Growing Strong In Our Faith

Have you ever waited for something in your life that you just didn’t know if it would ever come?

Have you ever waited on God for something?

Are you still waiting on God for something?

Have you read something about you or God and your wondering if it’s true? This is the life of faith.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews says this:

“...without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Paul is writing to the church in Rome in the book of Romans reminding them (and probably the specifically the Jewish believers there in Rome) that the Promise of God is realized through Faith. Not the law or works.

For those that are new to our study in the book of Romans, we are looking at this book in a socio-rhetorical view. Ben Witherington has written a wonderful commentary on this. But what this means is that we are looking at the book of Romans in the historical and societal context in which it was written. For recap:

Paul had not met the believers in Rome at this point.

The letter was professionally written and meant to be read aloud by a professional reader (literacy was very low).

There was a division in the church between the Roman-Graeco Christians and the Jewish Christians. In 49AD, Emperor Claudius was so frustrated and angry with the Jews that he expelled them from Rome. In 54AD, Emperor Claudius died and he decree lapsed and so the Jews were welcomed back in.

There was a division between these two bodies of believers… one felt they didn’t need the other. One trusted in the sophistication and modernity of their culture, the other trusted in the fact they were God’s chosen people to whom the Christ came through, the one’s entrusted with the Law.

in 49AD, Emperor Claudius was so frustrated and angry with the Jews that he expelled them from Rome. In 54AD, Emperor Claudius died and he decree lapsed and so the Jews were welcomed back in.

Paul is taking chapter 4 and bringing them together saying, through Abraham, he is the Father of faith to the Jew and the Gentile. That as in and , God knew a far off that He was planning on bringing Gentiles (non-Jews) into the plan of salvation. Paul is essentially saying, that God made provision through faith for all to be saved.

We haven’t gotten to where Paul connects the dots to Jesus yet (he will), but He’s dismantling their arguments that have created division.

The promise of God is made through faith. It’s through faith that we receive the promise.

** This brings up an important point for understanding Paul: he does not think through issues as a systematic theologian might, lining up a series of topics or ideas and then assessing them. There is a narrative logic to his thought patterns. He does theology out of his storied world and into the world of his audience. So what we have in Romans is not so much “an introduction to Pauline theology” as an excellent and fulsome example of his theologizing out of his own storied world and into a rhetorical and social situation.

This brings up an important point for understanding Paul: he does not think through issues as a systematic theologian might, lining up a series of topics or ideas and then assessing them. There is a narrative logic to his thought patterns. He does theology out of his storied world and into the world of his audience. So what we have in Romans is not so much “an introduction to Pauline theology” as an excellent and fulsome example of his theologizing out of his own storied world and into a rhetorical and social situation.

Witherington, B., III, & Hyatt, D. (2004). Paul’s letter to the Romans: a socio-rhetorical commentary (pp. 118–119). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

vs 13-19 background supportive

vs 13-19 background supportive

vs 13: God promised offspring and that he’d be heir of the world through righteousness of faith. God said it, Abraham believed it.

vs 14-15: If we can only receive the promises of God through obeying the law… we’re all done. We can’t do it. We’ve failed. The law is there to point out sin… a tutor a guide-

“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

vs 16-17: The law is good, it’s helpful, it explains and works through those components of Abrahamic Righteousness that we talked about last week. But we can’t accomplish the law, that’s where it depends on relies on faith, resting in grace… guaranteed to all his offspring.

Just as Paul does not “overthrow the law” (), so also God’s word does not fail. Paul contrasts “children of the flesh” with “children of the promise.”

W., J. (2019). Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Paul’s Message and Mission (p. 91). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press.

Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Paul’s Message and Mission Romans 4 in Context

Just as Paul does not “overthrow the law” (Romans 3:30), so also God’s word does not fail. Paul contrasts “children of the flesh” with “children of the promise.”

I love this phrase… “ who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Abraham and Sarah were so old, it was impossible to have children… their reproductive ability was dead. But this is the God who gives life to the dead. He brings things into existence that do not exist!

Where are you? What has died in you? Hope, joy, expectation, love… ? He is the God who gives life! He brings things into existence that do not exist! What is He calling you to trust Him in? Your plans, your heart, your relationships…?

This is good news CHURCH. This is who God is… he gives life and brings things to pass that don’t exist.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen”.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This is all grace… guaranteed to Abraham’s offspring.

vs 18-19: Paul stresses that Abraham continued to believe God’s promise to him even as he observed the physical condition that rendered the fulfillment of that promise so unlikely.

Paul stresses that Abraham continued to believe God’s promise to him even as he observed the physical condition that rendered the fulfillment of that promise so unlikely.

Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 283). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

John Calvin would say this:

“Let us also remember, that the condition of us all is the same with that of Abraham. All things around us are in opposition to the promises of God: He promises immortality; we are surrounded with mortality and corruption: he declares that he counts us just; we are covered with sins: He testifies that he is propitious and kind to us; outward judgments threaten his wrath. What then is to be done? We must with closed eyes pass by ourselves and all things connected with us, that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true.”

Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 284). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

vs 20-21 applicational verse: It is Abraham’s conviction that God is fully able to do whatever he promised that enabled his faith to overcome the obstacle of the tangible and visible “facts.”

It is Abraham’s conviction that God is fully able to do whatever he promised that enabled his faith to overcome the obstacle of the tangible and visible “facts.”

Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 286). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

He grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. What a great takeaway. That as we live our lives to the glory of God, and that we give Him glory, it grows our faith in the promises of God to us.

vs 22-24 applicational verse (gospel presentation); Paul brings it home here. These words “counted to him as righteous” were not just for Abraham. They were given, written, for us who would believe in Jesus. That belief in Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection brings us justification. That we are justified by faith, we have peace with God. No longer, in Jesus, does our sin separate us from God, but we become children and heirs, receiving the precious and many promises of God… for all the promises of God are YES and AMEN in Jesus Christ.

The Message of Romans e. Conclusion: Abraham’s Faith and Ours (23–25)

In hope, against all human hope,

Self-desperate, I believe …

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to that alone;

Laughs at impossibilities

And cries: It shall be done!

“In hope, against all human hope,

Self-desperate, I believe …

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to that alone;

Laughs at impossibilities

And cries: It shall be done!” -Charles Wesley

Stott, J. R. W. (2001). The message of Romans: God’s good news for the world (p. 137). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.