When God Justifies the Ungodly

When God Justifies the Ungodly

Romans 4:4–8

In his classic book Knowing God, J. I. Packer writes, “All roads in the Bible lead to Romans… and when the message of Romans gets into a person’s heart there is no telling what may happen.” 

That statement captures why the book of Romans is so powerful. When you begin to grasp the realities and the beauty of what happened at the cross of Jesus Christ, it changes you. There truly is “no telling what may happen” when these truths settle into your heart.

The entire Bible tells the story of Christ. In broad terms we might say the Old Testament is Christ concealed, the Gospels reveal Christ, Acts proclaims Christ, the Epistles explain Christ, and Revelation shows Christ glorified. Romans stands at the forefront of those Epistles because it explains how the work of Christ on the cross becomes ours through faith.

And that raises a remarkable question: How can sinful people be made righteous before God?

None of us have lived up to God’s perfect standard. We have all lied, lusted, dishonored others, and broken God’s commands. Yet the Gospels show us Jesus living a perfectly obedient life. He alone fulfilled God’s law without sin.

Romans explains how the righteousness of that perfect Son can somehow be given to people like us.

Paul uses Abraham as an example. Abraham believed God’s promise, and “it was counted to him as righteousness.” Abraham did not earn righteousness through works. He received it through faith.

Now Paul presses that argument further.

He writes, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.” In other words, when you work a job and receive your paycheck, you don’t call it a gift. It’s something you earned.

Paul’s point is simple: if salvation were based on our works, then righteousness would be a wage God owes us.

But that creates a devastating problem.

The Bible teaches that our hearts are corrupted by sin. Jeremiah 17:9 describes the human heart as “deceitful above all things and desperately sick.” Because our hearts are sinful, even our best deeds are flawed. Isaiah 64:6 says our righteous acts are like polluted garments.

So if someone insists on working their way to God, what wage will their work earn?

Romans 6:23 gives the answer: “The wages of sin is death.”

If you want wages from God, you will receive exactly what you deserve—judgment. That’s why Paul says we don’t need wages. We need a gift.

God does not deal with us primarily as an employer paying wages. He deals with us as a Savior giving grace.

Paul contrasts two paths: working and believing. If you rely on your works, you earn a wage. But if you trust in God’s provision through Christ, you receive a gift.

Some people ask an important question at this point: if faith is required, isn’t believing itself a kind of work?

Paul’s answer is no. Faith does not save because it has power in itself. Faith is simply the means through which God’s grace flows.

Imagine a drowning man. Swimming to shore would be a work. But trusting a lifeguard who pulls you to safety is faith. The drowning man still does something—he trusts—but that trust contributes nothing to the rescue itself. The lifeguard does all the saving.

That is how salvation works.

Faith is the channel through which God credits righteousness to us. It is not righteousness itself.

You might picture it like presenting a check at the bank. The check is not the money. It is simply the means by which money from one account is transferred to another. In the same way, when you come to God with faith in Christ, God transfers the righteousness of Jesus to your account.

Paul calls this justification—being declared righteous before God.

What makes this even more astonishing is the phrase Paul uses in Romans 4:5: God “justifies the ungodly.”

In human courts, declaring a guilty person innocent would be a terrible injustice. Judges were warned not to acquit the wicked. Yet Paul says that through the gospel, God justifies the ungodly.

How can that be just?

Because Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. Justice was not ignored; it was satisfied at the cross. Once that justice was fulfilled in Christ, God could freely apply Christ’s righteousness to those who believe.

J. I. Packer beautifully explains the implication of this truth. When God justifies someone, He does so with full knowledge of their sin. God knows the worst about us, yet He declares us righteous in Christ. And because the verdict comes from the highest Judge in the universe, it can never be overturned. 

This means that if God justified you knowing everything about you, nothing can later surprise Him or cause Him to revoke His decision.

Paul strengthens his argument by quoting David in Psalm 32. After David committed adultery and murder—crimes punishable by death—he threw himself on God’s mercy and was forgiven. David wrote, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven… blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Both Abraham and David testify to the same truth: righteousness is not earned by works. It is received by faith.

And the person who receives it is called “blessed”—fortunate, privileged, and joyful.

The gospel offers the same blessing today. When you trust in Jesus Christ, God removes your guilt and credits Christ’s righteousness to you.

That is the miracle of justification.

And when that truth truly settles into a person’s heart, as Packer said, there really is no telling what may happen.