Romans 4:16-19 Saving faith

The promise of God rests on grace and is guaranteed to all who believe. The Law failed because of man's sin (Jer 31:32), and it also brought division between Jews and Gentiles. Here Paul's motivation is the universal nature of salvation and promises made to Abraham.

God gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist. He is a creator God. The whole universe was created out of nothing. He created a nation out of nothing. When God saves us He is doing a creative work.

So how did this faith operate in Abraham? This faith that Paul tells us we all need. First, he believed against all hope. God had told him something would happen, namely that he would become the father of many nations. This was impossible for Sarah and Abraham could not have children. This is why it says that he hoped against hope. Now this is not a licence for believing anything you like and thinking that God will therefore do it because you have faith! Such notions are unscriptural nonsense. Rather he believed what God had told him, he believed the promise that God gave to him. God's word is more dependable than the circumstances, it is a more reliable guide to the outcome than an assessment of the situation.

Abraham was not blind to the circumstances. He knew his own body was as good as dead, and that Sarah was barren, but he decided to put more credence on God's word than on the circumstances. 

Romans 4:13-15 - Faith nor Law

There are two key points in verse 13. The first is that Abraham received the promise through faith, not the Law. The second is that the promise had worldwide consequences. All nations would be blessed through him. The Jews had become inward looking, thinking they were blessed and everyone else was outside the blessing. It is easy for us to make the same mistake. We see others clearly going against God's ways, showing no interest in God, so we focus on ourselves. But the promise is for the world, the gospel will break through into every people group, every sector of society. Abraham received the promise through the righteousness that comes by faith.

In could not be that those who depend upon the Law are heirs of the promise. This is so for two reasons. One no one could manage this anyway, and secondly it would mean that the Gentiles were excluded.  The Law brings wrath, ie it brings God's righteous judgement upon us.

Transgression means to step over a line. So if there is no law there is no transgression, for the line has not been specified. Now this does not mean there is not sin. We see this principle even in our own society. As technology advances and society changes new laws are introduced to try and stop certain things. These actions were still wrong before the new law came in. The reason Paul introduces this point is to show them the purpose of the Law. It was there to show them their sin.

Romans 4:4-12 - Faith is what counts

Our being counted righteous is a gift from God, an act of grace. There is no way in which we have earned it, God is under no obligation to forgive us. When we trust God our faith is "credited as righteousness". The fundamental point that Paul is trying to get across here is that we can do nothing to earn forgiveness, the only way is to trust in God. We trust that what Jesus did on the cross had earned our forgiveness.
Paul then cites David as another "witness" for his case, quoting from Psalm 32. The state of blessedness is having ones sins forgiven. 
Paul then reverts back to Abraham, and to circumcision. We find it difficult to appreciate why circumcision was such a big deal, but in Paul's day the Jews were very proud of being circumcised. Paul wants to make it abundantly clear that circumcision has nothing to do with qualifying one for righteousness. If we ever think anything over than faith in Christ makes us righteous we need to correct our thinking very quickly. 
Now the rite of circumcision came in under Abraham (Genesis 17), but it came in after God had declared Abraham righteous because of his faith (Gen 15:6). Abraham was righteous before he was circumcised, circumcision was a sign of what had happened. 
So Abraham is the father of all who believe. Circumcision or non-circumcision is no barrier nor gateway to righteousness. Walking in faith is what counts.

Romans 4:1-3 - Abraham

Abraham is a key figure in the whole Bible. Back in Genesis 12 God chose Abraham and promised to make him the father of many people and that the whole world would be blessed through him. Israel saw Abraham as their father. In Isaiah 51 God urges them to look to Abraham and Sarah to understand how He works in their lives. In the New Testament, especially with Paul, he is seen as a key figure. Abraham is an example of how to live by faith, but he is more than that. God's rescue plan works through Abraham, and we inherit the promises given to Abraham (Gal 3:29).

All the Jews saw Abraham as their father, so how God worked with Abraham is crucial. Abraham was told to be circumcised, and the Jews saw this as proof that you needed to be circumcised in order to be saved, in order to truly be part of God's family. Paul spends a large part of Galatians refuting this.  They saw Abraham as justified by works, ie he was in right standing with God because he was circumcised. In answer to this view Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness". It was Abraham's faith that was the reason that God counted him "in".

Note that Abraham's faith was active. We have a tendency to think that "believing in Christ" is some sort of vague mental ascent, or some emotional response. This is not the case, it is a living and active trust in God. Abraham had obeyed God's call to leave his homeland and follow Him, not knowing where he was going. See how similar this is to the call Jesus made to the disciples? "Follow me." When Jesus met people He was looking for active faith.

Romans 3:27-31 - No boasting

"Where then is the boasting?" Why does Paul suddenly introduce the matter of boasting? Maybe it is because man's natural inclination is to seek to have "earned" salvation. We go back again to the root of sin, rebellion against God and seeking to live life independent of Him, choosing our own standards. So even when we apparently turn to God we are still seeking to take some of the credit. The Jews were very proud of their heritage, considering themselves better than others. There were no grounds for this and Paul knew that they needed to jettison all such notions. Non-believers often accuse Christians of considering themselves better than others. There are in fact no grounds for this in the gospel. Similarly they often attack the gospel on the grounds of fairness. Such attacks are out of order, totally missing the point. Our part is to have faith in what God has done.

Justification is by faith alone. Observing the Law plays no part in our justification. Paul here is making the point that the good news is for all, salvation is for all. All nations were to be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Throughout the Old Testament we see a God who is God of the whole earth. If you have been following my earlier blogs on Isaiah you will have seen how it is shot through with the notion of God's salvation going out to all nations. This global nature of God's salvation was the reason why Paul objected so strongly to Peter's actions reported in Galatians 2. God is God of the Jews and the Gentiles.

Both the circumcised and uncircumcised are justified by the same faith. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant, it was not the covenant itself. We humans have a terrible habit of attributing salvation to the wrong thing. Likewise we are not saved by baptism, rather it is a symbol of what God has done. Circumcision divided the world into Jews and non-Jews. Faith unites.

So is the Law rejected or nullifed? "Not at all!". Rather, it is fulfilled. As Paul had shown earlier, the Law made it quite clear that no man was going to be justified on the basis of the Law. 

Romans 3:24-26 - Propitiation

We are justified by the redemption that Christ bought for us with His blood. That means we are counted as in the right with God, because of the work of Christ in the cross and resurrection. This justification comes as a free gift, it is a gift of grace. We did nothing to earn it. 

Through Christ we have been redeemed, and God put Christ forward as a "propitiation". Now in some versions you won't find this word, you might find "atonement" or "expiation". However, "propitiation" is the best translation. It is worth looking at both "redemption" and "propitiation" in a little more detail, for they are not words in common use today. In the society of the day slaves could be redeemed. What happened was that an amount of money was paid, and the person became the slave of a "god". This meant in effect that the person was now free. Remembering this will help us to appreciate why later on Paul refers to us as slaves of Christ.

When they went on a journey people would make some sacrifice or offering to a "god" hoping that the god would be propitious towards them on the journey, ie would look upon them with favour. Without Christ we are enemies of God because of our sin. Our sin demands judgement. As Paul says elsewhere, we are by nature objects of wrath (Eph 2:3). The blood of Christ has paid for our sins, so we are no longer under a sentence of death, we are no longer objects of wrath. So we now live under the favour of God.

Now understand that this does not mean that God did not love us before Christ died, but our sin demanded judgement. Indeed, God so loved us that He sent His Son to take away our sin (John 3:16).

"This was to show God's righteousness". People often object that it is unfair that someone can do something terrible and be forgiven by God, and without the cross it would indeed be unfair. But the cross is God's act of righteousness, our sin is fully paid for.

And we appropriate all this through faith.

Romans 3:22,23 - Fallen short of the glory of God

The righteousness of God comes through faith in Christ to all who believe.  This righteousness applies to all who believe, and is acquired through faith in Christ. So the universal salvation plan of God is put into effect. It does not matter who you are, faith in Christ is the way to get this salvation. 

"For all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God". This is an amazing statement. We tend to focus on the "all have sinned" part, and this is true enough and important enough, but let's for a moment look at the other part: "fallen short of the glory of God". The implication of this is that we were meant to share in the glory of God, we were meant to attain to the level of His glory. Now God's glory is not just a matter of brilliant light, as was seen on the mount of transfiguration. Glory also includes "significance" and "moral excellence". Man was given the job of subduing the earth and having dominion over it. We were created in His image, we are meant to be perfect as He is perfect. God has a very high expectation of mankind, yet if you look at the world's arguments you will see that it actually has a very low view of man. Prevailing morality paints us as creatures who have no self-control. Evolution says we are just the products of random chance, we came about with no meaning and no purpose.