Does Romans 4:1-8 mean that no work of any kind is required from a sinner who believes for him to be saved?

The entirety of scripture is truth (Psalm 119:160; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) and must be properly handled and harmonized (2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Peter 3:16) if we are to obtain God’s word (John 17:17) which sets us free (John 8:32).

Those who teach that a sinner’s works have no part in his salvation are clearly wrong according to scripture. Philippians 2:12-13 commands, “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” God Himself helps us to do His will by making us “complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ…” (Hebrews 13:21). By “works” Paul means “works of obedience” (as the apostle himself makes clear). This is the “obedience to the faith” with which Paul both begins (Romans 1:5) and ends (Romans 16:26) his epistle where Romans 4:1-8 appears.

That it should be the aim of everyone to be “well pleasing” to God because He will judge us according to works done in our body, whether good or bad, is clearly taught in scripture by the Divinely-inspired apostle Paul himself (Romans 2:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11). So, according to Paul, there are nevessary works that a sinner must do in obedience to God’s will which will be taken into account towards his eternal salvation. In this regard, “….to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17). The question is, what about his failure to obey Divine commandments, all of which are “good”? Sadly, every human being of accountable age has by doing what God has prohibited, or omitting to do what He has commanded, transgressed God’s law,- thus sinning against Him (1 John 3:4).

The laws of God given to the Israelites to be obeyed before the Cross were good and holy (Romans 7:12) but they could not provide the forgiveness for sins that was necessary for a sinner’s salvation. The laws of God applicable before the cross of Christ taught man about sin but were never meant to justify a sinner by accounting righteousness when he violated those laws (Romans 3:20). Only the grace of God through Jesus’ blood could free a sinner from the consequences of his sin (which the law could not do). This included the laws before the cross applied to the patriarchs like Abraham who lived before the law of Moses and the laws “written in the heart” of non-Israelites (Romans 2::12-16).

The works that sinners did in obedience to the law simply could not make up for their inadvertent nor intentional sins of non-compliance to the law. Worse, by only one violation of the law, we have sinned against the whole law (James 2:8-11). Sinners need faith or believe in Jesus Christ to be forgiven, that is, for their unrighteous works to be accounted righteous, even while they do necessary righteous works.

The two Bible characters, Abraham and David, used in Romans 4:1-8 had their belief in God accounted for righteousness (Abraham in Romans 4:3), which is equated with the “imputing” of righteousness by the Lord NOT imputing sins but forgiving them (Romans 4:6-8). Of course, both characters were examplary in obeying God by doing good works but they also sinned (in David’s case, gravely, as reported in 2 Samuel 11:1 to 12:13). However, they also did many works of obedience to God’s commandments. From the example of Abraham and David, we learn that “justification by faith apart from works” as used by Paul in Romans means having righteousness accounted to you instead of unrighteousness you are actually guilty of but of which you have been forgiven by God’s grace. “Justification apart from works” does not mean you are free to ignore doing all and every good work. To put it bluntly, Paul asks and answers the rhetorical question, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:1-2). To one who has faith, or believes, “righteousness is credited apart from works” in the sense that the credit is BEYOND that which is due to him for work he has actually done to include, by God’s grace through our faith, all the works required by God which only our Lord Jesus could fulfill. This faith is one “made perfect” by our works (James 2:22) and is not independent of works. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26)