Breaking News: Faith Is Counted As Righteousness

Now Sarah, Abraham’s wife, had borne him no children.  But God promised Abraham that his descendants would number as the stars of the heavens and as the grains of sand which are on the seashore.

Against all earthly odds, Abraham believed God who is able to raise men from the dead and to call into being that which does not exist.  Without being weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, and the deadness in Sarah's womb.  And he said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man 100 years old?  And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?"  Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, gave glory to God, and was fully assured that what God had promised He was able to perform.

Because Abraham believed God, it was counted unto him as righteousness.  But not for his sake only was it written that his faith was counted as righteousness, but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those who believe that Christ Jesus died on the cross for our transgressions and was raised from the dead on the third day, the first fruits of the resurrection.

Through faith we accept the salvation offered by Christ.  Our salvation isn’t as a result of works.  However, we are not exempt from God’s laws.  Christ came to fulfil the law and the prophets.  We repent, we believe, and we obey.  So first comes faith, then comes works.

We love God because He first loved us, which He demonstrated when He gave up His only begotten Son for our iniquities.  And if we love God, we can keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.