4:1
Paul now turns to the question of how does Abraham fit into all this? This is particularly poignant with regard to circumcision, as the covenant of circumcision came in with Abraham (Gen 17). Moreover, the Jews were very proud of their Abrahamic ancestry (John 8:39). So how did things work for Abraham? Paul will go on to show that Abraham was justified by faith and is the father of all who believe.
4:2
Paul is still talking about boasting, and says that if Abraham was justified by works then he had something to boast about, though quickly adding “but not before God”. You see, if a Jew had been asked “can anyone boast before God” he would have given an emphatic no! Yet by holding to the “Jewish position” they were in fact boasting before God. For if we base our claim for being justified on anything that we have done we are saying we are good enough, and are in fact boasting before God.
No comments:
Post a Comment