GOD'S GREAT NEWS for MAN'S GREAT PROBLEM - Romans 1-8

Lofty Father

I am going to begin with a re-telling of a classic Biblical story, the true story of an old man named Lofty Father. He was born and raised in southern Iraq to a remarkable father who lived to be 205 years old. But our hero Lofty Father had no children. His name was a blight to him; a constant reminder of his childlessness. One day, Lofty Father's aged father decided to move into far northern Syria. Lofty Father and his barren wife moved with him. There in northern Syria, something astonishing happened. God spoke to Lofty Father. We don't know how: was it a night vision? ... a meeting under an oak tree by day? ... or a prophet's word? What we do know is that God asked this 75-year-old man to go to a new land that God would show him: destination unknown to be identified by a God barely known. In that land, God would fulfill Lofty Father's name and destiny by giving him a Seed, a son from whom a great nation would rise. God said that in Lofty Father all the families of the earth would be blessed. So, at age 75, life was about to begin for Lofty Father.

He went to this new land, and built altars to God at Shechem and Bethel. But then a famine came. Lofty Father decided he couldn't eat a promise, so he went down to Egypt. There the Pharaoh saw the legendary beauty of Lofty Father's wife, and took her into his harem. Lofty Father had lied to Pharaoh, saying she was his sister, in order not to be killed. God was not pleased, and sent plagues on the house of Pharaoh until the truth be known. Then Pharaoh gave Lofty Father very rich gifts, expelling him from Egypt. Lofty Father returned to Canaan, contemplating his riches of pure grace with every step of the caravan journey.

Ten years passed. Lofty Father was now 85. Still there were no children to brighten his days with laughter. His name seemed an even greater mockery now than before. In a night of fear and sadness, God came to speak with Lofty Father once again. He said, "Do not fear. I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great." Listening, Lofty Father decided to talk with God, to do business with Him. He asked God a question, something he probably hadn't done before. He asked, "O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" Lofty Father then said, "Since Thou hast given no seed to me, one born in my house is my heir." All Lofty Father could see were things they way they seem. He was childless, Eliezer was there, and God's promise had not been fulfilled. He was tired of waiting at 85 for life to begin. But God reaffirmed His promise. The word of the Lord came, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." To drive the point home, God took Lofty Father outside, saying, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then God said, "So shall your seed be."

God had spoken; then a miracle occurred. Lofty Father heard God's word, took his eyes off of things the way they seem, and he focused on God the way He is. What nature had not done for 85 years, God promised He could do in the twinkling of a star. Lofty Father had only seen a substitute heir born in his house; God promised an heir borne in his wife, from his own loins. Lofty Father ingested the word of God and believed it. God saw the faith He had sowed in Lofty Father's heart take root, and God did another miracle: God infused His righteousness into Lofty Father's heart. The ancient storyteller ends this tale by saying: "Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." The father of our faith was thus born, a Lofty Father indeed. Fifteen years later, the son of promise was born when Lofty Father was 100 years old. From this son came another son, from whom came twelve sons, from one of whom came the Seed, the one by whom all the families of the earth are blessed. As Lofty Father believed in the Seed to come, so we today believe in the Seed who came, died on a cross, was raised, and is coming again. Our faith must follow the faith of our Lofty Father, Father Abraham.

Abraham's story undergirds Romans chapter four. This chapter is Paul's official rabbinic commentary on one verse in the Abraham narrative, Gen. 15:6. Paul demonstrates by that one verse how God reckoned righteousness by faith alone in Old Testament times. In Rom. 3:21-26, Paul stated the simple genius of God's great news for sinners at the cross of Christ: that God infuses His righteousness into the heart of anyone who believes in Jesus Christ. He tells us in Rom. 3:27-31 that this is an absolutely radical departure from anything human, either in terms of human self-effort or man-based religion. But Paul knows full well that we need some further evidence to the truth of this simple but earthshaking message. He knows the message of righteousness by faith is scandalously simple, especially in the ears of those who had been brought up in the Jewish faith with all its legal intricacies, its complex sacrificial system, and its ancient rites like circumcision. So, the Holy Spirit focused Paul on expressing three powerfully logical arguments out of the OT Scriptures to document how righteousness by faith was God's plan all along: apart from works (vs. 1-8), before circumcision (vs. 9-12), and beyond the Law (vs. 13-15).

Abraham and David: Righteousness by Faith Apart from Works (4:1-8)

Let's turn to Rom. 4:1-8 to see the first part of Paul's argument. Rom. 4:1 introduces Paul's chief OT witness for the defense of his radical argument that righteousness comes by faith alone: Father Abraham. That verse literally reads, "Therefore what shall we say to have found in Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?" Out of all the OT saints who lived by faith, why did Paul choose Abraham? Didn't Joshua demonstrate great faith leading the people into all those battles in Canaan? What about Moses, the leader of great faith that took on the most powerful king in his world? What about David preparing for battle against Goliath? Paul purposely chose Abraham because Abraham was the example the Jews would typically refer to as a clear case for righteousness under the old covenant, righteousness under the Law. They would then argue that the promise to Abraham was limited to his descendants who were under the Law. This argument from the example of Abraham was a current thesis of the rabbinic school with which Paul was intimately familiar. Paul probably even grew up as an aspiring rabbi in Gamaliel's school developing arguments about Abraham's righteousness from the Law. Once again, Paul's excellent training under Gamaliel aided him in his clear, logical exposition of the Christian message in its complete fulfillment of the OT promise of salvation.

Paul picks up this theme in vs. 2, 3. If Abraham was made righteous by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Here Paul sets up the opposing sides of his argument: it is either righteousness by works or righteousness by faith. The two are antithetical and mutually exclusive. If it is righteousness by works, as Paul says in vs. 2, then Abraham has something to boast about. He can be proud of what he has achieved, rather than humbled and thankful for what he has received. This is the fifth time Paul uses the word "boast" or "boastful" thus far in Romans, and he uses it here very consistently. Thus far in Rom. 1:30, 2:17, 23 and 3:27, human boasting has been shown to be utterly groundless at best, a manifestation of human sin at worst. Paul even says that such self-boasting is utterly silenced in 3:27. But what about Abraham ... couldn't he boast, since the Jews used him as the model of a man made righteous by works?

Paul makes it clear that Abraham could not boast before God, because Abraham had done no works to make himself righteous. The Scripture is clear on this: "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Thus, it was God who both sowed the seed of Abraham's faith through proclamation, and it was God who declared him righteous. The focus is on what God did, not on Abraham's works. There is no mention in Gen. 15:6 of Abraham's works. Believing in God is the only path to righteousness. This is definitional in Abraham's life. Let's look at the timeline of Abraham's life in Canaan, to see what happened in Gen. 15:1-6:

Highlights of Abraham's Life

Key Moment is Gen. 15:1-6
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Abram leaves Abram ** Abram Ishmael born Abram's Isaac Almost
Haran for defeats does business to Hagar. name is born sacrifice
Canaan. kings, with God. Abram's age changed to to Sarah & of Isaac.
Destination saves Lot. God initiates at birth: 86. Abraham. Abraham. God
unknown. Meets conversation, Covenant Abraham provides
God promised Melchiz- Abram questions Gen. 16 of Circum- is 100 yrs. the ram.
a Seed. Goes edek. God, then reports cision. old.
down to Egypt all he can see: that
shortly after Gen. 14 Eliezer is his heir. Gen. 17 Gen. 21 Gen. 22
arriving in land. God focuses His
Returns with promise: a Seed
blessings of will come from
pure grace. Abram's body.
Age: 75. Abram believes
God; He reckoned
Gen. 12. it to him as right-
eousness.

Gen. 15

This timeline fascinates me; it demonstrates how uniquely God credits righteousness. He discerns faith differently than we do. If I were writing Genesis, I would certainly have credited Abram with faith when he listens to God's voice up in Haran in northern Syria and picks up everything, leaves the family he has known for 75 years, heading south to lands unknown amid the wild Canaanites purely on the basis of a promise from an unseen God! That seems to me to be faith, but God does not credit it so. Now if I were thinking of faith in terms of accomplishing great things for God, then I would consider Abram leading 318 men of his household against the victorious armies of four kings and routing them in the strength of God as a great act of faith. But God does not credit it so. If I were moved by religious ritual, the institution of circumcision might mark the rite of passage into faith; but God does not credit it so.

No, at a seemingly less spectacular moment God perceives the sprout of faith. God credits righteousness to Abram through faith when Abram came out and talked with God, doing personal business with God about what bothered him, asking God for His perspective on the way things seemed in Abram's life. When God renewed and strengthened His promise to Abram, Abram shifted his gaze from what he could see about the way things seemed, and focused on God the way He is. Receiving God's word and believing it despite the way things seem showed Abram's faith. At that point God credited His righteousness to Abram, because of his faith. No works were done, no heroic obedience. Just the resting of one's hopes and dreams on the word of an unseen God, believing HIM: that He is, that He is a rewarder of those trusting in Him. Thus, the content of Abraham's faith in Gen. 15:6 is this: he truly believed that God could and would bring life out of death and bring him a son sired by his own withering body. As Paul will define it later in Rom. 4, the content of saving faith means faith in the God who brings life from the dead, faith in our God of the resurrection!! And as Paul says later in Rom. 10:17, faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ. It certainly doesn't come from seeing. George Macdonald once said in a sermon: "Faith is the trial or the proving of things not seen." My ten-year-old daughter Paden this week came up with a great definition of faith: "It is believing in something strongly that you can't see, but you know is true." That is faith.

Thus, in these verses Paul turns the classic rabbinic argument on its head. Abraham is by no means a clear example of righteousness by works of the Law ... quite the contrary, he is perhaps the clearest example of righteousness by faith alone!! Gen. 15:6 is the seminal verse on righteousness by faith in the Hebrew Scriptures, documenting in Abraham's story the undramatic but cataclysmic moment when God credited righteousness to Abraham by faith alone.

But there are more riches to mine here in Rom. 4:3. We learn that "... it was reckoned to him as righteousness." The verb here, "it was reckoned," is a term rooted in the marketplace, an accountant's term, where it meant "to enter into the account book." In modern parlance, we might say "and it was credited to his account as righteousness." This verb is one of great significance in this chapter, since Paul's later reflection on the reality behind Gen. 15:6 in Rom. 4:10 directly asks the stirring question, "How was it reckoned?" Paul's contention here in Rom. 4 is that it was reckoned by faith alone.

Consider the glory of this fully credited account of God's righteousness invested in us. It is difficult to imagine, but consider the following scenario. Tomorrow you come back after a long, hard Monday worth of work, and you have a message on your machine. It is from a government official of the Bureau of Land Management. You receive the message, pick up the phone and call the man back on the West coast, where it is still normal business hours. The man tells you that a federal court has just awarded you an inheritance of a 10,000 acre ranch north of Bakersfield, California. You listen cynically: yeah right! You say there must be some mistake. But the man assures you there is no mistake, and that he is Fed Exing to you the title deed that night before he leaves work. It is your land. It has been legally recorded in your name. But the real gift you can't even see, and don't discover until the next week when you travel to California. Sitting at the gate at the airport is the CEO of Chevron, who tells you far greater news: underneath the 10,000 acres is a vastly rich, untapped oil field. Your title deed says you own the mineral rights to the land. The CEO reads your stunned face, and says, "I'm here to negotiate the deal that will give you more money than you can possibly spend in your lifetime. You and Bill Gates will be the richest people in America. How does it feel: to receive hidden but inexhaustible wealth, all for free?" How much more does it feel for us to receive God's righteousness invested inside us, as a freely given gift? Is there anything better to be found anywhere in this world?

Getting back to Abraham, the crucial question is this: Was Abraham credited righteousness by something he did, or was it God's righteousness deposited into Abraham's account, credited to him? This is exactly what Paul will address next in vs. 4-8. The righteousness comes from God and is infused into the believer by faith, not by works. There can be no human basis from which this righteousness springs. It is God's righteousness infused into the believing man or woman, a transaction accomplished by faith alone, apart from any works. Paul proves this in vs. 4-8.

In vs. 4 and 5, Paul uses an illustration from the marketplace, the economic world, to prove his point about how Abraham's righteousness was reckoned to him. In vs. 4 Paul introduces the first of two possibile cases for our consideration. The first person to consider is the one who is working, the one holding down a job for a wage. Now, for the working person, how is their wage given? As a freely given gift, or as a wage due and payable? On the 15th and 30th of every month, does Ed McMahon show up in the mailbox with a freely given paycheck, part of the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes you supposedly have already won? Of course not. Clearly, the working person's paycheck is paid as a wage due and payable, a debt.

In vs. 5, Paul will deal with the counter example, the one NOT working. In this verse Paul expands the contrast between these two hypothetical persons: it is not just the one "working" vs. the one "not working;" it is the one "working" vs. the one "not working, but believing on Him who makes righteous the ungodly." So, the contrast is between works and faith in the One redeemer. Paul is drawing a portrait of two people from two totally opposite worlds, two mutually exclusive worlds. One works to obtain righteousness as a wage, due and payable. One discovers righteousness by faith as a freely given gift. It is the work ethic of the business world versus the grace ethic of the cross.

Let's look more closely at Paul's description of the one not working, but believing. The one not working for righteousness is seeking the attainment of righteousness via another route, the route of believing on something. But believing on what? Believing in and of itself is worthless, unless the content of that which is believed in is true and accurate enough to support the weight of one's belief. The true and accurate content of this saving belief is in "the One making righteous the ungodly." This is a clear reference back to Paul's description of the cross of Christ in 3:21-26, where Jesus Christ is the One to believe in to be made and declared righteous. The term "ungodly" is a very raw and strong term highlighting the evil of mankind as we are caught up in the self-centered sickness of sin, and it stands out in contrast to the freely given gift of righteousness based on faith.

Paul is defining two totally different spheres here. On this side of the podium, to show you the difference, is works done for the express purpose of salvation. Now, works lead to wages ... works never lead to a free gift, because there is a debt owed to the worker. That is the logic of works, when they are done as a means to salvation. These works come with a heavy freight: an illusion of control from a rigid cause-and-effect system that "if I do this just right, God has to reward me my just due." This system seems to be controllable, and with it comes unbending expectations of what God will do to reward me based on what I have done to please Him. In this view of God, He is the payroll accountant at your company: the one you relate to only to receive your check based on your two weeks of labor. This is both a hopelessly small view of God, and a false concept of control and high expectation that puts God at a distance from us in a mechanistic world of our own construction. Cain related to God like this with his token sacrifice; was he ever angry when God didn't respond as the payroll accountant Cain expected Him to be! Likewise, those gnashing their teeth when shut out of the presence of God in the outer darkness will not be those who did deeds of flagrant evil: they will be the ones who lived a life of deeds and works done to merit salvation, and in the end God did not pay them the reward they expected to be paid. Their anger may burn for all eternity. Beware in your own heart when your relationship with God is too controlled, or too firmly based on what you do in terms of religious behaviors, because you may be building a house of cards that the wind of God's Spirit will blow down.

But on the other side of the podium is the sphere in which the wind of God's Spirit blows freely, miraculously building up the house of the one whose righteousness is infused within as a gift, by faith. I doubt strongly that Abram had any idea whatsoever the night he did business with God that he would be credited with God's righteousness that very night!! Who would even have dreamed it! The whole event caught him entirely by surprise. He questioned God, he unburdened his ten-year freight of not having a son of his own even after the promise was spoken. This hardly seems to be the recipe for righteousness. But God declared the promise again, sowing the seed of faith in Abram's heart. That seed sprouted, and God fertilized it with His own righteousness infused into him. It was a pure gift, unlooked for, uncontrollable, unexpected, and thoroughly wonderful.

Now, as if the case from Abraham's life is not strong enough, Paul will argue out of the reflective writings of David the Psalmist king, in vs. 6-8. In vs. 6, we see that Paul refers to David's term of "blessedness" as describing the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works. Now what does this term "blessedness" mean? This term "blessedness" in vs. 6 is the same term in Greek that Jesus used in the Beatitudes. The idea behind this term "blessedness" is actually a "declaration of blessedness," and the ending of the word indicates a state or condition of blessedness. This state of blessedness is declared by God, just like the righteous are "declared righteous by God."

While Paul referred to the commentary about Abraham in Gen. 15:6 to support his claim in Abraham's case, Paul introduces David's case out of David's own writings, specifically out of Ps. 32:1, 2, which is quoted here in vs. 7 and 8. Verse 7 tells us "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds were forgiven, and whose sins were covered over;" Here David is commenting on the complete blessedness that comes from forgiveness apart from works. The verb "were forgiven" is in the passive voice. The use of the passive voice is helpful here: David did nothing on his own that would have merited forgiveness ... instead, his lawless deeds were forgiven by One who freely forgave as a gift.

David also tells how his "sins were covered over." This parallel line is interesting as a sharpening of what forgiveness looks like. Some third party, certainly not David himself since again the verb is in the passive voice, had done some sacrifice or something that covers over the sin. This is undoubtedly the language of atonement. The sinner cannot atone for himself, so his sin must be covered as a free gift. Truly, this results in a continual state of blessedness for the forgiven one.

In vs. 8, David says roughly the same things as in vs. 7, except that the verb is put in the negative rather than the positive. Just as we are blessed that He freely forgave us our lawless deeds, so we are blessed when He graciously chooses not to keep track of all our sin. The freely given gift of His righteousness credited to our account totally cancels all our debits against Him, so He no longer keeps any accounts. God is no bean counter.

There is something constantly rejuvenating about the logic of righteousness given as a free gift by faith in Jesus Christ. David terms this a sense of "blessedness." I wonder how many of us in this room really refer to ourselves as "blessed?" Most of us set conditions on our sense of blessedness, "If only I had enough money in the bank, then I would feel blessed," or "Once I get the new house I want, or that great new car, then I can feel like God is really blessing me," or "If only I didn't have to work so hard at this daily grind, my life would be so blessed." Or, if we aren't bemoaning our bad circumstances and we do happen to think we are blessed, we tie the blessing to our good circumstances. We might think we are blessed because things have gone smoothly in our lives; we think we are blessed because we have great opportunities put before us; or we think we are blessed because our job is going well. But the "blessedness" David revels in transcends all our circumstances. It is a very profound sense that we have been given the richest of gifts right at the point we were the most undeserving. We have been given the gift of God's life residing in us, His righteousness to become our righteousness. It was given to us when we wallowed in the mud of our sin, seeing no way out, then looking to Christ.

There used to be an old brother of mine at PBC who walked in blessedness each day. He constantly walked the streets of Palo Alto in his gold and red 49ers jacket. He walked slowly with a back brace, and he was in a good deal of constant back pain. Walking to and from church and around town each day was his exercise to keep his back limber. His name was Woody. Every time I saw him at church, he would be smiling. "Hello, Dorm! Beautiful day we're having!" And I'd say, "Sure is!!" Then he would answer, "Yep, the Lord's given me one more day to be alive, and I'm glad to be here." We must have had that conversation a hundred times. In spite of his back pain, in spite of his slow walk, he walked in blessedness. Each day was a gift!

But I think the reason why most of us can't believe this scandalously simple notion of righteousness by faith as a free gift is because we see nothing in life coming for free. We grow up under the basic adage that the early bird gets the worm, that rewards are always tied only to our work, that good grades come from hard studying, that good incomes come only with advanced degrees, that "we make money the old-fashioned way ... we earn it," to quote from the old commercial. When Ed McMahon shows up in our mail boxes and tells us we may "already have won" the big prize, we roll our eyes. Yeah, right. The world doesn't work that way. But God's kingdom does work this way!! It is otherworldly, in the best sense. Into our mechanistic world of cause and effect, a system engineered by the prince of this world, steps our God of the universe, rewarding us with the richest gift of all, His life and righteousness freely given to us if we will just believe in our Christ of the cross. But because of our worldly conditioning and training, we just can't buy the fact that it is a gift. But it is a gift; it is a fact. If you haven't yet been able to accept His offer of this great eternal life, just take that gift and make it your own. By faith, seize it now, and open it and enjoy it for the rest of your life!! It is a gift, totally apart from works, meant to be enjoyed in a state of perpetual blessedness!!

Abraham's Righteousness by Faith Before Circumcision (4:9-12)

So, the idea of righteousness by works was obliterated both in Abraham's case and through the writings of David and David's definition of "blessedness." Now Paul takes away another claim the Jews historically made regarding righteousness: righteousness because of circumcision. Paul deals with this one brilliantly.

Rom. 4:9 begins with a question: is David's state of blessedness reserved just for the circumcised, or is it available to the uncircumcised as well? After all, Gen. 15:6 tells us that "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness." This is the second time in the chapter that Paul refers to Gen. 15:6, again citing Abraham as the supreme example of righteousness by faith alone, not by works, nor in this case by circumcision.

The next verse, Rom. 4:10, anticipates a question from the reader, which becomes the central theme of this whole text: How then was it reckoned? Was it reckoned while Abraham was circumcised or uncircumcised?

In order to answer this, we would have to go back like Paul had to the actual record of Abraham's life, to see the chain of events that occurred. As we read from Gen. 12-17, developing the timeline of Abraham's life, something immediately strikes us: "Aha!! God declares Abraham righteous by faith in Gen. 15:6 ... but God does not institute the sign of circumcision until Gen. 17! So, Abraham's righteousness came by faith, totally apart from circumcision because circumcision hadn't even been thought of at that point in history." Paul does good old fashioned Bible study here: observing the text, carefully documenting his observations, and presenting his case based on incontrovertible fact!! Who would dare argue that Gen. 17 pre-dated Gen. 15? Paul's argument is unavoidably logical. It would have been extremely compelling, especially to the Jew, who would have never dared to openly contradict the model of righteousness provided by Abraham.

The end of vs. 10 summarizes the truth out of Gen. 15-17 succinctly: Abraham's righteousness by faith was reckoned "not in circumcision, BUT in uncircumcision!" It is almost as if Paul dons his lawyer cap once again, marshalling the evidence from the Hebrew Scriptures, and calmly stating to the jury: "These are the facts of the case ... and they are not disputed."

This chapter in Paul's writings is extremely motivational for me as a Bible student. Whether or not we know it, all of us have received certain traditional teachings that we have heard since childhood. Many of these are right and good, but some of them are rooted far more in tradition than they are in the Biblical text. Likewise, Paul had been brought up on the glory of circumcision. But then he rolled up his sleeves and studied his Bible for himself. He probably even drew a timeline of Abraham's life. Then he saw that righteousness came by faith, not by circumcision, and that circumcision was a symbol of that faith. Suddenly, the truth of the Biblical text set him free from the contraints of a traditionalism that had constrained him. The same may be true for us. That is why it is so important to study the Bible for yourself and let God speak to you from His word. His truth sets us free. This is why a cornerstone of ministry with children, with men and with women here at our church is to encourage people to study the Bible for themselves. This is the first step into a much larger world, where God can speak to us and where traditional viewpoints are tried and tested for validity against the perfect standard of God's Word. Nothing is more exciting, nor more liberating, nor more convicting, than studying the Bible for yourself, just you and your indwelling Author.

Paul thus saw the Scripture overturn one of his most dearly held traditional beliefs. But there might be a bright thinker in the crowd, who would argue something like this: "Paul's argument here is not fair!! Circumcision was initiated with Abraham, so you can only weigh the value of circumcision AFTER Abraham to evaluate its contribution to our righteousness as Jews." In vs. 11, Paul masterfully refutes this supposed problem. Paul begins his argument by telling us Abraham "received a sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith he had while uncircumcised." The weight of Paul's argument is found in the two nouns "sign" and "seal." Paul's point is that if there had been no faith leading to righteousness, there would have been no circumcision, since circumcision was simply an outward sign and a seal confirming the inner reality of faith and the righteousness infused into him by faith. One commentator stated "The sign of circumcision simply confirms righteousness through faith that was already present."

In fact, the term for "seal" here was a common Jewish term for circumcision. For the Jew, circumcision meant the individual was included in the Covenant. Paul treats it as a mark of righteousness reckoned by God to Abraham as a result of his faith (a radical interpretation), thus having no value whatsoever apart from the faith on which it was based. So, the faith which Abraham had while uncircumcised was the reality, while circumcision was simply implemented as an outward symbol helping the Jews to grasp the inward reality.

To see what I mean about the "seal," take out a quarter and look at it. On the back is the Great Seal of the United States of America. On the seal is the American eagle with the arrows in its talons. Now, is that eagle with arrows anything in itself apart from the living, breathing reality of a dynamic nation made up of over 250 million people spread across 50 states? Which is more important: the symbol of the reality, or the reality itself? Clearly, the reality itself. The U.S.A. exists independently without any Great Seal ... but the Great Seal cannot survive without the U.S.A. Now turn the quarter over. Even more telling is the phrase "In God We Trust," minted onto our currency during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a Christian man as of the day he delivered the Gettysburg Address, and for that "father" of our nation, the phrase "In God We Trust" had great meaning. There was substance behind the phrase stamped on the currency. But where is that reality today in this country, with a man of Bill Clinton's reputation occupying the chair of Abraham Lincoln? In our public schools where God cannot be officially spoken of, in our universities where God is a swear word only, and in our corporations where a climate of greed and untruth prevails ... where is our trust in God as a nation? Without the reality that existed in Lincoln's heart and the prevailing faith of Lincoln's day, that phrase stamped on our currency has lost all its meaning. The same is true of circumcision without faith: the outward symbol or words are meaningless without the inner reality undergirding them in truth.

Now, as if this isn't enough to silence any further argument, Paul now argues from the very name of Abraham that God instituted righteousness by faith with Abraham. By using the term "father" in the last half of vs. 11, Paul is arguing from Abraham's name, which was highly significant to the Jews. In fact, names were of supreme significance to Jews in Paul's day as a means of interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures. This is still true today. Three years ago I was having a conversation with a rabbi at Stanford, who was telling me: "Just remember, every single name in the text is very important, and has some deeper significance." So, Paul argues from Abraham's name. It is clear in Gen. 17:5-8, the section defining the Abrahamic covenant of faith and promise which undergirds the establishment of circumcision later in Gen. 17:9-14, that Abraham became the "father of a multitude, or father of many." Paul is arguing here in vs. 11 and 12 that the "multitude" implicit in this renaming of Abram to Abraham in Gen. 17:5 is meant to encompass all those who believe as Abraham believed, and are thus reckoned righteous as he was reckoned righteous. Abraham is thus the father not only of the Jews physically, but of all believers spiritually, Jew or otherwise. This indeed comprises a multitude, from every nation on the earth today. Thus, Paul again marshalls superior exegetical technique to drive home his point!!

Paul furthers his argument from Abraham's name in vs. 12. The thrust of Paul's argument is that the true sons of Abraham among the circumcision are NOT just those who are circumcised, but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham demonstrated while he was in uncircumcision. Thus, circumcision alone is not effective: it must be accompanied by faith. Faith thus becomes effective, with circumcision remaining just a sign of that faith. Abraham becomes a spiritual father to the ones walking in the steps of his faith which he demonstrated while uncircumcised, whether they are Jewish, German, Polish, Armenian, or whatever.

This becomes important for us right today in the life of our church. Tonight we will celebrate Communion together. If we ritually take communion the first Sunday evening of every month without the reality of a personal encounter with the Christ of the cross to undergird the symbol of Communion, then that Communion is done in vain. Worse, we may find ourselves guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. Similarly, if we have not been baptized into Christ by the indwelling Spirit, then being dunked in water means little more than a glorified bath. Jesus Christ commanded both water baptism and Communion as physical symbols to tutor us in understanding the hidden spiritual realities of inner communion with our indwelling Christ and baptism in the Spirit. But the tutor must never overshadow the truth being taught. The observable symbol must never come to supercede the hidden inner reality, or else we are just like the Jews arguing their righteousness because of their observable circumcision.

This is exactly the rub, though. Just as the system of works on this side of the podium appeals to our flesh because it seems to be controllable, so outwardly observable rituals appeal more to us than faith in unseen spiritual realities hidden within. As we must beware when our relationship with God seems to be controllable, lest our faith rest on that which we can control, so we must beware when our relationship with God seems to rely on observable religious ritual, lest our faith rest on what we can see alone. As St. Augustine said, "Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of faith is to see what we believe." Sometimes we grab for the reward of seeing too quickly.

Abraham's Righteousness is by Faith Beyond the Law (4:13-15)

Now, since Paul has obliterated the conventional Jewish wisdom of righteousness by works and righteousness because of circumcision, now Paul goes for the notion of righteousness coming through the Law. This too is a bankrupt concept.

Paul states in vs. 13 that "the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir to the world was NOT through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith." Paul's reasoning here is similar to that which he used regarding circumcision: Abraham's declaration of righteousness and the promise given to him regarding his Seed and the Seed's impact on the world pre-dated the giving of the Law through Moses (by 430 years, according to Gal. 3:16, 17). Thus, there is no way one could argue from the OT text that there is any linkage whatsoever between the righteousness of faith in the promise and the Law. They are separated by a yawning gulf of time.

But they are not only separated by a gulf of time, but a gulf of purpose. Abraham was not under the Law when the promise was made, nor could the fact that his subsequent descendants came under the Law change the condition of believing the original promise, because the promise and the Law have two entirely different uses in God's plan. While the promise is given for us to believe in by faith, the Law was given to reveal God's blueprint for the human heart, thus demonstrating how much the human heart has been corrupted by sin. The Law and the promise thus occupy two mutually exclusive spheres, the same as the wage of works and the free gift of righteousness by faith occupied two opposite spheres in Rom. 4:1-8. There is thus a gulf of time and purpose separating the promise and the Law.

In vs. 14, Paul explores further the gulf in purpose between faith in the promise and the Law. He considerd the possibility of those under the Law being the recepients of the blessings of the promise. In other words, can doing the works of the Law actually be a substitute for faith in Christ? Do they produce the same result?

Absolutely not, according to vs. 14. If those under the Law receive the blessing of the promise, then the Law would have to fulfill the promise somehow. Thus, the Law would have to be a son, a Seed, a Christ. Clearly that was not the case: it was ten words written on stone. If the heirs to the Law receive the blessing of the promise, faith would be emptied of its value and purpose, having been superceded by the Law. The promise itself would be replaced by the Law. The Law would be Messiah, rather than the Messiah Jesus Christ coming to fulfill the Law.

Paul's language here could not be stronger or clearer. Faith and Law operate with entirely different purposes; if we force the Law to have the exact same purpose and result as faith, then we void the usefulness and value of faith. Since the promise has been clearly shown to be linked in the OT text to the righteousness by faith, if faith becomes valueless then the promise is eroded, and the whole structure of God's promised redemption for man comes crumbling down like the walls of Jericho. Thus, Paul speaks of two entirely different spheres: first, the sphere of righteousness by faith and its correlative promise of redemption, and second, the sphere of Law revealing sin and sin bringing about the wrath of God.

In fact, the linkage from Law to sin to the wrath of God is described explicitly in vs. 15: "For the Law works wrath." Then Paul gives us one of those terse statements that are meant to briefly introduce a topic to which he will return later in much greater detail: "but where there is no Law, there is no transgression." Since Paul has proved there is no linkage whatsoever between faith in the promise and the Law, here he draws a parallel idea to show that there is no linkage whatsoever between faith in the promise and transgression (i.e. works that don't measure up to the Law). As CGT states it, "we have not to consider the acts and doings of Abraham and his true seed, as qualifying them for the promise, but only their attitude toward God, their faith." This is where Paul underlines the power and sphere of grace, an idea to which he will return much more in chapters 6 and 7.

Again, to demonstrate this to you, I will stand to the left of the podium, which is the side of works-ritual-Law, the Law having the purpose of revealing sin and bringing the wrath of God. Then, coming to the right side of the podium, there is the faith-promise-righteousness side. Faith is intertwined with the promise, and it was by faith that Abraham was credited as righteous. Clearly, there are two very different spheres of purpose here, with no intersection between them.

But what is really going in these verses? The coming of the Law meant that something was given by which righteousness might be measurable. Man might now be able to measure his righteousness against the objective standard. If he does all Ten Rules, for example, might he not win the prize and receive the blessings of the promise? This is the root danger of legalism: it attempts to measure the unquantifiable. How can the righteousness of God be measured? Where is the scale large enough? Moreover, how can this immeasurable supply be made resident in our finite and puny human bodies? Drawing from the text of Gen. 15, God stated the promise in infinite, immeasurable terms in Gen. 15:5: "...'Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your Seed be.'" And if we follow Paul's reasoning in Gal. 3:16, the Seed God was referring to in the promise is Jesus Christ Himself. The superabundant blessing of having Christ infused within us defies quantification, thus beggaring the measurements of the Law.

So, receiving God's righteousness by faith is beyond measurement; receiving the free gift of righteousness through the promise of Christ and His death on the cross cannot be estimated; it is beyond the confine and purpose of the Law, which is a tutor meant to bring the human heart to the humble place of opening itself by faith to the infinite Christ. As before, the danger lies in elevating the tutor to the place of the infinite Truth incarnated in Christ, incarnated in us by faith in Christ.

Conclusion: Great News Indeed: Things Are Far Greater Than You Think!!

Thus, the great news Paul introduced in Rom. 3:21-26, the news of God's righteousness infused into us by faith in our Christ of the cross, is news counter to the logic of this world. It is not controllable, like some mechanistic system of wages earned and payments due according to the logic of the marketplace. Rather, it shatters all accounting books by crediting God's inexhaustible supply of righteousness to our bankrupt account. Furthermore, this great news and the righteousness of God infused in the believer is not observable. It is not something to be seen like the symbol of circumcision, according to the logic of human religion. Rather, it is a spiritual reality of grand proportion, effecting an eternal change of heart. Finally, God's righteousness infused into the believer is not measurable according to the Law or the logic of legalism. Rather, it is the infinite infused into the finite; the mystery of godliness. Any attempt to measure the immeasurable is futile. The whole sphere of faith-promise-righteousness is apart from works and control, before circumcision and observable religious ritual, and beyond the Law and any standard of measurement. It is in a sphere all by itself, something as untamable and glorious as our God Himself. It is God's great news for man's great problem.

And this great news hinges on faith, demonstrated first in the seminal faith of our Lofty Father Abraham. But if you are like me, this study has left you wondering about Abraham's faith. Just what did God ascertain in him when crediting to Abraham His divine righteousness? If Abraham is Paul's greatest example of righteousness by faith, what is the content of this saving faith leading to righteousness that Abraham exhibited? That is exactly what we will talk about when we complete our study of Romans chapter four!!

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