This is what Paul writes as a summary and interpretation:

“But not for his sake alone [Abraham] it was written to be imputed to him, but also for our sakes, to whom it shall henceforth be imputed, who believe in him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, him who was passed away for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.”
Rom 4:23-25

Far reaching comparisons

Paul refers directly to Abraham. Let us keep in mind that Paul would not somehow have doubts about Abraham, whether this man lived genuinely. He simply starts from the story in the Bible. That is his starting point. This is worth considering with all the assumptions about the Bible. As the story is written down in the Bible, Paul takes it seriously here. The apostle does not allow himself to be seduced into suddenly making any assumptions about Abraham the center of attention. He is concerned with what he has read. He is now applying the story as well. Thus, he interprets and expands the meaning.

“Yet not for his sake alone was it written to be imputed to him, but also for our sake, to whom it shall henceforth be imputed.”
Rom 4:23-24

“Those to whom it shall henceforth be imputed” speaks of the perspective of Abraham. Paul speaks, so to speak, from Abraham about his own generation. “Future” is therefore Paul’s time, and the statement extends to the group mentioned there – which is true to this day. It is about the righteousness by faith that Abraham received before he was circumcised (Gen 15:6). This is exactly how faith works today for believers from non-Jewish peoples. Those who expect everything from God and trust Him will be justified by it, just like Abraham.

Let us note that neither Abraham, nor Paul, is about “eternal salvation” or an “avoidance of hell.” Such ideas are projected everywhere where faith is mentioned. This is the doctrine in many Christian communities. However, the Bible does not know this connection for Abraham and also Paul does not speak of it here.

Paul talks about what is at the heart of the matter: achieving peace with God. This, however, is not an “effort of faith,” but it is precisely without my effort, namely by faith in God’s effort. This is the good news as Paul explains it in Romans. More on this in the article “Justified for nothing” on Romans 3:24. Both in the case of Abraham, and in our justification, it is precisely not a matter of our effort, but of trusting in God who accomplishes everything. To appreciate this properly seems incredibly difficult when you have internalized the doctrine of “believe in Jesus or you will be lost forever.” However, it becomes much more understandable if we take the position of Abraham and try to understand what was at stake at that time. For Abraham, it was not a matter of “believing in Jesus or being lost forever.”

What happened to Abraham, however, is a liberating encouragement for us today. God works. I trust in that.

The God who works

Faith is never about me or about us. Faith does not have itself or the believer as its content. Faith is directed at something else. This is the core. We trust someone, or more precisely “someone”, namely God.

Paul therefore does not speak of a faith achievement of, say, me or you, but of God’s achievement:

“who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
Rom 4:24

Again and again, the apostle focuses the readers of his letter on the essentials. Consistently, he refers to God’s activity in Christ. If we follow his example, we will experience how liberating faith can be.

Two sides of the proclamation

We see God’s work in the resurrection. We trust the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Jesus is not a one-man show. He would not have been able to do it on his own. The statement is that He was raised from the dead by God. Paul thus places us in the midst of God’s activity. One could also formulate this, in Christian secret language, as “into the middle of the salvation event”.

Here we have arrived at the core. Justification by faith has precious little to do with my faith or yours. It is about God’s work. It is about His justice. We are allowed to participate in this. This was made for us. When this message touches your heart, what is called trust or faith is born. The heart’s response is, “Hey, I’m meant!”. This is how faith is born. It is not a for-true-holding of dry theory, no magical power that would come from my effort of faith, for example, but it is trusting God’s working in your favor.

But now Paul speaks of the Risen One, of Jesus, of our Lord. He is the work of God in this world. He is that in a special way and for two things in particular. These are the two sides of the Annunciation that may be mentioned here:

“Who for the sake of our grievances has passed away
And was raised for our justification.”
Rom 4:25

Both things belong together. He was given over to death and also raised. The first did not happen because of “sin in general” but because of “our offenses”. The antithesis happened through the resurrection. This was “for the sake of our justification.”

A grievance is different from sin. Sin is the act, or the failure to reach the goal. A slight, however, touches the heart. Not only do we lack God’s glory (Rom 3:23), but we have, in figurative language, offended His heart. It’s a personal perspective. God is love, not a set of rules. Of course, His heart can be offended. If we pay attention to these words, then we understand more easily with what depth Paul speaks here.

Let us compare, for example, the history of the world just before the Flood. The Flood came because many things had gone wrong on earth. People were derailed in their actions. God said then, “It grieved him in his heart” (Gen. 6:6). There, too, it is something like a grievance. Paul expresses the same thing in his letter to the Romans.

That is why Jesus, our Lord, was given over to death, so that the problem of alienation from God would be finally solved. God, however, would be stuck in His judgment if the story stopped here. The court would then have the final say. Death would be the final destination. Fortunately, however, it continued. In Jesus we can see that judgment is not the last word in the Bible. It continues with resurrection.

Jesus was raised from the dead by God. This is the confirmation that the offenses have been erased. God’s own righteousness was achieved. With this comes a legal sentence that was powerfully proven by the resurrection of Jesus. This now affects us as well. For this Jesus who was raised from the dead was raised “for our justification.”

This is now the transition to the next chapter:

“Justified therefore by faith, we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Rom 5:1

So it would be of no use if we only proclaimed the death of Jesus. That would be a half-measure. The resurrection is part of it. Without resurrection, all would be in vain (1 Cor. 15:12-19). The two things go together. Both sides make a difference. His death brought about God’s justice and redemption of offenses. His resurrection confirms this and is thereby the basis for our justification.

It is good to say that Jesus died for our sins. What is involved, however, is that he was raised for our justification.