Sermon Tone Analysis

There is an expression in comedy, that timing is everything.

What makes a joke funny is not only the punch line, but when you drop the punch line.

The timing is everything!Well what is true in comedy, is actually true in theology too.

When we try to understand the Bible we need to understand not just what happened, but when it happened.

The timing is everything.This is true in the passage we are looking at this morning.

What happened is important but when it happened is even more important.In the passage we are looking at this morning the Apostle Paul, this foundational teacher of Christianity is illustrating the key point of his letter, he is really illustrating the key point of the Christian gospel, the Christian good news.

He is explaining and illustrating that that all people’s from all backgrounds, from all nations, from all places, from all races, can all be made right with God because God will declare them righteous based on the righteousness of Christ!

Please notice what I am saying, I am not saying that all people’s from all places, from all backgrounds, and all races can be right with God if they will just become righteous.

I am not saying (and this is what most people think Christianity is saying) that you can be right with God if you quite doing wrong and you start to live a righteous life.

I am not saying that you get righteous before God by being righteous before a Holy God.

No, I am saying, really, more importantly Paul is saying that all peoples, from all places, and all backgrounds, and all races can be righteous before God if He gives them the righteousness of Jesus.

I am saying that when a person believes in Jesus God credits Jesus righteousness to their account, he imputes it to them, he gives it to them, and when he gives it to them he declares them righteous and they are right before God.

In other words the gospel is more like clothes than medicine.

The gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus Christ is not that if you take God’s medicine from the Bible you will get better and become a better person.

No, the gospel is that if you believe in Jesus, then God will clothe you in the righteousness of Jesus.

The gospel starts not so

​English Standard Version Chapter 49 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?

For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

10 How then was it counted to him?

Was it before or after he had been circumcised?

It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Who is this blessing for?

Does it exclude (only) circumcised or uncircumcised?The Blessing being spoken of is justification by faith (experienced by David).At this point in the argument the question has a bit of a rhetorical flair?

Paul has already answered the question he is posing several times (1:5, 16-17, 3:23-24, 3:28-29).

So here he is pressing the point.He asks the question and then lays down the premise he has been asking.

He asks, who is this blessing for, and then he says we have shown it is for Abraham, now what does the blessing of Justification by Faith mean, what does it mean that Justification by Faith for Abraham mean, does it mean that Justification by faith excludes the Gentiles or includes them.

The answer is that it includes them because Abraham was like them.Paul shows this by asking a question about how Abraham was justified, was it before or after he was circumcised?

If it was after then you might be able to argue that Justification by faith was only for circumcised people like him.

But this is not how it went down, Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, so circumcision could not be the cause of his blessing.

Circumcision was rather a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised.It also makes him the forefather of all who are not just circumcised but also walk by faith.When you have a forefather like Abraham you realize that you are from a sinful people.When you have a forefather like Abraham you realize that you are from a people of faithWhen you have a forefather like Abraham you realize the place of signs and seals.

Circumcision came 13 years after faith Obviously, then, the rite of circumcision, which many Jews rely on for salvation, contributes in no way to one’s status before God.

It gives them no special standing before Him because they must be declared righteous on the basis of faith in God.Witmer, J. A. (1985).

Romans.

In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.),

The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol.

2, p. 453).

Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Paul has proved that Abraham was not justified on account of his works in general and now proves that circumcision was neither the basis nor condition for Abraham’s acceptance.Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

The word translated blessedness means, more accurately, “declaration of blessedness”: “This declaration of blessedness, is it on—that is, is it about—the circumcision only?”Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

The phrase “righteousness of the faith” (kjv) is a concise expression for “righteousness which is attained by faith,” orHodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

The word “father” expresses community in nature or character and is often applied to the head or founder of any school or class of men whose character or course is determined by the relation to the person so designated: as in , “Jabal … was the father of those who live in tents,” and “Jubal … was the father of all who play the harp and flute.”

Hence teachers, priests, and kings are often called “fathers.”

Believers are called the children of Abraham because of this identity of religious nature or character, as he stands out in Scripture as the believer; because with him the covenant of grace, embracing all the children of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, was reenacted; and because they are his heirs, inheriting the blessings promised to him.

As Abraham was the head and father of the theocratic people in the Old Testament, this relation was not disowned when the middle wall of partition was broken down and the Gentiles were introduced into the family of God.

Abraham still remained the father of the faithful, for “those who believe are children of Abraham” ().

Abraham’s faith “is reckoned for righteousness” when God promised him a son (); but it is not until much later—twenty-nine years, according to the rabbis—that he is circumcised ()Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

268).

Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Paul tells us what this “sign” was in an appositive addition: “a seal of the righteousness of faith that was his when he was uncircumcised.”

calls circumcision a “sign of the covenant.”

In light of the tendency among Paul’s Jewish contemporaries to identify this covenant as the Mosaic covenant, Paul’s decision to connect the signatory value of circumcision with “the righteousness of faith” () is emphatic.Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

268).

Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.Righteousness is counted in verse 11 whereas it is faith which is counted in verse 9.

You are part of a great family right now - not a false pride in a sinful family, or false shame that you do not have a notable family - you are now part of the greatest family of all time, Abraham’s family, Jesus’ family.In any case, Paul uses the word to denote something that “confirms” the truth or reality of something else, as in , where Paul describes the Corinthian believers themselves as the “seal,” the confirmation and authentication, of his apostleship.

In like manner, Abraham’s circumcision confirms his righteous status, a status that was his by virtue of his faith.

Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

269).

Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.ABRAHAM IS THE FOREFATHER OF ALL WHO BELIEVEABRAHAM IS NOT THE FATHER OF ALL JEWS OR ALL GENTILES

Different cultures tend to see things differently (Danes smoke, the English will not mix bath - see Hanson book on conscience) Seal??The Characters of the OT are our Forefathers!

- If your cultural heroes are your forefathers, like say George Washington or Martin Luther King Junior then you will find you need to airbrush the reality of their lives in order to hold on them as heroes you will get uncomfortable if someone says that your heroes don’t live up to your highest ideals.

So if you find out Washington had slaves or MLK Jr was an adulteror then this will mess with you.

You wont know what to do with your heroes you either have to airbrush them and minimize their sin or you need to find new heroes.

And of course the reason you need to airbrush them or reject them is because of what they about you.

You don’t want to support a slave holder, you don’t want to idolize an idolator.

If you do that then you are a sinner, unrighteous, your conscience is pricked.

But those who have men like Abraham as their forefather have a different attitude.

You see those of us who primarily orient ourselves to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, find we are sinners just like them, and when we sin we hate it but it also comforts us it reminds us that God saves sinners.

Our forefathers do not bolster our ego or our sense of ethnic pride but they do remind us that our whole lives are all based on grace.Piper - Paul is consumed with Justification by faith because it is what kills boasting.

Secondly, he wants to preserve the blessedness of imputed righteouness.

Third it is for the uncircumcised.

He wants - to show faith comes before and drives works - But as the sign and seal of the righteousness that comes by faith alone.

Finally, he makes sure Justification is for all...It is all about God's heart for the nations, both Jews and all the other ethnic groups in the world - including Anglo-Saxons, African-Americans, Hispanic, Asian, Somali, Ethiopian, Turkish people, Kosovars, Kazaks, Uzbeks, Maninke, Sukumu.I remember being in the largest cathedral in North America, a Catholic cathedral in the city of Montreal, and I watched people on their knees climbing up hundreds of stairs, wooden stairs, to ascend to the pinnacle of this place, go into the cathedral and go to a shrine that is there to a little priest who died a long time ago and his bones are there with a view to touching his bones, such a pilgrimage on one's knees and the touching of his bones gains merit for salvation.

People do that.

They develop those kinds of things.

Even the Jews had done that in their history.When Hezekiah came along in , brought about a revival in Israel, one of the things that he did was smash the brazen serpent that had been lifted up in the wilderness as a point of contact for faith, people turning to God and being healed from the snake bites if they would put their trust in God and God alone.

When the Jews had taken that simple symbol and turned it into a fetish.

They were actually believing had some kind of spiritual powers.

One of the things that Hezekiah did was smash it because the Jewish people were burning incense to that bronze image.I have been at the shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico and I've watched people crawl long, long distances on their knees.

I've been to the steps in Rome, the church...the very church that Luther tried to ascend on his knees to earn his salvation.

All these things prevent salvation, they do not accomplish it because there's a statement in chapter 4 verse 5 that is so foundational, “But to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

The statement that God justifies the ungodly, turns all works/righteousness systems inside out.

God does not justify the godly, He justifies the ungodly.

Salvation comes to those who recognize their ungodliness.

That is the difference in the story of the prodigal son and his brother and the loving father.

The o ne who received the robe, which could be an emblem of righteousness, was the one who recognized his wretchedness.

The older brother who had no sense of his own sinfulness received no such gift from the father because God is in the business of justifying, declaring righteous, granting righteousness and forgiveness and salvation to the ungodly.