(May 16, 2019 at 4:51 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote: Reward and Punishment
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Abraham lies but the king was punished. (romans 4:5)
The verb justify is a proactive action that goes beyond mere condoning and declares that the ungodly are actually righteous. No matter what they do—lying, stealing, destroy, murdering, raping—you name it, if they have faith, this verse says god will declare them righteous.
This Romans 4:5 sort of thing is rather important. (For Xians anyway; near irrelevant for the rest, I would guess)
5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness
The work that Paul is referring to is works of Torah (law), and Paul is explaining the redefinition of God's People (the concept translated as justify/righteous). Paul is saying that following Torah is not the way to God, but following Jesus is. This whole section of the letter provides the context for this sentence.
He's referring back to the Covenant with Abraham, and pointing out that the promise to Abraham had always been to include the 'nations' (gentiles). So logically it can never have been about Torah, but about faith in God.
But note that the ideas translated into English as as 'faith' and 'trust' go way beyond mere belief. The core idea is of service to the national flag, signing up to the army, agreeing to follow. Someone who believes but continues to rape/murder/sing Justin Bieber songs in public, simply isn't doing that.
