Faith: What the Gospel Requires

Introduction

Me

We

Romans 4 NIV

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” 9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Pray

Romans 4 serves as an Illustration for the Truth Presented in Romans 3 The key to that found in Romans 3:28

Romans 3:28 CSB

28 For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Paul is building an argument. What does it mean to be justified by faith apart from the works of the Law?

For many of the Jews that were reading this letter, for many of the Jews Paul is speaking to, Paul’s doctrine of justification or being made right before God by faith alone not by the Law. Remember law doesn’t just mean going to court. Law in many of their minds means the teachings of the first 5 books of the Bible. The Works found in those books form the very heart of the religious, political, and social structure for many of the the First century Jew.

For them Paul’s Doctrine seems like a rejection of Israel’s ancestors and their God.

God chose Israel from among all nations.

By denying the necessity of circumcision, a person in effect would be cut off from God’s people. One can almost hear Paul’s opponents saying, “Apart from Israel, justification is impossible.”

What sense does it make to imagine salvation in terms of an individual’s relationship with God distinct from belonging to God’s people?

But Paul Here is showing that Christ redefines God’s People. The World no longer consist of Jews and Gentiles but those who give allegiance to Christ and those who do not.

There has been a collective identity shift, All whom God declares righteous are counted as Abraham’s family.

Faith justifies a person in that it declares her/him a member of God’s people. A transfer occurs. When a person follows Christ, they are saved from one group and into another.

What happens when we “individualize” justification such that it primarily concerns how “I” am made right with God?

We foster conditions that divide Christ’s people.

People imagine their personal relationship with God is private and so doesn’t require an essential change in social identity.

Individualizing justification, The church is little more than a bag of marbles, a collection of individuals. It becomes a volunteer organization—good and helpful, but optional. Basic loyalties to bloodline, social class, nationality, and so on are not fundamentally challenged.

Justification concerns social identity just as much it is does salvation. If believers’ fundamental group identity centers on anything other than those who have faith in Christ’s resurrection, they effectively divide his kingdom.

Paul Building This argument uses Abraham. He was a Gentile a pagan Chaldean who was credited with righteousness as a result of faith, and who then became the most revered faith-and-father-figure in Jewish history. His credibility was along the lines of “Abraham said it, I believe it, and that settles it” in Israel.

Abraham recieved a blessing in Genesis 12:3

Genesis 12:3 CSB

3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

All the people on earth will be blessed through you.

This is before Abraham was circumcised which happens in Genesis 17. Abraham’s Justification was on faith alone.

David is another figure Paul uses. If Abraham was the Father of Faith, David was THE king of Israel. David is Israel's Beloved (David is Hebrew means beloved)

Paul quotes from Psalm 32, a liturgical psalm of thanksgiving for God’s discipline that led to confession and forgiveness. Many Bible students suggest this psalm is tied to David’s sordid situation with Bathsheba and Uriah, her husband.

David lusted after Uriah the Hittite’s wife, used regal authority to procure her, committed adultery with her, deceived Uriah, and arranged for his murder (2 Sam. 10–12).

See if you think any of the terms Paul used to describe the wicked in Romans 1:28–31 could apply to this web of sin spun by Israel’s “beloved”: “greed,” “envy,” “murder,” “deceit,” “arrogant,” “invent ways of doing evil,” “faithless,” “heartless,” and “ruthless.”

If anyone sinned seriously, David did. But if anyone had enough works in his righteousness account to offset his sin and receive righteousness as an obligation, David did as well

God credited righteousness to David (Rom. 4:6) because his transgressions are forgiven, his sins are covered, and the Lord will never count against him anything he had done. But on what basis? We know it was apart from works, because the only thing David did was to agree with God (exercise faith) about what he had done and how he must be forgiven—as a gift of God’s grace.

When Nathan the prophet came to David and exposed David’s sin and duplicity, David said, “I have sinned against the LORD.” As soon as David agreed with God by faith, Nathan said, “The LORD has taken away your sin” (2 Sam. 12:13).

Matthew 23:27 CSB

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity.

Judaism, with its rituals and requirements, was a framework, a skeleton, which needed a heart of vibrant faith. If the heart of faith was missing, Jews (or any person) were nothing more than “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones” (Matt. 23:27).

Next Steps

In this Argument Paul is saying to all those who are reading in Rome. Jew, Gentile you are no longer separate you are one in Christ through Faith. Faith is a human instrument not a gentile or Jewish thing. Not a white or black thing, not a Republican or Democrat thing.

Basic loyalties to bloodline, social class, nationality, and so on must change because we are changed we are Christians.

Do your fundamental group identity centers on anything other than those who have faith in Christ’s resurrection, You are effectively divide his kingdom.

Bibliography

Boa, Kenneth, and William Kruidenier. Romans. Vol. 6 of Holman New Testament Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000.

W., Jackson. Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Paul’s Message and Mission. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019.