Intro to Romans Chapter Four-
In Chapter Two of Romans Paul explains the problems for those who trust in the Law, when it comes to righteousness with God. The problem is, it’s impossible.
In Chapter Three he begins to touch on the Gospel. The good news of free righteousness through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, in Chapter Four, he uses Abraham as an example.
Romans Chapter Four verse one:
BUT] IF so, what shall we say about Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking—[what did he] find out?
Paul is talking here to completed Jews. That is, born again Jews. According to human linage Abraham is their forefather. Scripture tells us that a remnant shall be saved. Part of that remnant is in this Roman church. As an after thought I might add that there was no such thing as The First Reformed Jewish Christian Church of Rome, or anything at all like that. There was (and still is) only one flock as Jesus reveals in John 10:
so there will be [they will become] one flock under one Shepherd.
The idea of denominations is a man made nonspiritual concept, for the enemy loves to keep the church divided and at strife with each other. God will eventually show the believer the truth.
But if this is written to completed Jews, what has that to do with us non Jewish believers? Paul will go on to show us that we non Jews, who are ‘in Christ’, are the spiritual children of Abraham, who is our spiritual forefather by faith.This, then, all applies to us equally. But what did Abraham find out?
For if Abraham was justified (established as just by acquittal of his guilt) by good works [that he did, then] he has grounds for boasting. But not before God!
Good works… Acquittal of all guilt in God’s eyes! How many Christian’s still yearn for this. The problem is, they have not learned and believed in the total work of the cross for their lives.
Usually because of bad teaching. Having teachers who really teach self justification. How many church’s today spend ninety percent of their time focused on what people should do and not do rather than teaching on what God has already done. Easy, under those circumstances, for the one who listens to these do it yourself teachings, to have pride trick them into judging themselves more righteous than their neighbors. Good works? perhaps.
Do they Glory? Certainly. Some to establish recognition. Others can be very bold, speaking openly about their accomplishments and their other, so called, good works with people. Simply in order too maintain and prop-up the fragile self images they have worked so hard to erect. A lifetime of self justifying sometimes.
Real justification being something only God can accomplish. When it comes to anyone actually finding true justification for themselves and freedom from condemnation and guilt, it will only come through their understanding and faith in His Gospel. At that point they will come to realize that their working was all empty and worthless. Abraham may have something to boast about if he was justified by good works.
‘But not before God’
It’s clear that working for righteousness is absolutely worthless in God’s eyes. In order to let this sink in, let me present another scripture to you:
Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you! (emphases mine) depart from Me, you who act wickedly (Matt 7:21- 22 amp)
Good works for sure if ever there were any. Ironic also, how these people work at all these works and Jesus says ‘you who act wickedly’. Hard to understand, but somehow, sometimes, what we would call good actions, He declares as wicked. In this case God never told them to do these things, He never knew them. Certainly useless when it comes to the Father’s will for their salvation. Now let’s look at what is vital… What does Jesus say in John 17?
And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.
And this is eternal life! So, Jesus died and was Resurrected to deliver His children from eternal death. And eternal death is cancelled and conquered by entering into His eternal life. And what is His eternal life? To know the Father, the only true God, and also Christ whom the Father has sent.
As we’ve seen in Matt 7: 21-22 doing extremely good works doesn’t mean that you ‘know’ the Father or His Son and neither does it mean you have eternal life as your salvation either. With this understanding The Gospel seems a bit more serious! We need to get it right-
For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed in (trusted in) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living and right standing with God).
How then, does this apply to us? Consider. We hear the good news of the Gospel and somehow it reaches deep into our hearts, creating faith for what we heard. We find that we know that we know. Amazing! We find that we believe God! Like Abraham, God accounts it to us, and actually causes it to be, that we are in complete right standing with Him- as if we never violated any law of His… ever! We are translated into His son. We are now ‘in Christ Jesus’.
The great truth is: that if any man be ‘in Christ Jesus’ He is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things are new. God has instantly fixed and changed us- Not our outer body, but in our inner, spiritual man,who is the real ‘us’. This happens the instant we become born again.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] into Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
The only thing left is to get our outer man to move and talk in unison with what we have become in our spirit. A lifetime of work (that is His) lies ahead of us. Perhaps this understanding will help explain this mysterious scripture in Hebrews Twelve:
you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering, and to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect,
The spirits of the righteous in heaven who have been made perfect. That’s us now! We, (that is our inward spiritual man, which, by the way, being the essence of who we really are-) have been changed. Yet for a little while we must wear this desperate body as a kind of ‘space suit’ which allows us to relate and live in this world. .
We are now seated in the heavenly in Christ Jesus. And we, that is- our spiritual man, has been perfected.
Maybe it’s time for this statement: We are not ‘natural’ beings having a spiritual experience… We are ‘spiritual’ beings, having a natural experience. Just put that thought on the shelf for a later time when we will be competent enough to grasp and understand it.
Now, let’s listen as the Apostle Paul explains how good the good news can be:
Now to a laborer, his wages are not counted as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation (something owed to him).
Now, say you and I work in a factory five days a week. Each Friday we pick up our checks. We don’t go home thinking about how nice the company is for doing us such a favor as actually paying us… No, they owed the money to us. no gift at all involved.
So, if God granted Righteousness to us because He owed it to us for our work, that would not be Grace and it is by Grace that we are saved, and that is not of ourselves (no works we did) but it is a gift of God.
But to one who, not working [by the Law], trusts (believes fully) in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (the standing acceptable to God).
Truly amazing when we find that we can believe from our hearts. The free gift from God From the Father to us. Far above and more beautiful than anything we could ever attain by any effort, by anyone, anywhere. Free Righteousness with God! Free. We find it will enable us to come boldly into His Throne of Grace. Whenever. We personally have the King of everything’s ear! How impossible do you suppose it would be for any of us to get the President of The United States to personally listen to us. But we have the greater honor. Think of what that means! We are able to talk directly to Him who made everything! And, He actually listens and answers if we have ears to hear- (or faith to hear- same thing) All this and more without any work on our part except to honestly believe. That is, if we have faith. Turn to Him, turn to Him in faith for everything. For the just shall live by faith, not by works. Put your life on the line trusting and obeying. Find out what He has already given you- it is finished!
Thus David congratulates the man and pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does: Blessed and happy and to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up and completely buried. Blessed and happy and to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him.
There. David himself said it. Psalm 31 amp.
Is this blessing (happiness) then meant only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?
Alright, Paul is now going to deal with the question regarding if this great freedom and salvation is for the Jews only or is it also for non Jews. Of course when he uses the word circumcised he’s referring to Jews who must be circumcised according to their Law. Uncircumcised refers to non Jews who have no requirement to be circumcised. Amazing that the Jews themselves hadn’t seen this because Paul is still using Abraham to make his point.
We say that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
Of course, as we have been explaining-
How then was it credited [to him]? Was it before or after he had been circumcised?
So circumcision was necessary if one was to be considered a Jew. In fact, some of Paul’s converts were implored to be circumcised by certain Jewish members of the christian church. Paul’s attitude to all this we see in Gal 2:4-6-
even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled [as some had anticipated] to be circumcised, although he was a Greek. [My precaution was] because of false brethren who had been secretly smuggled in [to the Christian brotherhood]; they had slipped in to spy on our liberty and the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might again bring us into bondage [under the Law of Moses]. To them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the Gospel might continue to be [preserved] for you [in its purity]. Moreover, [no new requirements were made]
This will be a continual struggle for Paul with his churches. False Jewish teachers will continually slip in and try to bring Christians into some sort of bondage to the Jewish Law or some other kind of law. This is just as important for us today. Denominations will load you up with required works if you let them. Very important. In fact, I put the whole paragraph in parentheses to illustrate the importance that there are no legal requirements (works) that are necessary in the Gospel except belief in Jesus!, I don’t care who says there are.
It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
In fact, it was sometime after Abraham received God’s righteousness. God’s covenant with Abram (later his name is changed to Abraham) happened in Genesis 15 and no mention of circumcision was made on that important day. It wasn’t until Abram was 99 years old that the Lord appeared to him and confirmed the covenant He had made with Abram.
He received the mark of circumcision as a token or an evidence [and] seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised—
So, circumcision was given as evidence and as proof of the righteousness which Abraham already had. Circumcision, or the proof of the righteousness already obtained is an interesting concept to ponder. First, only a male can be circumcised. Secondly, only the person who has it (and his wife for obvious reasons) see’s that it’s there. Why, we wonder, did God do it the way it was accomplished in an individual.
Moses had a bit of a problem with Zipporah his wife over the idea of circumcision as shown in Exodus 4:25-
[Now apparently Moses had failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife being apposed to it: but seeing his (Moses’) life in such danger] Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it to touch Moses’ feet, and said, Surely a husband of blood you are to me!
This whole idea that righteousness without anything else required did not sit well with the Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus day. Nor, does it sit well with those of today who’s bent is toward a legalistic approach toward God. After all, isn’t it difficult to give up what one has worked so hard to accomplish and which helps sit his concept of himself just a little bit higher than those others around him-
Now I can say what is the fulfillment for us, in Christ, of the type and shadow the Law provided when it comes to circumcision. It is speaking of the new heart we are given when we are placed ‘in Christ Jesus’. Our faith (given to us) and the grace of God which we received in our born again experience. And, like the type, only the individual who receives it is truly aware of it. Unlike the type, a born-again woman also is (circumcised) given a new heart.
He received the mark of circumcision as a token or an evidence [and] seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised—[faith] so that he was to be made the father of all who [truly] believe, though without circumcision, and who thus have righteousness (right standing with God) imputed to them and credited to their account,
God always knew that one day, He would also have born-again children who truly believed. Children in whom circumcision had no part, yet children who obtained righteousness in God’s eyes given to them and credited to their account as Abraham was. You and I. And the born-again church. Abraham is the forefather of all who were born-again through faith. Abraham thus became the father of many nations.
As well as [that he be made] the father of those circumcised persons who are not merely circumcised, but also walk in the way of that faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Abraham walked many years before he was circumcised. But he lived his life (walked) knowing that God would perform everything that God had showed him. His faith ‘knew’ God would. Here we’re told that the Jews (circumcised) may also meet God in a way that spawned faith in their hearts also. Bottom line, everybody, Jew and non Jew can find salvation in Christ Jesus.
For the promise to Abraham or his posterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through [observing the commands of] the Law but through the righteousness of faith.
The faith of Abraham secured the promises of God for all of us that believe. Not anything Abraham did or didn’t do. Simply, his faith- But Paul’s logic is not over-
If it is the adherents of the Law who are to be the heirs, then faith is made futile and empty of all meaning and the promise [of God] is made void (is annulled and has no power).
Very clear! If it were possible that the followers of the Law could be the ones who eventually inherit the world, that would mean that the promises of God could not be kept because they would be empty and powerless.
For the Law results in [divine] wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression [of it either].
If you are under the Law, you are under the divine wrath of God because it must be kept perfectly. In Abraham’s case there existed no law to deal with and therefore no transgression existed either. Abraham was found innocent in regards to the Law which would come much later. Abraham ‘believed’ God and God granted him the ‘free gift’ of righteousness because of his faith in God. This is God’s way before and after the Law. It has never changed.
Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all.
God’s promises to us (anyone really) depends entirely on faith. God chose this way so that it would always be a free gift based entirely on God. An expression of His Love toward us, an act of grace that we don’t deserve. Also, to make it sure and stable for us. Something everlasting that we didn’t earn and neither can we mess it up. They are guaranteed. Both to those devoted to the Law and also those who share the faith of Abraham. Because of his faith, Abraham is the father of all of us all.
The scriptures here (below) are self evident. I exhort all us us to really pay attention the the last scriptures which I have put in bold italics-
As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed,
Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.
[For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, So [numberless] shall your descendants be.
He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb.
No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God,
Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.
That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).
But [the words], It was credited to him, were written not for his sake alone,
But [they were written] for our sakes too. [Righteousness, standing acceptable to God] will be granted and credited to us also who believe in (trust in, adhere to, and rely on) God, Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
Who was betrayed and put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification (our acquittal), [making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God].
LOVE
mcfalger 