No one can earn salvation by doing good works. God justifies me by his grace through faith in Christ alone.
1. Abraham was justified by faith, not by works.
In this passage, God uses justification of Abraham as an example.
Romans 4:1-12 (ESV)
1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
From v2, if Abraham was justified by his works, he would have something to boast about. However, in v3-5, it says that Abraham was not justified by works, but by his faith in God. In a similar way, we can never get right with God by our own works, thus we have no reason to boast. Instead, we are made right by faith in God. We are not made right because of the good we have done.
From v6-8, David tells us that we are made right with God with him forgiving our lawless deeds. Although we sin, he does not count our sin against us.
From v9-12, we see that Abraham was justified before his circumcision. His faith was counted righteous before he was circumcised. This means that you do not need to be a Jew to be counted as a people of God. Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness he had while uncircumcised. Thus he became the father of all who have the same kind of faith, both circumcised and uncircumcised (Abraham is the spiritual father of the Gentiles too, for he was justified while still uncircumcised).
2. Abraham's promised blessing has to come through faith
Romans 4:13-15 (ESV)
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
in v13-15, God promised to Abraham that his offspring will inherit the world (be heirs of the world). In other words, God is saying that Abraham's offspring will do what Mankind was originally created to do - to rule the world under God's rule.
Romans 4:16-25 (ESV)
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
in v16, we learn that the fulfillment of the promise rests on God's grace, which is guaranteed to all who share Abraham's faith. The remaining verses strives to give us assurance that God will always keep his promise as he is able to give life to the dead (v17-20) and raise Jesus from the dead (v24-25).
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