Christ: Raised to Prove Justification

The apostle Paul wraps up his presentation of Abraham as an example of justification by faith by explaining that the account in Genesis of counting Abraham as righteous was not written for his sake only, but for ours, because we are saved and counted righteous the same way that he was: by trusting in God's Word. Our faith is in the fuller revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for our sins (delivered over because of our transgressions, Romans 4:25) and rose from the dead to prove that His payment was complete, and is thus the basis of our being counted righteous before God (raised because of our justification, also Romans 4:25). These marvelous gospel truths explain why Jesus our King had to suffer and die on our behalf, and why, as an innocent substitute, He rose again from the dead.