Genesis 15:6 is clear: After hearing the promise of God, Abraham “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” The Apostle Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 and uses Abraham as an example of justification by grace through faith: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’” (Rom. 4:2-3).

Genesis 11:31‑12:3 records how God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans. This call was 8‑10 years before the time when “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3). In this light, look at the striking comments John Calvin makes on Genesis 15:6.

We must now notice the circumstances of time. Abram was justified by faith many years after he had been called by God; after he had left his country [in] a voluntary exile, rendering himself a remarkable example of patience and of continence; after he had dedicated himself to sanctity, and after he had, by exercising himself in the spiritual and external service of God, aspired to a life almost angelical. (Commentary Upon the Book of Genesis, 1:408)

Calvin makes similar remarks in a sermon on Genesis 15:6. Abraham, says Calvin, lived an exemplary life, full of almost angelic righteousness. If anyone had reason to boast in his works, it was Abraham. But such was not the case.

Now let us consider at what moment Abraham was justified. As we have said, he already had the advantages of all virtues; he had renounced himself in order to yield fully to God. So it seems he could have had some righteousness, if such existed in a living creature. And yet Paul concludes there were no works to justify him. And when did he not have any works? After working enough to be able to serve as a pattern for all angelic virtues, in chastity, in long suffering, in obedience to God, in piety. In short, he stripped himself of all affections to be fully in conformity with God’s righteousness. After doing all that, he still had nothing to boast of, as Paul says (cf. Rom. 4:2). He had to remain silent until he was justified by faith. (Sermons on Genesis 11-20, 325-326)

If Calvin’s analysis is correct, years of “good works” were no cause for boasting and formed no ground for right standing with God. Abraham “had to remain silent until he was justified by faith.”

You and I must also remain silent and not boast in our good works as if they somehow give us special merit before God. A long time ago, in a Sabbath school discussion on worship, a long-time member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church said, “Well, since we sing the Psalms, and we do it right, God will accept us.” Ouch!

I am sure our dear brother, who passed from this life decades ago, is enjoying sweet fellowship with Christ, but his words are instructive. We dare not pat ourselves on the back as though we have done it right and somehow have special merit before God. Abraham might have taken the tack of relying on and boasting in his obedience when God initially called him (Gen 12:4; Heb. 11:8). He did not (Gen. 15:6).

Similarly, we might say, “I’ve paid my dues.” No! Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, has paid our dues. Those of us who have been serving the Lord in His Church for many years must look to Him and not to ourselves.

—Dennis J. Prutow