The Nature of Faith

Romans 4:13-25

Using Abraham as an example of faith should be an ecouragement. One author writes,

Abraham: Following God’s Promise Introduction

Although the Bible often depicts Abraham as an exalted figure, his journey of faith resembles our own. Along with the glory of his victories, the Bible fully describes the scandalous details of his failures. It does not hide Abraham’s shortcomings; instead, it recounts these examples of failure so that we might have hope. In Abraham, we observe someone uniquely chosen to receive a grand promise: that he would become the father of a great nation and a channel of blessing to the world. Abraham embraced this promise, but it was 25 years before he saw it realized. As he waited on God, he battled fear, anxiety, and doubt. In Abraham, we see a reflection of ourselves.

Paul uses Abraham - not because Abraham was perfect, but because he wasn’t perfect!

There are three components of God’s promise to Abraham:

a). Abraham will have an immense number of descendants (Gen 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; 17:4-5, 16-20; 22:17).

b). Abraham will possess the land (or his descendants will) (Gen 13:15-17; 15:12-21; 17:8).

c). Abraham will be the one through whom God blesses all peoples of the earth (Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18).

Douglas J. Moo, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistle to the Romans, Gen. Ed’s: Ned B. Stonehouse, F. F. Bruce, Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids, MI.: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), 274.

For Paul the challenge is simple: Did Abraham receive these promises before or after the Law?

Since the Law was not revealed until some 400 years later, the promises cannot be based on Law.

Besides, as Paul and every educated and thinking Jew, no one person was able to fully obey the Law.

The Law does not create sin - sin crept into the world through a serpent whose challenge changed the very nature of human beings.

In vs 15 Paul points out that God’s Law produces wrath. Paul notes that it is God’s Law that creates ‘transgression.’ The Greek word is not the normal word for sin. Rather Paul used a word that suggests deliberate disobedience - a willful choice to NOT obey God.

The Law, which was impossible to obey, meant that every Jew (not to mention every human being) would make choices deliberately flaunting and disobeying God/s Law.

So, if Law is not the foundation of the promises, what IS the foundation?

Vs 16: The Promise is by FAITH.

What is the nature of this faith by which Abraham was reckoned as righteous by God (see Romans 4:1-12).

A God-Centered Faith

The faith exhibited by Abraham “had a specific profile that is reproduced in the life of his children.”

Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, Second Edition; Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Ed’s. Robert W. Yarbrough and Joshua W. Jipp (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Academic, 2018), 243.

A God-centered faith is one that is sustained by a vital and on-going relationship with God.

Abraham disobeyed God more than once, yet the relationship was never severed because God is a God of grace (see Exodus 34:6-8).

A Faith in God’s Power over Life

With no external proof Abraham recognized that God was more powerful than death.

Abraham and Sarah, though alive, were passed the years of child-bearing. Yet, Abraham was persuaded that should God choose He was able - even their bodies were ‘dead’ to childbearing - to bring a child.

God Calls That Which Does Not Exist to Exist

Abraham knew the account of creation. There was nothing - except God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

When God spoke matter began to exist. God did not use pre-existing materials with which to create.

He simply spoke all that is into being.

Abraham was fully persuaded that God could create a nation of individuals - literally out of nothing (compare to Ezekiel’s vision - Ezekiel 37-38).

Faith in God’s Power to Control the Future

Three phrases i suggest that Abraham knew God had power not just in the present but for the future.

a). “He considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about 100 years old) and also considered the deadness of Sarah’s womb, without weakening in the faith.” (Romans 4:19, HCSB)

Abraham and Sarah were nearing 100 years of age. After the Flood God had decreed that man and woman should only live 120 years. Abraham knew that his days were ending. He and Sarah recognized that their bodies were no longer able to perform as they had earlier.

Yet, Abraham did not weaken in his faith

b). “He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise...” (Romans 4:20, HCSB)

We are not to understand that Abraham was always perfectly in line with all God was doing. A quick reading of his life shows he struggled.

Yet, Abraham “avoided a deep seated and permanent attitude of distrust and inconsistency” (Moo, Romans, 284-285) in his relationship with God.

c). “... but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,” (Romans 4:20, HCSB)

Thom Schreiner observes “the secret of Abraham’s faith is that he acknowledged God’s glory … by trusting God’s ability to carry out his promises as the resurrecting and sovereign God (Schreiner, Romans, 246).

Romans 4:23-25

Romans 2. Abraham, the Great Example of Faith (4:1–25)

Jesus is the one who was delivered up to death. Isaiah the prophet foretold that the messianic Servant would “pour out his life unto death” (Isa 53:12). Yet he was “raised to life for our justification.” God’s entire redemptive plan is summarized in this final verse of chap. 4. Christ died for our sins and was raised again for our justification. The two are inseparably bound together.86 Without his death there would be no basis for acquittal. Without his resurrection there would be no proof of the redemptive reality of his death. Jesus Christ, crucified and raised to life, is God the Father’s gracious provision for the sins of a fallen race. The simplicity of the message makes it clear for all who will hear. The power of the message is experienced by those who reach out in faith.