"1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" ~ Romans 4:1-3
Beginning in Romans 3:21 on through Romans 5, the Apostle presents the doctrine of Justification which means to be made right before God. It means that after trusting in the Lord Jesus work on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin, in God's eyes, we are perfect, even though we will yet sin. This is so because God has imputed to us the perfection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?"
History informs us that Abraham was an idolator and worshiped the moon goddess named "Sin," among others gods. He didn't know any better for he was influenced by his family as they lived in Ur of the Chaldeans which is modern-day southern Iraq. It was in that context that God appeared to Abraham and spoke to him. In response, Abraham believed in the God of the Bible and he trusted Him to lead him to a land he had never seen before.
Like Abraham, we all have a problem with the concept of faith. Everyone has faith, even the atheist. The difference is the object of our faith. For years, you and I, trusted in ourselves to get life right. For me, in October of 1981 when my dad died, I began to question the substance of the object of my faith. It was at that moment that I turned to God. I wasn't convinced that He was really there. I just cried out to Him and invited Him into my life. And, He has been working in my life ever since.
Philip Yancey once said, "Inquisitiveness and questioning are inevitable parts of the life of faith. But where there is certainty, there is no room for faith." Faith brings with it the uncertain, and we do not like uncertainty. But life is more about entertaining the questions than it is about enjoying the answers. There is a fine line between fear and faith. Fear proves that we are in control. We, ignorantly believe, that we are the captains of our ships and that we can call the shots for our lives best. Not so! And it usually takes a tragedy to open our eyes to our need to direct our faith onto the One who truly is the Supreme Being.
In Genesis 12, God appeared to Abraham. The first thing recorded in that chapter is the fact that God spoke to Abraham. From that, we learn that it is God's word that creates faith in the life of the willing believer. In Romans 10:17 we read, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the rhema of God." The Greek word "rhema" means the spoken word of God. It is not that we hear with our ears the audible words of God. No, it is that we hear God's spoken word with our hearts. When we entertain His voice, biblical faith is born within our hearts. Biblical faith is the product of hearing the word of God spoken to us by God. And, it is this kind of faith that justifies us before Him through His Son.
In v.3 of today's passage we read, "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'"
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?"
History informs us that Abraham was an idolator and worshiped the moon goddess named "Sin," among others gods. He didn't know any better for he was influenced by his family as they lived in Ur of the Chaldeans which is modern-day southern Iraq. It was in that context that God appeared to Abraham and spoke to him. In response, Abraham believed in the God of the Bible and he trusted Him to lead him to a land he had never seen before.
Like Abraham, we all have a problem with the concept of faith. Everyone has faith, even the atheist. The difference is the object of our faith. For years, you and I, trusted in ourselves to get life right. For me, in October of 1981 when my dad died, I began to question the substance of the object of my faith. It was at that moment that I turned to God. I wasn't convinced that He was really there. I just cried out to Him and invited Him into my life. And, He has been working in my life ever since.
Philip Yancey once said, "Inquisitiveness and questioning are inevitable parts of the life of faith. But where there is certainty, there is no room for faith." Faith brings with it the uncertain, and we do not like uncertainty. But life is more about entertaining the questions than it is about enjoying the answers. There is a fine line between fear and faith. Fear proves that we are in control. We, ignorantly believe, that we are the captains of our ships and that we can call the shots for our lives best. Not so! And it usually takes a tragedy to open our eyes to our need to direct our faith onto the One who truly is the Supreme Being.
In Genesis 12, God appeared to Abraham. The first thing recorded in that chapter is the fact that God spoke to Abraham. From that, we learn that it is God's word that creates faith in the life of the willing believer. In Romans 10:17 we read, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the rhema of God." The Greek word "rhema" means the spoken word of God. It is not that we hear with our ears the audible words of God. No, it is that we hear God's spoken word with our hearts. When we entertain His voice, biblical faith is born within our hearts. Biblical faith is the product of hearing the word of God spoken to us by God. And, it is this kind of faith that justifies us before Him through His Son.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God."
Since the law can only reveal sin and it can never remove our sin, God sent His Son to be the satisfying sacrifice so that we by faith in Him could enter into a personal relationship with Him. God even said that salvation by faith was witnessed by the law and the prophets in the previous verses. We find ourselves in that portion of Paul's letter to the Romans that he is proving that we are only justified before God through our faith in Him to be our God. This is why the Apostle writes that Abraham was not justified before God through his good behavior.
In v.3 of today's passage we read, "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'"
Abraham was made right before God by believing in Him and trusting Him with His life for time and eternity. There are those who say that the gospel is just too easy. They say this because they do not understand how much we are all messed up by sinfulness, even though we have not acted quite as egregiously as the worst among us. Our salvation, all of it, is God's work, not ours. We have a very low view of God and His truth if we think we can measure up to His perfection. The role that we play in our salvation is to simply believe with our hearts. This is more difficult for some due to their pride. Faith is truly steeped in humility.
The word "accounted" in this verse underscores the fact that Abraham, like you and me, was spiritually bankrupt. He had not one asset on his ledger before God. This is why God had to make a deposit into Abraham's account, and He did that through His Son's death on the cross. The gift of forgiveness and justification was given to Abraham in advance of that dreary day several thousand of years later when on the cross the Lord Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sin. Interestingly, when Abraham was around the Law wasn't. In fact, the Law of Moses came some 400 hundred years later. It was the Law and the Prophets that foretold of the One who would come and satisfy the Law and fulfill all of the prophecies. That One is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only One who justifies us before God.
