First, where does the Bible teach justification by faith and what is actually entailed in the preposition “by”?
The Old Testament affirms that justification is “by faith.” Of Abraham’s faith Genesis 15:6 states, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Roman Catholics have traditionally appealed to the verse to support their doctrine of justification by grace-empowered works, but not one word is mentioned here of work or merit. Rather, in Genesis 15:6, God grants righteousness to Abraham as a free gift. Paul confirms in Romans 4 and Galatians 3:6-14 that the imputed (i.e. reckoned) righteousness of Genesis 15:6 is to be understood in terms of “by or through faith. “The Hebrew verb in Genesis 15:6 is also rendered “was counted” in Romans 4:3 (cf. Galatians 3:6, which uses “accounted” in the text and “imputed” in the marginal notes). This verb most often indicates “what a person, considered by himself, is not, or does not have, but is reckoned, held or regarded to be, or to have.”2 It is clear then that when Abraham was justified by his faith, the righteousness wh
