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Romans, Part 20 10-30-22
Exhibit A: Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Romans 4:1-12 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to
the flesh, has found?
2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to
boast about, but not before God.
3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4Now to the one who
works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
5But to the one who
does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as
righteousness, 6just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God
credits righteousness apart from works: 7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds
have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.
8Blessed is the man whose
sin the Lord will not take into account.”
9Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or
on the uncircumcised also?
For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as
righteousness.”
10How then was it credited?
While he was circumcised, or
uncircumcised?
Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; 11and he received
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while
uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being
circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, 12and the father of
circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in
the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.
So, you are getting to know a new neighbor and you notice that this person
has a bumper sticker with a Christian symbol on it, so you take the bait and ask –
Hey, I saw the sticker on your car and was wondering if you are a Christian.
Your
neighbor looks at you and says, Oh yes, I was baptized as a baby.
And they stop
right there.
How do you process that?
How do you react?
Do you think, Oh, great, I
guess my new neighbor is a Christian.
Or, are you thinking something else? Are you
thinking, Hmm, it doesn’t sound like my neighbor really understands what being a
Christian is.
Would it make any difference if your neighbor responded to your
inquiry by saying, Oh, yes, I was baptized ten years ago?
That may be somewhat
more hopeful, but still it is concerning isn’t it?
What is the problem?
The problem is
that your neighbor seems to think, may think, that being baptized by water in some
church is what makes one a Christian.
And you, because you have read the New
Testament, know better than that.
You know that it is nothing outward that makes
a person a Christian.
The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart and whether
or not there is faith in that heart, and repentance in that heart.
1
Frankly, that is what the apostle Paul is after in this portion of Romans.
He is
attempting to obliterate the common Jewish confusion of the outer accoutrements
of true religion with the inner realities.
He is trying to focus us on what really
matters – which, it is clear, is one’s personal faith orientation toward the Lord Jesus
Christ.
To make his point especially powerful with the Jewish folks in the church, he
uses Abraham as his example, as exhibit A. Last Lord’s Day we looked at the first
eight verses in which we are told that Abraham was made right with God, that
Abraham was credited by God with righteousness on the basis of his faith – not
because of anything he did or was.
Indeed, Paul says that God justifies the ungodly
– which is something Abraham was at the time God pardoned his sin and received
him as his friend.
He was an ungodly man, who came to believe the promises of
God, was forgiven, accepted and then entered a life of faith in which he became
more and more obedient to his Lord.
One of the ways that Abraham was obedient, was in the matter of
circumcision.
God commanded Abraham to be circumcised.
Here is what he said in
Genesis 17:10-11 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you
and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11And
you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the
covenant between Me and you.
So, Abraham obeyed.
He was circumcised.
His son
was circumcised.
This became the practice of the Hebrews from then on.
The little
boys were circumcised on the eighth day.
Anyone from outside who wanted to join
in with the elect people of God was expected, the men at least, to be circumcised.
This was a big deal and it set the Jews apart from the other nations, the other
religious groups.
It became a major part of Jewish identity.
For a man, to be
circumcised meant you were of Abraham and his people.
You were taught then
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