Romans 4:1-8
As a non-Jew we often do not comprehend the Jewish mindset
when it comes to Abraham or the outward act of circumcision. Some background on the man we now know as
Abraham will be of help; a man named Terah fathered Abram and he married a
woman named Sarai and they lived in a place called Ur of the Chaldeans and they
left there to go to Canaan but stopped at a place called Haran and settled
there. Now it is important to state
this is a nice place, a flourishing city, and in that city the people worshiped
at a temple dedicated to Sin, the Moon god.
And out of that culture God said to Abram, “Go from your
country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show
you. And I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a
blessing. I will bless those who bless
you and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.”
(Genesis 12:1-3)
Now many things took place between chapter 12 – 26 that you
should read and understand, but the Jews put great value on Genesis 26:5, “because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my
commandments, my statues and my laws.” It is a believed by the Jewish
people that Abraham kept the whole law before it was given on Mount Sinai. And we have the apostle Paul refuting this
teaching in his letter to the house churches in Rome.
He begins in this way: “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our
forefather according to the flesh? 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.” (Romans 4:1-3) So it was not his works but his
faith in God, so he has no grounds to boast.
Paul goes on in his letter to the churches in Rome to share
this insight: “Now 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,
just as 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.” (Romans 4:4-8)
That fourth verse is clear, when one takes
a job and does what he agreed to he is to be paid for his labor, it was not a
gift. The point being made is earning of
pay and a gift is vastly different as is works and faith. It is hard for us to get our arms around this
point; “And to
the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is counted as righteousness.” Now do not get hung-up on not
working, no where is the apostle saying that, because it would be in direct
conflict with this teaching in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “For even when we were with you,
we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not
eat.” It seems the
struggle was the Jewish people believing Abraham was above sin, or sinless, and
Paul is reminding them that like them, and like us, all have sinned and fallen
short, we have all missed the mark of being sinless. And that Abraham, like all who have lived needs
God’s grace and the faith to trust God. We believe that Jesus’ work on the
cross by dying and shedding His blood to cover sin and win victory over death
and the grave, it is ours by God’s grace and the faith we are given to believe.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment