Week 4 - Romans 4 & 5

This week we pick up in Romans chapters 4 and 5. It is a lot to cover, so let's get started.

Chapter 4:

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Romans 4:1-3

When I read this verse, and maybe you too, it brings to mind a passage in James.  Take a look at James 2:20-23:

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”— and he was called a friend of God. 

If we don't remember context, history, and to interpret Scripture with Scripture, then we can be left feeling like our Bible is contradicting itself. Paul says Abraham was justified by faith, and James says Abraham was justified by works... What gives?

Let's examine some of the language used by James. That word "fulfilled" in verse 23 tells us a lot if we can understand it in the original language. This is the greek word "plee-rah-oh", which means "make come true, bring about... bring to completion... accomplish, finish, make fully known."

What we see then, is that Abraham's faith was fulfilled, or made fully known, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar (if you aren't familiar with this story it can be found in Genesis 22). Since Abraham believed God, it was counted to him as righteousness. Also, since Abraham believed God, he acted on that faith. As James says, "faith apart from works is useless."

Matthew Henry says of this passage in James:

There is not only to be an assent in faith, but consent, not only an assent to the truth of the word, but a consent to take Christ… True believing is not an act of the understanding, but a work of the whole heart.

The point James is making is that the purpose of faith is a transformation of the heart, not just an understanding of the truth that God exists and an understanding of the gospel. Even the demons believe that much, and they shudder (James 2:19). Matthew Henry says that even our "faith", a belief without repentance, will incite horror just as the belief that the demons hold incites horror. You see, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. What makes him different than the demons? Abraham had a heart transformation.

Returning to Romans, how does Paul address this issue? Paul points out in verses 9-16 that Abraham was counted as righteous before he was circumcised (before circumcision was even instituted). Even before being marked as one of God's chosen people through circumcision, Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith in God. Circumcision can, in many ways, be functionally equated to baptism. Both mark the believer as one of God's children, and both were/ are performed on babies and adults. Both were considered a seal of righteousness (Romans 4:11).

The purpose of Abraham being counted as righteous before circumcision and before his act of obedience with his son Isaac was to make him the father many nations, "the father of all who believe" (Romans 4:11). The promise to Abraham was not to make him the father of the Israelite nation. It was to make him the father of many nations. I think we often hear that and think of the twelve tribes of Israel. Those twelve tribes were still one nation. Abraham was made right before God by faith before receiving the seal of righteousness, before the Mosaic law, and before his obedience, so that he could be the father of all who believe and are justified by faith. Regardless of whether or not they are of Israeli or Jewish descent. God promised Abraham many nations. This is what makes the gospel work. This is why we are called to make disciples of all nations.

What we see then, is that Paul and James are 100% in agreement. This is why nearsightedness can ruin the study of the Bible. When reading the Bible we have to remember to not just read it, but study it. Otherwise we are left with two parts of the Bible contradicting each other and we can't really trust any of it anymore.

Now that we understand that, there is one other verse we should look at before we move on. Romans 4:15:

For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 

We just spent all this time talking about how the gospel is all about saving all people, under the Jewish law or not, and now Paul tells us that there is no sin for people who aren't under the law? Why do they even need a savior? If they have no sin to be saved from, then why does it matter that they could be saved by faith? The answer is in Romans 2:14:

For when the gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 

Romans 1:18-20 says that since God can be known through the world He created, those who suppress the truth are without excuse. Paul says that if there is no law there is no sin, but really, everyone has law. That is why Paul says in Romans 3:23-25 that:

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Chapter 5:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5) 

Believe it or not, this is actually a very joyful part of the Bible. All that talk of suffering doesn't sound joyful, with the exception of Paul saying that we rejoice in our sufferings, which gets confusing because he follows that statement by saying that our suffering ultimately produces hope. This needs to be dissected...

The word translated as "produces" is a greek word (katergazomai) that means to make complete, or to work fully. This is not the same as "plee-rah-oh" that we looked at earlier, but it is a synonym. What this means is that suffering completes our endurance, or works it out to its fullest extent. More than that, the endurance Paul is talking about is not a dreary or dreadful endurance like what we experience while we wait for 5:00 to roll around so we can leave work. The word Paul uses (high-pah-mah-nee) is a cheerful or hopeful endurance.

This cheerful disposition in the midst of suffering brings our character to completion. The word for "character" is an interesting one. It is "dah-ki-mee" which means tried and tested as true through experiment or experience. It comes from the word "dah-ki-moss" which was often used of currency to prove its worth. I don't think this was an accident on Paul's part - he was a word artist. This means that our suffering and cheerful endurance is the test which proves we can be trusted as a valuable member of God’s family. That isn't to say that if we aren't happy all the time we aren't valuable to God. What it does mean is that through faith we have obtained access to a grace which protects us and enables us to be cheerful in the midst of suffering, and that is what makes us valuable. Grace forms value in us because we can stand in the face of suffering and be cheerful.

What is it that we are cheerful about though? Joy and cheer needs to have some root in something or else it is feigned. Remember that character brings to completion our hope (Romans 5:4). The word for hope here is "elpis" which means to anticipate with pleasure. It is a confident and joyful expectation of eternal salvation. This is what we are cheerful about.

Before we close (I know this is long, hang in there), there is one more verse I'd like to look at. That is Romans 5:5:

and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

What does it mean that God's love has been "poured into our hearts"? That is the question I asked myself as I was studying this week. So I looked at the greek word for "pour". It is "ekcheoh" which means to lavishly pour out, almost irresponsibly so. If someone were to pour out love on themselves it would be the greediest of greedy. But that is how God pours His love on us. We've heard what God "showers us with love". That's a nice thought, and isn't necessarily wrong. It sounds comforting and gentle. What Paul is describing here is not a showering of love like a gentle rain, it is more of the idea that God "hurricanes us with love". His love blows in, wipes everything away that was there before, like Bolivar in hurricane Ike. He invades intensely and there is no doubt that He was there. He takes our old self, all the guilt, pain, pride, and strongholds we have built for ourselves and destroys it, wipes it clean. What is left is a blank slate that God takes and makes His own. Unlike a hurricane, God's love is relentless. It never ends. Everytime we pick up our old habits He knocks them down again as if it were never there. That is the intensity of God's love for us. That He would give His only son, Jesus, to make a wretch His treasure.