certainly quotes the Bible a lot), and yet he is still the father of lies (John 8:44).
In 1 Corinthians 14:15, Paul says, “I will sing with my mind.” As we think when we teach and as we think when we preach, we also need to think when we sing. We need to think about what we are saying! We need to sing with our mind, as Paul tells us. God never wants mindless worship. Our worship must be in spirit and in truth.
I may have said too much, but I figure if others are free to stand in this pulpit and lead that song, I should be free to stand in this same pulpit and compare what that song says with what we read in the word of God.
We have learned a great deal about Abraham in this chapter of Romans. And one thing we know is that Abraham raised the knife when he was commanded to sacrifice his son, and we know that God stayed his hand. But Abraham was not the only father to raise the knife. God also raised the knife, and no one stayed his hand.
Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses.” That is the first thing that Paul tells us about Jesus in verse 25. Let’s look next at the second thing Paul tells us - Jesus was “raised for our justification.”
I think we usually associate our justification more with the death of Christ than we do with the resurrection of Christ, but Paul does both. Here we see the connection between our justification and the resurrection of Christ, but in the next chapter we will see the connection between our justification and the death of Christ.
Romans 5:9 - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Absent the death of Christ, we would be lost in our sins. It is only by the blood of Christ that we can be cleansed of those sins.
But the same is true about the resurrection of Christ. Absent the resurrection of Christ, we would all be lost in our sins. Paul tells us that very plainly.
1 Corinthians 15:17 - And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
But why? If we are cleansed by the blood of Christ, then why not stop there? Why was the resurrection of Christ also necessary for our justification? I think we can answer that question in at least five ways.
First, the resurrection is God’s public declaration that the sacrifice was accepted.
When God raised Jesus from the dead, God was announcing to the world that the sacrifice for sin had been offered and had been accepted. Absent the resurrection, how would we know that Jesus was who he said he was, and that his death accomplished what he said it would accomplish? We know that because of the resurrection.
Acts 17:31 - Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
If the tomb was not empty, how would we know that the cross was a victory rather than a defeat? We know the cross was a victory because Jesus did not remain in that tomb. The resurrection of Christ is God’s verdict on the cross.
Second, sin’s penalty is death — and the resurrection is proof that the penalty has been paid in full.
Paul will later tell us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). And Peter tells us that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).
But if Jesus had remained in the grave, what would that tell us? It would tell us that death still had a claim on him — it would tell us that sin was not yet fully dealt with. The resurrection is the proof that the penalty has been paid in full.
Acts 2:24 - God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Death could not hold Jesus because death no longer had any claim on him. And if death has no claim on Christ, then death has no claim on those who are in Christ.
Third, our justification requires a living Savior, not a dead sacrifice.
We are saved, not just by the death of Christ, but by the life of Christ. Paul will very soon tell us that.
Romans 5:10 - For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Reconciled by his death — saved by his life. That is what we just read. And how are we saved by his life? Paul answers that question later as well.
Romans 8:34 - Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
That Jesus lives means that Jesus can intercede for us. We also see that in Hebrews.
Hebrews 7:25 - Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
And, of course, if Jesus were still in that tomb, then we would have no hope that Jesus would ever return to claim his own and judge the world. And, likewise, we would have no King of kings and Lord of lords reigning at the right hand of God. We would have a kingdom without a king.
Romans 14:9 - For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
That is why Paul tells us that, absent the resurrection of Christ, our faith would be vain and we would still be lost in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).
Fourth, faith requires a living object of that faith.
We cannot have faith in someone who is dead. We cannot trust in someone who is dead. We cannot rely on someone who is dead. We cannot hope that someone who is dead will do what he has promised to do. Faith in Christ requires a living Savior.
Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2 Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We live by faith in Christ, Christ lives in us, and it is in Christ that we become the righteousness of God. That is what those verses just told us, and none of that would be possible absent the resurrection of Christ.
Finally, it is the resurrection of Jesus that provides the hope of our own resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 - But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Romans 6:4-5 - We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to the gospel. It is the basis of our hope. Apart from the resurrection our faith is vain and we are lost in our sins.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the public vindication of all of his claims. It was the visible proof that God had accepted Christ’s atoning work. The resurrection was proof positive that Jesus reigns over the universe as the eternal King of kings.
We have one more question to consider about Romans 4. Verse 24 says that “it will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord.” Will be? Haven’t we already been justified by faith? Why the future tense “will be”?
The best way to answer that question about the end of Romans 4 is to look at the beginning of Romans 5 - so let’s do that!
Chapter 5
Romans 5:1
Romans 5:1 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 24 used the future tense “will be,” but verse 1 uses the past tense “have been.” “We have been justified by faith.” And that past tense tells us what we already know - justification is a past event and a present possession of those who have obeyed the gospel of Christ.
So why then did we see the future tense back in Romans 4:24? “It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord.” I think there are at least two reasons.
First, as we saw with Abraham, our justification is a process rather than a single event. Yes, we are baptized into Christ (Romans 6:4; Galatians 3:27), but we can fall from grace if we are faithless (Galatians 5:4). The counting in verse 24 is a continual cleansing by the blood of Christ for those who are in Christ.
1 John 1:7 - But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
And second, the counting in verse 24 may be pointing to the final accounting, for both the righteous and the unrighteous, that will happen on the day of judgment.
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
So, yes, there is a past aspect of our justification (we are baptized into Christ), there is a present aspect of our justification (we are cleansed of sin as we walk in the light), and there is a future aspect of our justification (when we hear “well done” from Christ on the final day of judgment).
That first point about Romans 5 answers our final question about Romans 4, so let’s now look at the remainder of Romans 5.