Romans4:
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 5:
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
It is through Jesus that we are justified. Abrahams faith was what God was yet to do in the future. The scriptures tell us that Abraham was justified by faith. And only Christ justifies us. So Christ justified Abraham 2000 years before Mary.
Next Matthew 27:
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
The Bible itself tells us there were saints before Christ died. Before Mary died.
You’ve worked yourself into a contradiction. Was Abraham a saint:
Remember what the prophet wrote?: “Not one is righteous” He was writing about the ancient Jews, a category which didn’t include Mary, but definitely includes Abraham.
But you are right in that Romans 4 refers to Abraham as having been saved. But this was written after Christ descended into Hell and rose again. Abraham was in Sheol/Hades until 30 AD. (The mildest region of which was even named after him.) So Abraham had faith in Christ in 30 AD, while Mary had faith in Christ more than 30 years earlier. You weren’t trying not to count her as a saint until she died, were you? Even we Catholics refer to her as having been a saint during her lifetime.
(THe practice of formally naming certain saints after they die in no ways denies the sainthood of living persons, only that we cannot know whether any given person is a saint or not. The Anglican churches’ practice of naming a person a saint while they are still alive has created grave embarrassments, such as — I kid you not — Saint Brittney Spears, named such because she once was seen as a firm advocate of abstinence!)
>>52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. <<
I think you’re mixing up senses of the word “saint.” The bible calls every Jew in entire encampments, “saints.” And while in the post-Resurrection context, the word refers to faithful Christians, I think in this context, it refers merely to Jews who died with honor. If you press that the word means those who were saved, you’re quickly going to run afoul of Augustine’s concept of original sin, let alone the more protestant concept of absolute depravity.
However, from a Protestant, proof-texting scripture-interpreting methodology, one could also assert that the saints who were raised on that day were those who had heard Jesus preached, and believed he was the Messiah, but had happened to die before Jesus was killed. The raising of Lazarus happened only days before the passion of Christ, and, although he had raised at least one other person, it was quite shocking to even his followers. Surely, others who had known Jesus had died. That’s not my method of reading scriptures, but, since it seems to be that of most FReepers, I’d just like to point out that’s a perfectly valid resolution of any apparent conflict.