Romans 4:9-25

Abraham:  Father of All Who Believe

Throughout the book of Romans, Paul has been explaining how the gift of God's righteousness is now available to all who believe.  Anyone can now be saved.  Salvation is no longer limited to the very few of one nation who place themselves under Moses.

Now "apart from the law" God has provided a way of salvation so that all men and women may be rescued through the work of Jesus Christ. 

You can be forgiven of all your sins and receive the gift of the righteousness that God requires of you to be saved.

But how?  How do we gain this gift that God offers us?

In order to answer the question, Paul wisely goes all the way back to the beginning of the Old Testament, long before the Law of Moses was added, to show us how Abraham received this gift from God through faith alone.

While the Jews believe that Abraham was the preeminent example of righteousness by works so that he had something to boast about before God, Paul presents Abraham as the premier example of someone who receives the gift of salvation by simply believing God's promise.  Therefore, Abraham has nothing to boast about before God.  He is the preeminent example of how we must completely rest in the work that God accomplishes for us.

It is here that Paul makes an important point based upon Abraham's faith:  If salvation is through the works of Moses, then how could the Gentiles, who do not have the law, have any hope of being saved?

God has accomplished a glorious rescue mission by removing the obstacle that stood in the way of the Gentiles receiving salvation and thereby opening the door of salvation to the Gentiles also.  This is where we pick up in Paul's argument in our passage this morning. 

After quoting Ps. 32, Paul now returns to Gen. 15 in v. 9 to add another significant point:  Abraham received the gift of God's righteousness BEFORE he was circumcised.  Why is this important to Paul's argument?

In Ps. 32, David spoke of the incredible blessing of full forgiveness of our sins.  The question that naturally arises within the context of Paul's letter is whether or not that blessing is open to all or is it limited only to those who come under the law. 

Gen. 15 says that at the moment Abraham believed God, he was credited with God's righteousness.  But when was it credited to his life?  When Abraham was circumcised or when he was still uncircumcised?

There is no doubt about it.  Abraham was credited as righteous while he was uncircumcised (v. 10).  Abraham was a Gentile when he received the free gift of righteousness.  At the moment Abraham believed in Gen. 15, he was reckoned by God as righteous long before he was circumcised in Gen. 17.

Therefore, Abraham is the father of "all" who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised (v. 11-12).  In fact, it is not even necessary to be a Jew to be a true member of God's family.  Faith alone, apart from any works, is sufficient to be received into all the blessings promised to Abraham.

Abraham is our father both of the faith and of faith.

So then, what was the significance of Abraham's circumcision?  In v. 11 Paul says it was a sign and seal of the righteousness that already belonged to Abraham while he was uncircumcised and received through faith alone.  Circumcision points to and confirms a certain reality that is already true of Abraham, true by faith alone.  Circumcision had nothing to do with Abraham being righteous before God.  He was already declared righteous before he received the sign and seal.  His circumcision added nothing at all to Abraham's condition.

In that way, Abraham is the true spiritual father of all who believe and are united to Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles (vv. 11-12).  The inheritance promised to Abraham now belongs to all who believe.  And it is through faith and not by being circumcised that makes one become a true heir of Abraham.  The Gentiles now, like Abraham, have their faith credited to them for righteousness.

In vv. 9-12 Paul spoke specifically of circumcision as being removed out of the way in order for the Gentiles to be saved.  But now in vv. 13-16, Paul further clears the way by saying that the whole law of Moses has been equally removed so that no obstacle may stand in the way of the Gentiles being saved. 

Under Moses, the righteousness needed to receive the promise made to Abraham was through the works of the law.  That is what the law demands.  The Jews believed that Abraham secured his righteousness through his obedience to what God commanded and therefore that someone could be Abraham's child only by taking upon themselves the yoke of the law of Moses. 

But Paul makes it clear that it was not through the law but through faith alone that the promise was received by Abraham and his seed, that they should be the heirs of the world (v. 13). 

In Gal. 3:15-17, Paul makes this even clearer when he points out that Abraham had received the righteousness of God through faith long before the law was added 430 years after the promise was given. 

But the present day Jews believed that the promise to Abraham was obtained by their doing the law and they remained in that right status with God through their obedience to the law.

Further, in v. 13 Paul says that the true descendents of Abraham would be the "heirs of the world," but God only promised Abraham the land of Canaan.  What does Paul mean by this?  The prophets looked forward to a day when the promise of the land would eventually embrace the entire world through the blessing being given to all nations (cf. Isa. 55:3-5).  God promised Abraham a "land" and that through him all the nations, all peoples would be blessed.  The fullness of the promise would eventually encompass all nations, men and women from every tribe, tongue, and nation.  Paul sees that future day as having arrived through the coming of Jesus Christ as His eternal kingdom extends over every nation so that he is giving the whole world as an inheritance to his people.  Jesus said, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5).

In v. 14, Paul now explains why the promise cannot be attained "through the law."  If those who are of the law -- who are basing their hope upon the law -- are the true heirs then faith would be emptied of its meaning and the promise would essentially be nullified.  Why is that?

Because faith cannot both look outside to the sufficiency of Christ's work and at the same time look inward to our own abilities to keep the law and still remain "faith."  You cannot have both.  Paul makes this radical contrast between the law and faith in Gal. 3:

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.”  11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”  12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM” (Gal. 3:10-12).

We can only be righteous before God by faith alone.  The law is not of faith.  The law must be practiced in order to be right before God.  These two are diametrically opposed to one another.  Faith is no longer faith if it has to embrace the promise through the law.

Why?  Because if the inheritance is by the law then their will be no heirs.  No man or woman can obey the law (v. 14). 

But not only can the law not secure the inheritance, further, Paul says, it can only produce God's wrath (v. 15).  Why?  Because God gave the law of Moses to be obeyed perfectly by the Jews.  The law set limits/perimeters upon the lives of the Jews.  When they broke out of those limits, they transgressed the law of God and were therefore under the wrath of God. 

But where there are no limits or boundaries placed upon man through the law, then there can no longer be a transgression. 

Paul is not saying that there is no sin or wrath of God outside the law.  As we saw in chap. 1, that the Gentiles, who do not have the written law of God, are equally sinners and are under the wrath of God.  What Paul is saying is that when the law of Moses was added in Israel's history that rather than producing the promise made to Abraham it only produced more wrath.  The law didn't alleviate the problem but only made it worse.  Rather than rescuing the people from their sentence of condemnation, it only intensified it.  Rather than being a distinct advantage not received by the Gentiles, the law of Moses only made the Jews more accountable to God.

So why has God chosen to bring salvation this way?  Why has God now revealed his righteousness "apart from the law"?

Notice that God could have done all of this another way.  Rather than removing the obstacle of the law out of the way so that the Gentiles could be saved, God could have simply now included the Gentiles under the law of Moses.  So why did God not do it that way?

Because if the life of the Jews under the law teach us anything it is that the law cannot make us right before God.  And why would God then place the Gentiles under the law which could not grant life to the Jews?  Isn't this exactly what Peter asks at the Jerusalem council:

“Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are" (Acts 15:10-11).

Therefore, God had to remove the obstacle of the law to make faith alone as the sole means by which the promise may be attained.

Paul gives us two reasons why this is necessary in v. 16.  First, the promise can only be ours through faith alone so that your salvation would be entirely by grace alone.  As we said before, faith alone is necessary because it alone maintains grace alone.

So that God alone would receive all of the glory for your salvation the promise can be yours only by trusting in the work of Christ alone.  Any other way of salvation would forever destroy the sole sufficiency of Christ's work on your behalf.

But further, Paul adds that it must be by faith alone and not through the law so that all of Abraham's true heirs might receive the promise (v. 16).  If the promise was by the law not only would the promise not be by God's grace, but how could the Gentiles, who do not have the law of Moses, be saved?

If the promise was by the law, then neither grace nor the inclusion of the Gentiles would be possible.  But because faith rests solely in the absolutely sure promise of God then we can be sure that both blessings are now ours and can be anyone's who believes.  It is because the gift is "apart from the law" that the Gentiles now have the same opportunity to respond to the gospel, as do the Jews, and become full members of the people of God and the true heirs of Abraham.

V. 17 serves as a transitional sentence in Paul's argument where he now applies his main thesis to how God makes this a reality in our lives (cf. vv. 23-24a).  How is it that God is able to bring life to dead men?  How is God able to bring life out of death?

In v. 17, Paul begins by quoting Gen. 17 where God says to Abraham, "I have made you a father of many nations" (cf. Gen. 17:5).  But if we remember Abraham's history, God made this declaration, "I have made you," long before Abraham even tasted its fulfillment through the miraculous birth of Isaac. 

Paul's point is that God can promise Abraham, and Abraham can believe with assurance, that certain things that don't yet exist will exist because God is the sovereign God who gives life to the dead and call those things "that are not as though they were."

In the same way, God can declare that sinners are righteous before Him even while we are yet sinners, he can give us life even while we are dead, because of the perfect, completed work of Jesus Christ.

Paul gives two incredible displays of God's sovereignty in bringing life out of death.  First, in vv. 18-22 he shows how God brought life out of the dead bodies of Abraham and Sarah and second in vv. 23-25, he shows how God gloriously brought Jesus to life from the dead.

In v. 18, Paul says that Abraham believed God "in hope against hope" and through that faith he secured the righteousness of God and received the promise.  What does Paul mean when he says that Abraham "believed in hope against hope"?

The promise was against the hope in man's abilities, but entirely assured in the hope in God.  Abraham had every reason, from a human point of view, to give up any attempt to produce a child through Sarah.  Abraham was about a hundred years old when the promise was given and Sarah was far past the childbearing age.  Abraham's faith flew in the face of any hope based upon reason and common sense if the hope was based upon his and Sarah's abilities.  But Abraham's faith was not based upon himself and Sarah but firmly grounded in the hope that issues from the promise of God.

This was not a "leap of faith" into darkness as if Abraham's faith was irrational or baseless.  It was a "leap" but from the reliability of man into the security of God's absolute and certain word. 

Abraham believe against hope in man on the basis of hope in God.  Abraham's faith had to be in the God who gives life to the dead (cf. 17b). 

In vv. 19-20 Paul says that Abraham did not weaken in faith when he looked at his and Sarah's bodies but he grew strong in faith, giving all glory to God.  This is how we glorify God, by believing His promises.  The way we seek to glorify God and enjoy Him forever is by believing that the glorious promises of the gospel in Jesus Christ are Yes and Amen!

This was the faith that Abraham lived out of in absolute assurance of God's promises.  It was this faith that God credited to him as righteousness (vv. 21-23).

Finally, what God did in Abraham and Sarah's dead bodies, God has ultimately don in raising Jesus from the dead.

Not only did God bless Abraham's faith with new life, but God has also worked through that same faith to bring us life in Jesus Christ.  We share the same basis for our justification with father Abraham -- through faith alone.

Notice that Paul's point is that it is the same God who promised Abraham life out of death that has ultimately fulfilled that promise through Jesus Christ.  Our faith is in the same God who made the promise to Abraham.  Therefore we are joined with Abraham in faith. 

God has taken the sovereign initiative to give us salvation by giving up His only Son to and for sinful people.  God handed over His Son to be crucified for our sins:

We have been justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith (3:25).

But three days latter God vindicated Christ, freeing him forever from the dominion of sin and death, by raising Him from the dead.  In God's vindication of Christ's work in the resurrection from the dead, you have been forever justified.

The same faith that was born by God in the heart of Abraham that brought life out of his and Sarah's dead bodies, has now brought you eternal life through the ultimate giving of life from the dead.  This is what Paul joyously celebrates in the next chapter when he writes:

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (Rom. 5:8-11).

Amen!  -SDG-