The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him [Abraham] alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Romans 4:23-24 NIV
To be righteous is to do what is right. Not just occasionally, or even most of the time. To be righteous, at least as far as God is concerned, is always doing what is right. But, as Paul pointed out earlier (Rom. 3:9-20), that is something that none of us manage to do.
But what we could not do ourselves, God did for us. Paul uses the example of Abraham to illustrate God crediting righteousness to us. God called Abraham to leave his home and family and travel to a foreign land. And he promised to give him that land along with countless descendants. Abraham believed what God had promised him and acted on that belief. And God credited his faith as righteousness (Gen. 15:6).
And what God did for Abraham, he does for all who follow the example of Abraham, the father of all who believe (Rom. 4:16). God will credit righteousness to all who believe in him, the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. But what does it mean to credit righteousness to those who believe?
To believe is to put one’s faith in someone or something, with an implication that actions based on that belief may follow. Believing is not a passive activity. But one that leads to action (Heb. 11, Jam. 2:14-26). It is what Abraham did when he moved to Canaan and later offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
To credit is to consider or to impute. When I believe, God sees, not my righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus, who died on my behalf. And it is because of Christ’s righteousness, credited to all who believe, that we can experience God’s gift of salvation and eternal life (Rom. 6:23).
