The Father of All Those who Believe

Introduction

Today is going to be my last sermon in Romans until January since I will be preaching Christmas messages the next three Sundays and this mornings message is going to be laid out a little different than my usual message. As we go through Romans sometimes the messages are going to have more of a teaching bent to them and in our passage today, Paul is going to reinforce his point that salvation is by faith alone by teaching us from the life of Abraham.

I have thought about this quite a bit when it comes to preaching the word of God. It is important that preaching have an application to it and often times that application looks like a statement about something we should do. However, obedience isn’t always the only application. Sometimes the application is to praise God for the truth of something, sometimes the application is to give thanks for something. At other times, the application is to teach us something we ought to believe. This is the type of application I am going to make today. I hope to show you through the text some theological truths that we ought to believe because of Paul’s teaching in this passage.

Growing up I used to sing the song Father Abraham. You guys know that song, Let’s all sing it together. It’s a goofy song for kids kinda like the hokey pokey, but it has a theological truth embedded in it. Sometime in college, I began to refuse to sing or use the song because of my dispensational views at the time. I reasoned that I am a Gentile so Abraham is not my Father. I was so strongly convinced that the church and Israel were two different things that I ended up denying a truth that scripture does teach. Abraham is the Father of all those who have faith.

In my journey, I still hold dispensational views on scripture, but they have been modified to be consistent with scripture because scripture is our only authority. We must be careful not to let a theological system determine what we believe. So today, we are going to go verse by verse through our passage and then draw out five theological truths based on this passage.

Verse 9

Paul started off with a question about how Abraham became right with God. How was Abraham saved, by works or by faith? In Romans 4:3 “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

Verse 9 introduces another question that they may have been asking, “ Does this blessing only apply to the Jews or to the Gentiles also?” The blessing referred to here is the righteousness which is by faith alone. The circumcision refers to the Jews who had received the sign of their covenant with God. The uncircumcision refers to the Gentiles.

So does God save only Jews? Even if it was by faith is it limited to a special group of people? Throughout the OT it would seem like that was so because people had to convert to Judaism to become the people of God.

The last line reminds them of what he is arguing. Abraham had righteousness imputed to his account because he had faith. Salvation is not by works but by faith.

Verse 10

Paul asks a follow up question. How was it then reckoned? Remember that the word reckoned is the same word for impute. So Paul asks How was it imputed to Abraham, but really Paul’s question is more When was it imputed to Abraham? When is an important question? I think we see from this that Salvation is not a process but a decision made at a point in time. The things that lead up to it may be a process, but there does have to be a point where you began to believe. You may not necessarily remember that moment in clear detail, or be able to give the date. It may be that at some point it just happened to be true for you, but there was a moment either way. So Paul asks when did this happen for Abraham because the answer to that question will be important to the argument Paul is making.

Was Abraham declared righteous before or after he was circumcised? Circumcision being a part of the law would have made salvation the result of works. Paul argues that Abraham was saved before he was ever circumcised. Let’s look at the evidence. In proving that Abraham was saved by faith alone, Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” So let’s turn there.

Now let’s take a look at where Abraham actually was circumcised. Genesis 17:10–14 “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.”

Genesis 17:23 “And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.”

In our bibles, this doesn’t seem like a lot of time from 15-17. It does prove that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised, but I think it is helpful to realize how long before his circumcision this occurred. There is a little debate about the precise ages of Abraham at each stage, but some of them we do know. At the point of circumcision, Abraham was 99 years old. Genesis 17:1 “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” In Chapter 16, we read about the birth of Ishmael when Abraham was 86 years old Genesis 16:16 “And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.” This was 13 years before circumcision. So sometime before the birth of Ishmael, Abraham was declared righteous. Most believe that it was anywhere from 14-24 years from the time he was declared righteous and the moment of circumcision.

Verse 11

Paul then tells us what circumcision was actually for. Circumcision was a sign and a seal of the righteousness that he already had. A sign is something that points to something else. Like the star over Bethlehem signified that a miracle had happened and the messiah had been born. Circumcision pointed to the fact that Abraham had already been saved by faith. It was also a seal. When you hear this term think of a seal on a letter. It is like the final statement of identification with someone. It is a statement that this letter belongs to the person it is sealed by. Back in the day, people would place a piece of hot wax on a letter and then press their signet ring into the wax leaving their mark. The mark showed the authenticity of the letter. Circumcision was a public statement of their identification with Yahweh.

Here we come to Paul’s main argument: Because Abraham was saved by faith before his circumcision, he is the Father of all them that believe. So in some way, Abraham is the father of believing Jews and believing Gentiles of all ages. Notice the word all- this includes Jew and Gentile, but also past and present.

Paul then tells us why God did things this way: that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. Since Abraham was not circumcised, he sets an example that we don’t have to be circumcised either to be saved. For the Gentiles in the audience, this was important. Did they have to become Jews in order to be the people of God. The answer is No because not even Abraham had been circumcised yet. Salvation is available to all by faith.

Verse 12

Tying this main argument up, Paul states that Abraham the father of the Jews becomes the father of the Gentiles who have faith. So how does this make sense? In what way is Abraham our father? Let me give you an example from my counseling experience.

Back in 1970 a man by the name of Jay Adams wrote a book called Competent to Counsel which launched what is called today the Biblical Counseling Movement. At the time it was called Nouthetic Counseling. Men like David Powlinson, Wayne Mack and others laid the foundation of the movement. Since that time two main organizations have arisen from that foundation ACBC and CCEF. Both are organizationally independent of each other, but they can trace their roots all the way back to Jay Adams.

Another illustration if you might. Back in the 1960’s my grandpa had three children: Steve (my dad) Linda and Bill. Each of those children eventually went on to have their own children. You have three distinct lines of family and yet they all trace their ancestry back to that common relative.

Paul argues that those who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham are all children of Abraham. It isn’t a genetic connection, but it is a spiritual, familial connection that exists between us. The chord that unites us to him is faith. This faith isn’t just saving faith either rather it is a lifestyle of faith. Notice the words walk and steps. Faith is important for salvation but it is also important for how we live after we are saved. Galatians 3:3 “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

Theological implications

Ok, so we have worked through the text to see what it actually says. Now let’s ask ourselves what the text is intended to teach us. What are we supposed to believe because of this passage?

Jews and Gentiles are saved and have always been saved the same way.

One conclusion you must come away with is that Abraham was saved by faith all the way back approx. 2000 years before Christ and so are you nearly 2000 years after Christ. Some have argued that Jews and Gentiles are saved differently. Supposedly, the Gentile believers are saved by faith alone, but the Jews must also keep the law to be saved. This is contrary to the teaching of scripture.

In 1 Corinthians 15:11 “Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.” Paul says whether it be Peter and the apostles to the Jews or I, Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, we preached the same gospel. Even early dispensationalists were not careful in their language about this issue. Some like Schofield made it sound as if works were required for those after Moses. Paul’s point here is that this is how it has always been for the Jew and the Gentile.

There is a familial spiritual connection between believing Jews of all ages and believing Gentiles now.

There is some sort of a family, spiritual connection between Old Testament believing Jews and believers of today. I personally do not believe that this means they are the Church. We will delve into this teaching when we get to Romans 9-11, but there is a sense in which we are related to them.

You do not have to become a Jew to be a Christian.

Paul doesn’t say that Gentiles have to become Jews to be Christians. They did not have to go and get circumcised, grow a gangly beard or where special Jewish clothes to be a Christian. They did not have to keep the law in order to be a Christian.

Some today have pushed for Gentile believers to start keeping Jewish holy days, dietary restrictions and practices within Christianity. Paul argues that Abraham was saved before any of that because he does not desire to make the Gentiles feel like they have to become Jews in order to be faithful Christians. He will argue this in more detail in Galatians. So we should resist any movement like Adventism and the Hebrew Roots movement that tells us we must keep these practices to be right with God either for Salvation or Sanctification.

Just like circumcision as the sign and seal of Abraham’s faith did not save him; so baptism as the sign and seal of our faith does not save.

Abraham didn’t get circumcised for nearly 20 or so years after he got saved. His circumcision was as we said the sign and seal of his faith. Recently I preached on how baptism and circumcision are similar in some ways and yet different in other ways. If you want to go back and listen to my message it was called Does Baptism Save?

They are both similar in that Baptism is the sign and seal of our faith. Baptism doesn’t save anyone. It is merely a symbol pointing to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and a seal of our identification with Him. So a person can be saved without being baptised? I believe they ought to be baptised as a step of obeying Christ, but it doesn’t save them.

Just like Abraham was saved for many years without circumcision, so can you be saved without being baptised.

Faith is intended to be a lifestyle for the believer. vs 12

As I pointed out above: Faith is intended to be a lifestyle for the believer. Do we live a life of trusting God? When the storms hit like Job, can we say “Though he slay me yet will I trust in Him”? When God asks us to do something that doesn’t make sense like Abraham offering Isaac, do we believe God knows what he is doing and will take care of us? When we don’t know where our next meal is going to come from like George Mueller, do we go to God in prayer believing He will answer?

Conclusion

Sometimes God isn’t asking us to do anything about what he says; Sometimes he is asking us to believe something he is telling us. Today might be one of those messages where God is just asking you to think about a truth, to believe that truth because he said it.

For others maybe the application is to realize that your baptism does not save you or that you don’t have to practice the Jewish customs to be a good Christian. There are many applications to this message. But I want to ask if you are depending on baptism will you place your faith alone in Christ alone today. In a moment the piano will play and I ask that you please come forward and let one of our counselors show you how to be saved.

I don’t know that we have any here, but if you have erected this extra wall of obeying the Jewish law to your faith, I ask you to repent of your wrong thinking and accept what God’s word says here in Romans 4.