Romans 4:5 teaches that a person is made right with God not by earning it through work, but by trusting God, who declares sinners righteous. Paul wrote this to the Christians in Rome, a congregation made up of Jewish and Gentile believers, to explain how the gospel works and why no one can boast before God.
But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Romans 4:5 (WEB)
What Romans 4:5 Means
The verse begins by contrasting two ways of relating to God. The first is working: doing good deeds in the expectation that God will pay you back for them. Paul says this is not the path to righteousness described here. The second is simply believing in God, and the verse says this trust is what gets counted as righteousness.
The phrase “him who justifies the ungodly” is the heart of the verse. God is described as the one who makes people right with himself, and the people he justifies are the ungodly, meaning those who have nothing in themselves that would earn his approval. The verse does not say God overlooks sin or pretends it is not there. It says he accounts righteousness to those who trust him.
What the verse does not promise is that faith is a magic ticket that removes all effort from Christian life. Paul is speaking about how a person first stands right before God. Good works still matter in the believer’s life, but they are the fruit of this relationship, not the payment that earns it.
The Context of Romans 4:5
The letter to the Romans is traditionally attributed to the apostle Paul and is usually dated to the mid-50s AD, written from Corinth. Its readers were believers in the capital city, many of whom were wrestling with how Jewish law related to the new faith in Jesus. Chapter 4 uses Abraham as the central example, since Abraham was the great ancestor whom Jewish readers held in highest honor.
Just before verse 5, Paul asks what Abraham gained by his works and points to Genesis, where Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Just after, he quotes David’s words about the blessing of forgiven sins. Reading verse 5 within this sequence shows that Paul is building an argument from the Hebrew Scriptures themselves, so the verse reads less as a new idea and more as a reading of the faith Abraham and David already displayed.
Key Phrases in Romans 4:5
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast.
(WEB)
Paul makes the same contrast here between salvation as a gift received through faith and salvation as something earned by works. Reading these two passages together strengthens the point that the gift of God’s acceptance is the foundation from which all good works flow.
Genesis 15:6
He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness.
(WEB)
This is the Old Testament passage Paul quotes in Romans 4:3. Reading it directly shows that Abraham’s faith was accounted as righteousness long before the law was given, which is the foundation for Paul’s argument in the surrounding verses.
A Short Prayer From Romans 4:5
Father, I confess that I often try to earn your acceptance through my effort and my record. Teach me to stop keeping score and to rest in your promise to declare righteous those who trust in you. Where I have been weighed down by guilt or pride, let my faith in you be enough to steady me. Help me live from the gift you have given rather than striving to prove I deserve it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
