Charles Blondin was considered the greatest tight rope walker in his day. In 1958 he saw Niagara Falls for the first time and became obsessed with crossing the falls on a tight rope. Although many were opposed to him doing it, in 1959 he received permission to stretch his rope from the American side to the Canadian side. The rope was 160 feet above the falls in one place. He crossed many times and performed all kinds of stunts on the rope, including cooking an omelet on a portable stove. On August 17, 1859 he increased the risk by carrying his manager, Harry Colcord, across on his back. When the Prince of Wales visited in September, 1860, Blondin carried his assistant, Romain Mouton, across and performed antics on the way. The prince, like other spectators, was left breathless and asked Blondin never to do it again. Imagine the Prince's reaction when Blondin offered to carry him across on his back or in a wheelbarrow!
Although the prince saw Blondin do it, he was still doubtful about his ability. He demonstrated his doubt and fear with his warning not to do it again. On the other hand, Blondin’s manager did actually believe that he could do it and demonstrated that belief by allowing Blondin to carry him across on his back.
Last week we talked about how God is making things right because of the faithfulness of Jesus and that people can participate in this by believing. The question I would like to follow up on this week is, “What does it mean to believe?”
I have heard, or been a part of a number of conversations which revolve around this question.
Some of these conversations involve people who are part of a church that believes it is the only right church and that you cannot really be considered a Christian if you are not part of their church. Some conversations have had to do with people who believe that being a Christian has to do with observance of certain rules – rules which may have to do with clothing or head covering or facial hair or the vehicle you drive or many other things. Sometimes I have sensed that people think that if a person confesses that he or she believes in Jesus that he or she is safe and that is all that really matters. They seem to look at being a Christian as merely some kind of a spiritual fire insurance.
What does it mean to believe? Paul follows up his statement in Romans 3:21-26 that God is making things right through the faithfulness of Jesus and we participate in that by believing by explaining a little more about what it means to believe. This argument goes from Romans 3:27-4:25, which is our text for today. The context does not directly answer the questions we would ask, but these issues are discussed and our questions are answered. Before we look at issues that would be relevant to us, let us take time to examine the flow of the argument and the context as it appears in the text.
The Proof Of Being Made Right By Believing
This section is written by Paul to demonstrate that it is indeed by believing that any person can be a part of God making things right.
He begins his argument in 3:27-4:2 by using a question/answer format of writing. The writer asks a question and then answers it and then raises a further question.
The first question is, “Where then is boasting?” The answer, “there is nothing we can boast of.” This question and answer serves to make one point. In verse 28 he explains that point – “a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Of course this was an issue between the Jews and the Gentiles. Jews maintained, quite sincerely, that God had given them the law, including the law of circumcision and the ceremonial law, in order that those who keep this law would be made right with God. Paul counters that understanding by demonstrating that that never was the intention of the law and that the law is unable to make a person right with God. If a person has been made right with God by keeping the law, then they are able to boast about something because they have indeed accomplished something. But if God is making things right through the faithfulness of Jesus and we just have to accept that by belief, then we have nothing to boast about because we have accomplished nothing.
The other thing that this accomplishes, as Paul points out in 3:29, 30 is that every person on earth then has the same access to God. Jews do not have an advantage over Gentiles in being made right. For this point we should be particularly thankful. We are Gentiles and if we can participate in God making things right by faith, the same as the Jews, that means that we can now be included in the people of God. The fact that we are here this morning is a celebration of this verse and we should be very thankful for it. We often don’t think in these terms because we have for so long assumed we are accepted and that is great, but in historical terms, this is a blessing and a privilege and we should be thankful for it.
As Jewish readers would have been listening to this, they would have had some serious questions. From young on they would have been told the stories of their ancestor Abraham. They would have been told that Abraham was chosen by God because he was a righteous man and they were the descendants of Abraham and were privileged to be God’s people because of that connection.
Paul continues with the question and answer format into Romans 4 and asks them to reconsider the case of Abraham. In Romans 4:2 he invites them to consider that if Abraham was made right with God by something he did, then he would have something to boast about. However, the implied question is, “was he made right with God in this way?”
In Romans 4:3, a new section of argument begins, which goes from 4:3 to 4:22. We know this is a text section because it is bracketed by the same verse from Scripture which is Genesis 15:6. So this section is an exposition of Genesis 15:6 to demonstrate that it was by believing that Abraham participated in God’s purpose for his life.
The new argument begins in 4:4,5 with a philosophical argument. If I work for you for 5 hours and you pay me 5 dollars an hour, when you give me $25, it is not a gift, it is an obligation. I have worked for you and you owe me the money. Paul says, “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.” If we are made right with God because we have kept certain laws and observed certain conditions, then when God accepts us, it is not a gift, but rather an obligation. Paul points out that God does not accept us because He is obligated to do so. He accepts us because He gives us a gift and by believing we receive the gift.
Of course such a radical thought must be supported by Scripture and before looking at Abraham, Paul points to another example of Scripture which demonstrates forgiveness as a gift, rather than a wage. In Psalm 32, David says that God forgives sins and covers transgressions as an act of grace, not as an obligation. The point is that, already in the Old Testament, the Jews understood that forgiveness of sins was a gift. John E. Toews says, “God grants salvation to those who have no claim on God.”
In Romans 4:9, Paul returns to the example of Abraham. If he can show that Abraham was forgiven and accepted by God as a gift rather than by an obligation, then he has proven that being made right by God is by faith and not by observing the law.
The proof is very simple and clear. Abraham was a pagan man who lived in a pagan land. When God called Abraham, he believed what God said and because of that belief, Abraham was accepted by God. Paul continues to argue that it was after he had been accepted by God, because of his faith in God, that God gave him the sign of circumcision. For Jews and Gentiles who were arguing about the right way to come to God, this was a powerful proof.
What is also interesting is that Abraham was accepted by God through faith, before he was a “Jew.” In fact, he was a Gentile at that time. This means that since Abraham was accepted by faith as a Gentile, the same thing continues to be true for those who are in Rome. God accepts those who come to him by faith. In 4:20 it tells us that Abraham “gave glory to God.” This connects the concept to Romans 1:21 where Gentiles failed to give glory to God. As a Gentile, Abraham did give glory to God, by faith, and therefore became a part of God’s plan in making things right.
The conclusion that Paul draws in Romans 4:11,12, therefore, is that Abraham is the father of those who are uncircumcised and who believe, and that he is also the father of those who are circumcised and continue to walk in the faith. In 4:14-16, Paul twice reiterates that “the promise…comes by faith.”
As he concludes the argument in Romans 4:16-22, he describes the faith of Abraham who continued to trust in God as the one “who gives life to the dead.” He shows that faith is a trust in the God who raises the dead. Here he points, once again to Abraham’s experience. Abraham followed God out of the pagan land in order to go to the promised land. Abraham continued to walk in faith when he believed that God would keep the promise to give him an offspring, even when his body was nearly dead and Sarah’s womb was dead. As 4:21 says, “he was fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” The section concludes with the quote from Genesis 15:6 once again that Abraham was made right because he believed God. Thus Paul has demonstrated from the life of the hero of all the Jews that his thesis is correct and rooted in the Word of God. God is making this right through the faithfulness of Jesus and we participate in that if we believe.
John E. Toews writes, “The text argues that making righteous on the basis of faith, Christ’s and the believer’s, completes the purpose of God in the election of and the promise to Abraham. Thus, it establishes the law (3:31), and makes both Jews and Gentiles heirs of promise.”
The conclusion of this section, found in 4:23-25, connects the story to our story. Although the argument was written to deal with a particular problem between Jews and Gentiles in the church in Rome, Paul extends the application beyond that situation to the current church. He says that the story of Abraham is not only intended to speak about Abraham or Jews, but is a lesson for anyone who believes the same thing that Abraham believed and that is that God raises the dead. Abraham believed that God could raise his dead body to give him a son. We believe that Jesus died for our sins and God raised Him to life in order to make us right with God.
There are two lessons in this section which touch our lives and answer the kind of questions that we ask.
Being Made Right Through Faith
The first lesson is that we become part of God’s right making because God gives us a gift of His grace when we believe in Him. We are not made right by keeping law, by observing the obligations of legalism.
Notice how many times this point is made in this section.
3:28 – “a man is made right by faith apart from observing the law.”
3:30 – God will “make right the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.”
4:4 – “when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.”
4:5 – “to the man who does not work, but trusts God who makes right the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”
4:13 – “it is not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise.”
4:15 – “law brings wrath.”
4:16 – “The promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace.”
The implications of this raise some very relevant questions for us today.
If we are received by grace through faith why are we sometimes proud that we are Christians? We have received a gift and there is no merit in us that makes God give us the gift. Paul says very clearly that boasting is eliminated. God is making things right and we receive God’s gift as we trust Him. The arrogance which we sometimes have when we think that we have arrived because we are Christians is entirely out of place. If we are received by grace through faith, why do we sometimes look down at people who haven’t received the gift and who perhaps don’t have it all together, as we think we do? We have nothing to be proud of because all that we are, all that we have we have received as a gift from God. Why would we put ourselves above others?
If, as Romans 4:15 says, “law brings wrath” why do we continue in bondage to laws and rules which have nothing to do with faith in God? Even in the Old Testament ( Psalm 32/Romans 4:7,8) the Jews knew that forgiveness was a gift of God’s grace. Yet somehow the Pharisees added rule upon rule so that Jesus condemns them for missing the point and adding burdens to people’s lives which no one can carry. Churches have done the same thing. We do the same thing ourselves. If we participate in God’s right making by faith, why such heavy burdens?
If we are received by trusting God, why are we often so quick to judge others who do not measure up to the standards we have set which we consider part of being accepted by God. God is making right through the faithfulness of Jesus and we participate in that when we believe in God. We are all in the same sinking boat apart from the grace of God and we have no right to judge another person – whether they are believers or not or whether they measure up to God’s standard or not. When we are received as a gift of God’s grace through believing, there is no place for judgment, rather, what is required is a gracious humility which must characterize our relationship with ourselves and with others.
God is making things right and is doing so through the faithfulness of Jesus. We receive God’s gracious gift by faith and that is a powerful thing. Let us humbly rejoice in the gift and be gracious to all.
However, as we talk about believing, we need to understand what that means.
Several times in my life I have had the opportunity to participate in rappelling. This is a sport in which you step off the edge of a cliff and trust the ropes which are holding you to keep you from falling to earth too rapidly. It is a scary thing to let go of the earth and completely trust the rope. I have always thought it was a great illustration of what faith really means. It means that we let go of confidence in what we can see and put our whole weight, our entire confidence on God. As we read about Abraham’s faith, we see very quickly that this is what Paul is talking about.
Please take note of the text.
4:17 – “in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”
4:18 – “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…”
4:19 – “without weakening in his faith…”
4:20 – “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.”
4:21 – “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
4:24 – “for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
John E. Toews says, “Faith in God is a struggle – nothing is harder in life than to trust God above the reality of circumstances.” Yet this is exactly what Abraham did.
How does such faith work? What is included in it?
Such a faith includes hope. This is what happened in the life of Abraham. We read in 4:18 that “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…” When God called Abraham, he did not have proof and he had not ever been to the promised land. All he knew was God and that was enough. Because he believed that God was creator and had all power, he had hope for all the promises and all the future into which God would lead him. So when he was asked by God to leave the land of his home, he let go and hung on to God and trusted that God would not lead him down the wrong path, but down the path to life and fulfillment of His promises.
Such faith includes obedience. In the case of Abraham, we read in 4:20 that “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” When asked to sacrifice Isaac, he was willing to do it because he trusted God. He acted on the words of God and did what God asked him to do because he trusted that God’s way was best and would always lead down the best path. It may seem somewhat confusing to say that we are accepted by God apart from obedience to the law and that we need to avoid legalism and at the same time to say that the faith which makes us acceptable to God is a faith that acts in obedience. What is the difference between this kind of obedience and “the law” which does not bring right making? There is a very significant difference between these two. The motivation between the two is different. In legalism, the motivation is fear instead of confidence that God’s ways are best. In legalism the power to accomplish what is obligated comes from discipline. When we trust God, we obey because we love Him. If we walk according to the law, we do things out of a sense of duty instead of the joy which understands that God leads us to life. If we walk by law, we are focused on performance, but if we walk in trust, we are focused on a relationship with God.
The kind of faith which we are talking about here also includes faithfulness. Several times I have already suggested that in Greek there is only one word for faith and faithfulness. Trusting means continuing to trust, being faithful. Our text says in 4:20 that Abraham “did not waver through unbelief.” Trusting God means that we continue to live in the confidence that God is doing things right. Sure there are times when we question and struggle, but when we come through the struggle, the kind of faith which allows us to live in a relationship with God is the kind that always comes back to God and knows that He is the faithful one.
Living by this kind of faith also includes the assurance of vindication. In the case of Abraham, we read in 4:18 that he became “the father of many nations.” This was a vindication, a demonstration that the promises of God are trustworthy. God will accomplish what he sets out to do and we can put our confidence in Him.
We all wrestle with these things. We wrestle with arrogance, being judgmental, carrying burdens of legalism God doesn’t mean for us to carry and we wrestle with cultural Christianity and carelessness about our life of faith.
God is making things right through the faithfulness of Jesus and we become a part of that through faith. May we walk in a trusting relationship with Jesus in which we enjoy freedom, peace, joy, love and hope because our confidence is fully on God.
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