Romans 4:9-15
In 2021, Maru Public Opinion polled a sample group of Americans asking then to rate 28 professions as to how much they respected each one. Take a moment to think about it and write down your guess as the most respected and the least respected professions at that time.
What did you write? The top ten most respected professions, in order, were firefighters, nurses, farmers, service people, medical doctors, pharmacists, scientists, teachers, grocery store owners/workers, and engineers. Any surprises for you there?
The lowest ten, from more respected to least respected, were lawyers, union leaders, journalists, talk show hosts, business executives, professional athletes, advertisers, car salespeople, politicians, and owners of social media platforms the least respected folk. How about here, any surprises for you?
I am personally sorry to report that clergy managed no better than 17th place, the middle of the pack for respectability ratings. One commentator said if the poll were taken forty years ago clergy would have rated higher. I did not find that too encouraging.
The point is, we all have people we admire, whose example we would like to follow. In this series of three messages we’re following the Apostle Paul in admiring Abraham, claimed as the “father” of three world wide faiths to see what we can learn from his example.
Abraham set a worthy example for all who seek to live by faith and be saved by faith.
1. Abraham was not saved by circumcision. (9-12)
The questions posed in vs. 9-10 make circumcision a test case. Paul posed two questions: IS THIS BLESSING ONLY FOR THE JEWS OR IS IT ALSO FOR THE UNCIRCUMCISED GENTILES? And WAS [Abraham] COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUS ONLY AFTER HE WAS CIRCUMCISED, OR WAS IT BEFORE HE WAS CIRCUMCISED?
In his letters, Paul frequently dealt with the difference between Gentiles and Jews regarding salvation. It is not surprising that he would use the ritual practice of male circumcision as a specific test of the doctrine of salvation by faith.
It is also no surprise that Paul used Abraham as his test subject. The Jews of his time considered their ancestor Abraham to be a free pass to righteousness. As Abraham’s sons and daughters, so they believed, they had nothing to worry about where God was concerned.
What Paul will prove using circumcision and Abraham is that FAITH, not CIRCUMCISION, is the determining factor in salvation. A familiar history lesson would prove this point. Here’s a simple timeline that provides all the evidence needed. (All references are from the book of Genesis.)
- 12:1-9 = God called Abram (as he was first named) to leave his father’s home and journey to Canaan. Abraham’s obedience is evidence of his faith.
- 15:1-21 = God made a covenant with Abram, promising to make him a great nation. This is God’s recognition of Abram’s faith and His reward for it.
- 17:1-14 = Abraham confirmed his participation in the covenant with God by circumcising himself and all his household.
The order of events in Abraham’s life confirms Paul’s assertion that Abraham had demonstrated his faith first, then been counted righteous second, then third, demonstrated his obedience with circumcision.
Coming last as it did, circumcision did not signify that Abraham had, in that moment, been DECLARED RIGHTEOUS. Instead, God had ACCEPTED Abraham prior to his circumcision. God requested Abraham’s circumcision not to make him righteous, but in recognition of the fact that he was already righteous. Circumcision was an effect of being declared righteous, not a cause of it.
Abraham’s faith and his imputed righteousness gave his circumcision meaning, not the other way around. In this way he became the SPIRITUAL FATHER of both Jews and Gentiles who share his faith. Like Abraham, we are saved by faith, not by works.
What saves us is having THE SAME KIND OF FAITH ABRAHAM HAD BEFORE HE WAS CIRCUMCISED. Note the use of the word BEFORE: it doesn’t get plainer than that! So, what kind of FAITH did Abraham have before circumcision? We can infer some things from what he did.
- Be ready to step outside your comfort zone. Abraham left behind a familiar place and family members to go to a foreign place where he would live a homeless, nomadic existence.
- Put long-term trust in God. It was some seventy years between God’s promise of a son and God’s delivery of a son, Isaac.
- Put everything in God’s hands, especially the things you don’t understand. In Genesis 22 we read about God’s command to take Isaac atop a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord. This command stood in direct contradiction to all God had revealed previously. Though it made no sense to him in that moment, Abraham fully obeyed God. Can you imagine a more severe test of faith?
2. God always intended to bless those outside the Law. (13-15)
It was clear to Paul that God’s plan is revealed in His promise to Abraham. (13) Paul used the word CLEARLY twice; once in verse ten to indicate it was clear that God had accepted Abraham’s faith prior to his circumcision. Here in verse thirteen, he insists that it is also clear that God’s promise to Abraham was based on his faith, not on his obedience to any law.
God’s plan from the beginning was to give THE WHOLE EARTH (the natural world and its human inhabitants) through ABRAHAM AND HIS DESCENDANTS. It is clear in the Old Testament that Israel was to be as LIGHT TO THE GENTILES (Isaiah 49:6).
God’s desired outcome was that all people would brought into RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. We are reminded that “righteousness” is most importantly a right relationship with God. Although the word can sound moralistic or legalistic, it is, at its core, being in relationship with God.
This kind of relationship to the divine can only come about at His initiative. In Jesus Christ, God took the initiative and won eternal life for us. He offers to restore every wayward soul by means of Christ, but it is absolutely necessary for us to have FAITH to obtain it.
If we could be saved by good works there would be no need for faith and God’s promises would go unfulfilled. (14) Paul here used a hypothetical to explain why faith is necessary. If it were hypothetically possible to achieve a right relationship with God by our own moral force, by keeping the Law perfectly, there would be no need for Christ’s sacrifice. If that were the case, God’s promises of salvation would go unfulfilled because they would be unnecessary. Of course, this is impossible as all of us are merely human. We lack the will and the moral perfection necessary to achieve salvation.
We gain a right relationship with God when we come, by faith, to understand and accept the fact that Jesus saves sinners. That is the firm foundation for a faith that saves, nothing else.
It’s ironic how the Law punishes those who try to keep it. (15) In Romans, Paul was frequently concerned about the relationship of the Law given to Moses and Gentile believers. It became necessary for this former Pharisee (a party of Jews fanatically devoted to the Law) to candidly assess the Law’s shortcomings, which mad its replacement with a New Covenant a necessity.
In verse fifteen we are introduced to two inadequacies of the Law. The first is that the Law more frequently punishes those who are trying to obey it. Follow Paul’s logic: the Law calls for punishment of all lawbreakers. In practice, only those persons who cared about the Law hung around to make the atoning sacrifices the Law required. Evildoers don’t care and will attempt to avoid punishment. They will refuse to offer atoning sacrifices. For this reason, the greater proportion of punishment fell on the faithful.
A second shortcoming of the Law is that we cannot avoid breaking it. Being merely mortal, merely human, we can’t achieve perfect conformity with the Law. That’s why God’s forgiveness is an absolute necessity, without His cleansing our sin, perfection is out of our hands. We are hopeless. With tongue firmly in cheek Paul uses a bit of irony here in a humorous way. The only way we could avoid breaking the Law is if no Law had been given.
Abraham set a worthy example for all who seek to live by faith and be saved by faith.
C.H. Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” preached the following about Abraham: “He was a man who saw what eyes cannot see; he heard what ears can never hear’ and he was moved, guided, stimulate by motives which men of the world can never feel. He was a great man, a very prince among men’ first, chief, and father of all believing men’ but he owed the preeminence of his character to the greatness of his faith. We must have his Faith, and we must live by it, as he lived by it’ and then God will be able to make something of even such poor feeble creatures as we are.”
A quote that says all we’re attempting to say about Abraham in this series of messages. Let us learn all we an about Abraham and follow his example of faith and receive the same righteousness he received.
RESOURCES:
Survey results from https://www.marugroup.net/public-opinion-polls/us/americas-most-respected-occupations-2021, retrieved on 6 August 2024.
Charles H. Spurgeon quote from https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/abraham-a-pattern-to-believers/#flipbook/, retrieved on 30 August 2024.
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