Believing Against Hope

Reading:  Romans 4:16-25
    
    Since the way all people can now be saved is through faith in Jesus, Christians do not seek to keep the Law of Moses but to “(share) the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all”(Rom 4:16).  God promised Abraham “I have made you the father of many nations”(Rom 4:17, Gen 17:5) and Paul says that this is fulfilled when Jews and Gentiles have a faith like his (not just when he has many great grandchildren!).  Yet all this started with Abraham and Sarah, a lonely nomadic couple past the age of childbearing.  Abraham trusted in the God “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist”(Rom 4:17).  Just as Jesus calls unstable Peter a rock long before he becomes one, so God calls Abraham a father to many long before he becomes one.  Abraham believes him.

    Paul then discusses the challenge of Abraham’s faith.  “In hope he believed against hope”(Rom 4:18).  He knew there was no earthly cause for hope, given his own age and Sarah’s barrenness (Rom 4:19), yet he looked beyond what he saw.  “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God”(Rom 4:20).  Rather than beginning to doubt, Abraham became more convinced as time went by.  He was “fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised”(Rom 4:21).  This, Paul insists, is the faith that God counted as righteousness.  And Abraham’s faith shows us what our faith should be like—so that we can believe similarly in Jesus and find an even greater salvation.  

    I am intrigued by Paul’s phrase “in hope he believed against hope.”  At times God’s promises are hard to believe because our experience teaches us to expect something different.  Abraham and Sarah had no natural reason to ever expect a child.  Similarly, nothing in the current state of the world would lead us to believe that justice is coming, that God is in control, that we will live eternally, or that Jesus is coming back.  These are matters that we accept by faith, believing against hope that our good Savior lives and will fulfill his promises to us.

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One Thing to Think About:  How do I grow stronger in faith?

One Thing to Pray For:  The endurance to continue trusting God throughout my life 
 

The Father of All Who Believe

Reading:  Romans 4:9-15
    
     Abraham and David confirm that God can save imperfect people by faith.  But what about Gentiles?  “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?  For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.  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”(Rom 4:9-10).  God declared Abraham righteous (Genesis 15) before his circumcision (Genesis 17).  This is not mere history.  It means that faith, not circumcision, is the key point.  Abraham was righteous without being a part of the Jewish covenant—and we can be too.  While people often focus on the external trappings, God is evaluating our hearts and seeking to know whether we truly love and submit to him.  

     So what was the point of circumcision?  “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”(Rom 4:11).  Abraham was saved by his faith without circumcision, so now he is the father of all who believe, whether they are circumcised or not.  Paul makes the shocking assertion that circumcision actually meant that Abraham was already righteous.  This signals to the uncircumcised that they can be righteous too.  Of course Jews also can know the favor of God, as long as they “walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised”(Rom 4:12).  Truly faithful Jews are the genuine children of Abraham (see Rom 2:28-29).  Abraham was righteous before and outside the Law of Moses—and we can be too, provided we have faith like Abraham’s.

     Abraham is a figure of widespread admiration.  Jews, Christians, and Muslims honor him and imitate him.  But Paul points out that the outstanding feature of Abraham is his faith.  Abraham trusted God in extremely challenging circumstances, when given odd commands, and when all signs pointed against it.  We are not children of Abraham simply by sharing a bloodline with him, but by sharing an obedient faith with him.  It begs the question:  Is Abraham truly my father?

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One Thing to Think About:  Do I believe like Abraham?

One Thing to Pray For:  An appreciation for others’ faith, no matter what ethnicity or background
 

How Grace Works

Reading:  Romans 4:1-8
    
    Jesus has opened a new path to God that hinges on grace rather than our own good deeds.  Here Paul calls two surprising witnesses to explain how that grace works—Abraham and David.  “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say?  ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’”(Rom 4:2-3).  If Abraham did enough good works that God had to save him, then he would have room to boast in his goodness.  Yet Paul insists that Scripture says Abraham was justified because he believed.  Faith is not the same thing as righteousness.  Righteousness means that we have met God’s standard and have lived perfectly.  Yet God counted Abraham’s faith as if it was righteousness.  This is how grace works.  To use another example, “to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness”(Rom 4:4-5).  We do not earn our salvation as if it is our wages; instead we trust that God will count our faith as it was perfect righteousness.

    Paul also calls David to testify.  “David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:  ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin’”(Rom 4:6-8).  Note the wording:  David is describing a sinner whose evil has been forgiven.  David does not boast in his perfection, but the blessing of the Lord’s forgiveness.  So we too do not have hope in our perfect lives, but in a righteousness that comes from forgiveness.  This is how grace works.

    Abraham and David show us the path of trusting obedience.  Paul is not arguing that we can merely trust in God’s grace and refuse to obey him; Abraham and David did not do this.  Rather, he is saying that the hints of grace are scattered throughout the story of Scripture because God has always been gracious.  We now have the opportunity to share in the relief and hope that comes from relying on God rather than ourselves.

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One Thing to Think About:  How have I experienced the relief of forgiveness?

One Thing to Pray For:  Deeper trust in “him who justifies the ungodly”
 

A New Way to Be Right

Reading:  Romans 3:21-31
    
    Since man has failed to respond to God’s message in creation and the Law, we need a new way to be right.  “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”(Rom 3:21-22).  God has forged a new path for us to be right outside the Law.  We are no longer saved by living perfectly under God’s law, but through faith.  Just as sin is universal (Rom 3:9), so this new way is available to all people who are willing to believe in Jesus (Rom 3:22-23).  We “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith”(Rom 3:24-25).  Paul stresses that we do not earn this status by our good works; it is a gift.  The sacrifice of Jesus secures something that we could never achieve on our own.  Meanwhile God has found a way to be “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”(Rom 3:26).  He takes sin seriously enough to punish it (“just”) while loving us enough to rescue us from our condemnation (“the justifier”).  These are breathtaking thoughts.

    Since we have merely received a gift, Paul argues that our “boasting” is “excluded”(Rom 3:27).  “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law”(Rom 3:28).  Boasting implies that we have earned our standing before God and can brag about our works.  This is not the way of Jesus because we are only right because of his sacrifice and mercy.  This new way to be right simultaneously exalts us and humiliates us; we become children of God but it has nothing to do with our own goodness.

    Everything has changed in Jesus.  The ignorance of the Gentiles has been expelled and they can be brought to God when they put faith in Jesus.  The Law of Moses, which only condemned those who lived under it and pointed them forward to Jesus, yields to this better way.  We lower ourselves before God and receive his goodness.  We now trust and obey Jesus, not ourselves.

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One Thing to Think About:  What is the appropriate way to receive a gift?

One Thing to Pray For:  Praise to God for his grace
 

Different Roads to the Same Place

Reading:  Romans 3:9-20
    
    While the Jewish people have certainly had some advantages (Rom 3:1-2), it has not led to them pleasing God.  “What then?  Are we Jews any better off?  No, not at all.  For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin”(Rom 3:9).  While Paul has detailed the sinfulness of the Gentiles (Rom 1:18-32), the Old Testament itself describes the continual rebellion and immorality of the Jewish people.  Paul strings together a series of Old Testament passages here (v. 10-18) to confirm this point.  

    The first reference is from Psalm 14 and summarizes the situation:  “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one”(Rom 3:10-12).  The wording here can be misunderstood.  Paul is not arguing that no one ever seeks God at all or ever does anything good.  His point is that even Jews, who have the Law of Moses and a special relationship with God, do not live righteously and follow him all the time.  If they are judged, they are also found wanting.  The charges that the Law makes against them (Rom 3:13-18) prove the point.  “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin”(Rom 3:19-20).  The fact that these condemnations are in the Law means that they are addressed to Jews and cannot be avoided.  No one can protest; God is right to condemn us all.  More, the Law does not save us from this condemnation, but only serves to condemn (v. 20).  We need a new way to be right with God.

    All people stand guilty before God.  “All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin”(Rom 3:9).  Yet we have all arrive at this place by a different road.  Gentiles dismissed what they knew from nature; Jews violated what they learned from the Law.  Gentiles pursued riotous living (Rom 1:28-32); Jews ignored their sin and condescended to others (Rom 2:1-2).  Every person’s story is different.  Our histories, temptations, and trajectories differ, yet we all end up lost in sin and in need of a savior.

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One Thing to Think About:  In what ways have I rebelled against God?

One Thing to Pray For:  A heart to seek for God and do good