The Father of Faith

 Last Sunday, we saw a shift in Paul’s teaching in the book of Romans. After establishing, in the first two chapters, that all are sinful, he then opened the door to a ray of hope by saying that there is another way of righteousness that is apart from the law. Now, Paul wants to give two Old Testament examples of men who were justified before God, not based on the works that they had done, but on the righteousness that comes through faith. To see that, let’s read Rom. 4:1-12 together. From this passage I want you to see two points: The Father of Faith and The Footsteps of Faith.

First, let’s consider the Father of Faith from verses 1-8. Paul knows that the well-studied Jew will object to his suggestion that someone can be justified before God apart from obedience to the Law. So, he turns to the example of two Old Testament heroes to prove it. He starts by asking, “What are we going to do about Abraham?” For the Jew, there was no greater example of a righteous man than that of Abraham. In Paul’s day, the Jews had come to believe that the whole reason that God chose to make Abraham into a great nation was because of some unseen righteousness in Abraham that the Old Testament never reports. But, Abraham is the perfect example of the point that Paul wants to make. Remember his life story. First of all, Abraham had nothing to offer God in the way of fulfilling God’s purposes. Abraham was around 75 years old when God first called him out of the land of Ur, and his wife, Sarah, was barren. Second, Abraham proved time and again to be a cowardly, faithless man. Two different times he tried to give his wife away to a king to save his own neck. He listened to the advice of his wife and slept with a slave girl to fulfill God’s promises by sinful means. If we were to judge Abraham’s life by the rule of the Law, we would have to say that he is unrighteous.

 Yet, Paul points out that God called him righteous for one peculiar reason. In Genesis 15, God appears to Abraham and reminds him of his promise. But, Abraham asks, “how will these things be since I remain childless.” God calls Abraham to look at the sky and try to number the stars. He promises that his descendants will be as numerous as those stars. Then, in Genesis 15:6, it says, “he believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Paul latches on to that statement to show that Abraham was considered righteous through faith. The word “counted” here is an accounting term that means to number or to reckon. As an analogy, consider the process of becoming a US citizen. When a person from a foreign country seeks citizenship here, they have to take a course in civics, and then they stand in front of a federal official, raise their right hand, and make a pledge to the United States of America. When they do that, all of the rights and privileges of being an American citizen are reckoned to them. Have they done anything at that point to earn it? Most likely not. Have they proven themselves to be faithful to their pledge? No. Yet in that moment, because of their stated allegiance, they receive citizenship. In a similar way, when Abraham believed in God’s promises, it was reckoned as righteousness.

In verse 4, Paul contrasts this imputed righteousness with works righteousness through an analogy. When someone works as a day laborer, at the end of the day, when they are paid, the money they receive is not a gift – it is what they are owed. As an employer, I can say that this is a hard concept for some employees to understand. But, if you consistently come in 30 minutes late to work, guess what any reasonable employer would do? He would dock your pay. To pay an employee for 30 minutes in which he did not work would not be that employee’s just due. It would be a gift. By comparison, if you think that you are going to set out to work for your salvation, you better obey every dot and tiddle of the law. To fail in one aspect, even in the smallest of commands, and then expect to be considered righteousness by God is to expect a gift, not your just payment. But, on the other hand, to recognize that you cannot be good enough for God, and to instead trust in the good grace of God to forgive you and save you is to receive God’s righteousness as a gift.

Then, in verse 6, Paul turns to another OT hero: king David. Again, remember that David was not the perfect example of righteousness. At his worst, he took another man’s wife and then had the man killed to cover it up. Yet, Paul uses David’s Psalm 32 as an example of this righteousness that is received through faith. In Psalm 32, David rejoices in the forgiveness of God and the fact that God does not count the sins of the one who trusts in him.

Next, let’s consider the Footsteps of Faith from verses 9-12. The good news that Paul is announcing here is the fact that this righteousness that is received through faith isn’t just something that Abraham and David benefited from. It’s not even something that is exclusive to the Israelites. No, the good news is that everyone who trusts in the promises of God receives righteousness through faith. Paul points out, in verses 9-11, that the events of Genesis 15, in which Abraham believed God and received righteousness, occurred before he received the sign of circumcision. Now, to us, that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but to the Jew, it was. The Jews prided themselves on their circumcision, assuming that they were better than the other nations because they had this sign from God. They also assumed that one of the reasons Abraham was considered righteous was because he instituted circumcision. But Paul points out that God counted Abraham as righteous before he received the sign of circumcision. In fact, it would be around 15 years after the events of Genesis 15 that God would command Abraham to carry out the sign of circumcision.

So, in verse 12, Paul says that Abraham is not only the father of the nation of Israel. He is the father of everyone who trusts in the promises of God. You see, in Genesis 12, when God called Abraham to leave his father and mother and go westward to a land that he would give him, God was beginning something new. From the fall of Adam in Genesis 3, right up to the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, humanity proved that there was no hope for salvation apart from God’s intervention. The first son of Adam and Eve – Cain – was invested with such hope. Eve proclaimed, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” There was hope for the next generation, and maybe even hope that Cain would be the one who would crush the curse of sin. Yet, Cain proved that sin ruled by crushing his brother. After God’s judgment in the flood, there was great hope that Noah would be the one righteous man that would bring forth a righteous humanity. But those hopes were dashed when Noah is found naked and drunk by his son, Ham, and Ham mocks his father and receives a curse. There might have been hope for humanity when the great city of Babel was being built. After all, just imagine what humanity could do with all of that brainpower. Yet, what they chose to do with their unity was to build a tower to heaven so that they might set themselves over God.

Time and again, humanity has proven that we cannot escape the curse of sin through our good works. If we are going to be saved, God must do it. So, in Genesis 12, immediately following the story of the tower of Babel, God stoops down and calls Abraham. He doesn’t call him because he is great (he doesn’t even have a son). He doesn’t call him because he is good. He calls him because God is going to do something new through him. Through Abraham, he is going to teach people to trust in the Lord. Through Abraham, he is going to make a nation that will be totally dependent on the Lord for their success. Through this nation, he is going to show the world that a sacrifice is required for the forgiveness of sins. And, through one of Abraham’s descendants, Jesus of Nazareth, he is going to provide that sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. So, Paul says in Gal. 3:13-14: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ – so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Friend, if you are seeking to gain God’s favor through good works, know that you are working for a wage that you cannot earn. One wrong move, one bad thought, one careless word, and you prove yourself unworthy of that wage. But there is another way. Receive the gift of God’s grace through the sacrifice that Jesus gave for your sins. Trust in Christ today and be saved.

Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you are a child of Abraham through faith. This means that the blessings of Abraham extend to you. Just as God promised an inheritance to Abraham, so too he promises the inheritance of heaven to you. God has made you a part of that great throng of people who are the true children of Abraham – those who have trusted in Jesus Christ by faith.