Romans 4:24

For us also. Not only to be a historical incident and example (see on Rom. 4:21; see Rom 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11), but especially to assure us that righteousness will be imputed to us in the same manner.

If we believe. Rather, “to those who believe.” This describes the class to whom faith will be reckoned for righteousness.

On him. Paul emphasizes the fact that the faith that is reckoned for righteousness must be placed in God as a person. Thus faith is not simply a conviction of the truth of a historical fact. It is a person-to-person relationship. The same Person to whom Abraham looked for the fulfillment of the promise is the One whose power and faithfulness have been manifested to a later age in the resurrection of Christ and upon whom, therefore, Christian believers confidently rely.

That raised up Jesus. The Christian’s faith is similar to Abraham’s not only in that it is personal faith in God but also in that it is faith in God as exercising the power to bring life out of death. As Abraham fixed his faith in a divine promise that only the life-giving and creative power of God could fulfill (v. 17), so Christians trust for justification and redemption in Him who has already raised Jesus from the dead for this very purpose.

The restoration of fallen man to the image of God, in which he was originally created, is possible only through the exercise of God’s creative power. The resurrection of Jesus is the supreme assurance to us that God’s life-giving power can triumph over death and that through faith this same creative power is available to us to restore the image of God in us. Christ’s resurrection was a triumph of God’s almighty power, similar to, though much higher than, the generation of Isaac from the “dead” body of Abraham. By faith in the miracle of the resurrection, with all that it implies, the resurrection is spiritually repeated in us, as we become new creatures in Christ and walk with Him in newness of life (see Rom. 6:4; Eph. 1:19, 20; Col. 3:1).