13 For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been abolished; 15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no trespass.
16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all— 17 as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”—in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. 18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your seed be.” 19 And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to do. 22 Therefore it was also counted to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was counted to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those who believe upon Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification. Romans 4: 13-25 LSB
Romans 4: 13-25
V. 13 But through the righteousness of faith - The law of Moses had not entered the picture yet. This does not remove the law of sin and death, for Abraham, as a child of Adam and Eve, like all of us, was born into sin. The law comes to point out the trespass, like a mirror or a measuring stick, it reveals our actual state as sinners. The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace, which is unmerited favor, through faith, which is the gift we are given that enables us to receive that grace. It is what is born in regeneration, the ability to see that I am a sinner, that there is a cure to be found in the gracious gift of God, and to trust in a righteousness belonging to another, Who is Christ. I don't have nor can I produce this righteousness, but faith allows me to believe that Christ's righteousness, and His sinless death, have been applied to my account.
1For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good. 2God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God. 3All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.… Psalm 53: 1-3
Vs. 14-15 Faith has been made empty - Like we have been seeing, Abraham was before the law, he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. You see a beautiful picture of this when Abraham cuts the animal in half, leaving a path for two people to walk through in a blood covenant, but Abraham never walks through with God, instead, he falls to sleep and God walks between the halves. This is a unilateral covenant, in that God is the upholder. He requires a righteous sacrifice and then provides it, just like in the picture on Mt. Moriah where Abraham offers up his son, Isaac, but God stops this sacrifice and provides a ram. The law brings more knowledge of sin and therefore more accountability, but it is powerless to save. The covenant that saves us is that God promised His Son a people, God walked the blood covenant with His Son, Who became the sacrificial Lamb, the One without spot. If God had no moral law then there would be no trespass, but the law assures us, our consciences assure us, that we say, "right and wrong", assures us that there is a law. The law is beautiful in that it tells me what is offensive to God, and through His grace He brings me to hate what He hates and to follow His word.
…20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing. Galatians 2: 20-21
…2I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” 4So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.… Genesis 12: 2-4
V. 16 In order that it may be according to grace - There are no works involved here, even faith is a gift so it should not be confused with something that one musters up from themselves, especially since an unrighteous humanity could never muster up anything not tainted by sin. Grace is unmerited favor, and so was the promise to Abraham and his ability to believe.
…6This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life. 8This saying is trustworthy. And I want you to emphasize these things, so that those who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are excellent and profitable for the people.… Titus 3: 6-8
Vs. 17-19 Even God, Who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which did not exist - This shows you what salvation looks like. It shows you just what man contributes as well, death. "The wages of sin is death", and all have sinned so that's all they have to offer. It's incredible too, God changed his name from Abram, which means father of many, to Abraham, which means father of nations, and the guy hasn't been able to have a kid. God promises the seed through Sarah, Abraham's wife, and he has to be the laughing stock of the community at this point, so his wife comes up with a plan to help God out, to see if she is barren or Abraham is shooting blanks. She gives Abraham her maidservant Hagar, and they conceive a child together, but this isn't the way God promised. His wife isn't just barren, at the time she conceives Isaac she is ninety and past the time of her menstruation. God is bringing life from the dead womb of Sarah, just like He called Lazarus from the dead, and our salvation is no less magnificent than this.
…18And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!” 19But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.… Genesis 17: 18-20
…3Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.” 4And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life.… Ezekiel 37: 3-5
…24For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. 25I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.… Ezekiel 36: 24-26
…2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.” 3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”…
…5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’…
…8The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things?… John 3: 2-10
V. 20 Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief - He wasn't always bold and confident with the faith that God gave him, but it grew in time. When a man doesn't have a son it is hard to believe that you will be the father of nations. So many circumstances arise that show us our bankruptcy, but it is in the words of God that Abraham and we must come to trust, regardless of the circumstances. God is sovereign, and He Who created the world from nothing can see you through to the end.
Unbelief (570) (apistia from a = without + pistós = believing, faithful) (Click word study on apistia) means literally not believing = faithlessness, distrust, lack of belief. It describes an unwillingness to commit oneself to another or respond positively to the other’s words or actions. - PA
Abraham’s faith was not perfect, just as no believer’s faith is perfect. The first test he had to face was a famine in Canaan, and Abraham went to Egypt for help instead of to God. That disobedience put him in a compromising situation with the Pharaoh. He claimed that his beautiful wife was his sister, fearing that the Pharaoh might kill him in order to have her for himself. In so doing, Abraham dishonored the Lord and caused plagues to come upon the pharaoh’s family (Ge 12:10-17).Despite his spiritual imperfection, Abraham always came back to the Lord in faith, and the Lord honored that faith and continued to renew his promises to Abraham.
The Lord gave repeated assurances to Abraham, and Abraham responded in faith, which God “reckoned … to him as righteousness” (Ge 15:6). But again, when testing came, he relied on his own judgment rather than the Lord’s word. When Sarah was getting beyond normal childbearing age and remained barren, Abraham took her foolish advice and took matters into his own hands. He committed adultery with Hagar, Sarah’s maid, in the hope of having a male heir by her. But (as always happens with disobedience) his disobedient act backfired and again caused misery to the innocent (Ge 16:1-15). He also brought future misery to his own descendants, with whom the Arab descendants of Ishmael, the son by Hagar, would be in continuous conflict, as they are to this day.
Despite his spiritual imperfection, Abraham always came back to the Lord in faith, and the Lord honored that faith and continued to renew his promises to Abraham. God miraculously caused Sarah to bear a son in her old age, the son whom God had promised to give Abraham. And when the greatest test of all came, Abraham did not waver in his trust of the Lord. When God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, the only human means through which the promise could be fulfilled, Abraham responded with immediate obedience, and God responded by providing a substitute for Isaac (Ge 22:1-18 Heb 11:17-19). As is always the case with true belief, the Holy Spirit enlightened Abraham’s mind and heart to recognize the true and only God, and enabled him to respond in faith. Abraham saw the Promised Land and wandered through it as a nomad, but he never possessed it. Even his descendants did not possess the land until more than a half century after the promise of it was first given. Just as Abraham trusted God’s word to give him a land he had never seen, he trusted God’s power to raise Isaac from the dead, if necessary by a divine miracle he had never seen. - PA
V. 21 Being fully assured - A confidence not in his own ability or resolve, but in that God had spoken. God had proven Himself worthy not only to believe as a Being, but also that He could and would do all He said.
William Newell - What a blessed assurance of faith, resting wholly upon God's performance of what He had promised. How that puts us to shame! Since Abraham's day we have the written Word and Christ has come. Yet how often we doubt! (Romans 4) - PA
…2Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases. 4Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.… Psalm 115: 2-4
V. 22 Therefore it was counted to him as righteousness - He believed. God said things and Abraham believed them.
John MacArthur makes the point that "It is not that faith merits salvation but that faith accepts salvation from God’s gracious hand. Through that acceptance comes the righteousness that only God can impart. (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press) -PA
Logizomai was a secular bookkeeping term which meant to make an entry in the account book or to put to one's account. It carried the economic and legal meaning of crediting something to another’s account. It means to calculate or reckon, as when figuring an entry in a ledger. The purpose of the entry is to make a permanent record that can be consulted whenever needed. It means that when you deposit $1000, the bank credits your account with $1000. Therefore when you write a check for $500, you don't worry about it because you are reckoning on the fact that money is actually in your account. The infinitely priceless treasure of Christ's perfect righteousness was credited to Abraham's spiritual bank account. - PA
Vs. 23-25 As those who believe upon Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead - What a marvelous rendering of the gospel. God said that life would come from death, and Abraham doubted at first, like Nicodemus, "how can these things be?" God stoked that faith in Abraham to the point where He could tell him, "no, not your way, Abraham, but Mine," and it is the same for us today, not by our works, but Christ's, we believe in Him.
5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14: 5-7
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