Faith Alone

Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17 (March 20, 2011)

1) The Text

4What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

13For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,17as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

2) The Context

The epistle that Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome was a letter he intended to be sent, not to one, but to a number of church communities scattered throughout the city. Therefore, he knew that he was writing to diverse audiences that did not always agree with one another. He also knew that he was coming in on the middle of a conversation. These Christians were not blank slates. They had been living their lives in a variety of cultures both political and religious. Some had been raised as Roman citizens, required to sacrifice to the empire's gods. Others had been raised in the synagogue, telling the stories of Moses and the children of Israel, following a prescribed set of laws. How do you think that these people, Gentiles or Jews, reacted when told by Paul that none of what they had done would make them right with God? It is not easy to give up old habits.

3) Interpretation

This passage puts before us a major understanding of what God was up to in Jesus and long before that, in Abraham. This chapter speaks to the very character of God. The question wrestled with in this text is simply, "how big is Abraham's family?" The answer Paul offers, derived from his reading of Genesis 15:5, is that Abraham's family is as big as the numbers of persons who have faith in God. Jews are part of the family to be sure. So are Gentiles who believe that God has rescued them through the obedience (crucifixion and resurrection) of Jesus.

The translation of Romans 4:1 has been much debated. As Richard B. Hays persuasively argues 4:1 is best rendered in two questions: "What then shall we say? Have we found Abraham to be our forefather according to the flesh?" Paul voices the second question in order to argue against it, a not unusual process for him. Paul believes that the text and order of events in Genesis 15 is crucial to a proper understanding of who is in Abraham's family.

In verses 16-17 Paul insists that humans are part of Abraham's family through faith rather than physical descent. To be part of Abraham's family by faith is to be an inheritor of God's promises, to be in covenant relationship with God, to be "justified." All these phrases are in apposition to each other (i.e., the act of placing together or bringing into proximity). All of them describe who we are, whose we are. Paul and other believers needed to establish how Gentiles can be part of God's covenant people without attention to the Torah. If God could simply cast aside all the covenant promises made to Abraham, David, and through the prophets in favor of a new people, it is God who is unreliable, indeed, unfaithful. And if God has been unfaithful to God's word to the children of Abraham according to the flesh, why should anyone trust that God will be faithful in the future? So, it is really important that God's promise be understood as from the beginning for a larger group than Abraham's children according to the flesh. The breadth and depth of God's promise, and our ability to trust and hope in God are all at stake in this argument.

It is also very good news for us, although challenging, to think about what other peoples God considers to be part of the family of Abraham by faith. What does faith look like? Surely the faith and faithfulness of the Gentiles would have been surprising to Abraham. What would surprise us, were we suddenly able to see who all is in God's family?

Finally, a most important point is that this faithful God justifies the ungodly, not waiting for them to shape up first. In verses 5 and 17, God is identified as the one who justifies the ungodly, the one who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Paul identifies the God who has created a new people, a new part of the family through the faithfulness of and faith in Jesus the Messiah. This people participate in the life of God's covenant family, those who receive mercy. God did not and does not wait for us to become a people. "While we were yet sinners, " as Paul will say later in this letter, God brought us into relationship, gave us the gift of the Spirit, showed mercy, and in all that acted faithfully to the promises long made and never forgotten.

In this passage, Paul establishes a simple truth that is very easily forgotten. Our approval with God does not depend on our faithfulness to his commands, but rather, it depends on our willingness to trust his faithfulness. Abraham stood right before God, righteous before God, on the basis of faith and not works of the law. If we follow the example of Abraham and put our trust in God, we will find that our faith is accounted to us as righteousness. As worthy sons, we inherit the kingdom promised long ago to Abraham - we all inherit eternity, as a gift of grace appropriated through faith. Faith alone is the instrument through which we appropriate the grace of God. Holy living or denominational faithfulness, play no part in appropriating God's grace. Our standing in the kingdom of God is through faith apart from good works. We see the promise of eternity and by resting on it we are given it.

4) Thought Exercise

What does your faith look like?

Who do you see as part of God’s family?