In this insightful episode, we delve into the profound teachings of Apostle Paul as he explores the concept of justification through faith, using the story of Abraham as a cornerstone of his message. We examine why Paul chose Abraham over figures like Noah or Adam to illustrate the foundational nature of faith and righteousness, discussing the implications for Israel and the world at large. The narrative focuses on God’s transformative promise to Abraham, highlighting the universal blessing extended to all families of the earth through faith.
00:00:05 Paul’s Message on Justification and Faith
00:14:00 Introduction of Abraham: A Biblical Perspective
00:26:00 Understanding Faith Through the Life of Abraham
So Paul, having spent the third chapter telling us about the salvation that comes to us through Christ’s righteousness received by faith, we are justified, and this all comes about by the propitiation, all of these technical words. Then Paul moves to Abraham. You might think that, and it may well be, that Paul didn’t want to overdo the technical realities of it all, and so brings in this marvelous story of Abraham. But on the other hand, we might ask ourselves, why Abraham? Why didn’t Paul start with Noah or even Adam? I mean, God made promises to Adam and God made promises to Noah, and they were universal in their reach. Why then Abraham? Well, because, well, I think there are many possibilities, but I’ll suggest two to you. One is there is no more vivid description of how God brings faith, that is in the Old Testament, of how God brings faith to a person than the story of Abraham. And the other reason might well be that Abraham was the one who launched, or rather God through Abraham launches the nation of Israel. And why is that important? Because Paul wants to show through Israel how God blesses the world. This is something that is so often misunderstood or overlooked by Christians. God has not bypassed Israel in order to bless the Gentiles. He has not rejected Israel and started a spiritual Israel in the Gentiles. That is a terrible myth and misunderstanding of Scripture. God has elected Israel. That is a clear statement that we’ll come across in chapter 11 of the book of Romans. God has elected Israel so that as he shows his salvation work in Israel and through Israel, even through after all their sinfulness, redeeming them and making an atonement for them, He is going to show that salvation through them to all the world. I mean, for instance, you hear that God says to Abraham, in you all families of the earth shall be blessed. Now, that sounds pretty universal, doesn’t it? And yet, people read it as if it were saying, in you, various people in the families of the earth will be blessed. But that’s not how Paul interprets it. In Romans chapter 4, verse 13, he says, for the promise that he would be the heir of the world, that’s Abraham. What happens with these promises in the Old Testament to Israel is that the New Testament takes them up and applies them to the whole world. That is just astonishing, and you can trace that through the Scriptures. For instance, when God says through Zechariah that in one day he will wipe out the sins of this land, in one day, John declares that one day, of course, the atoning work of Jesus Christ, to apply to the whole world in John 1 verse 29. So what God is doing with Israel is a microcosm of what God does for the world. Now then, it’s important to understand that Paul is not bringing Abraham forth as an example, or rather as an illustration. No, no, no. He is a type of all the work that God does throughout the world. What then… verse 1 of chapter 4 of Romans, what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? Now, why does he introduce this as a question? Because he is showing through Abraham what he has taught in chapter 3. Let’s just remind ourselves of chapter 3, that mankind, Paul reveals in chapter 3, is all under the brokenness and the curse and the ruin and the sin and the judgment of the law. that the law has done only one thing, not make people righteous, but make them aware of their brokenness and sinfulness. Now God, rather than then bringing judgment upon the world, brings judgment upon himself. in the person of his Son, for the righteousness of God, verse 21, is made known and revealed through this one man, Jesus, even the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus, verse 23, to all and on all who believe. And so God brings to the world this one representative, the Son of God, one with God, becoming a human being, the son of man. And God becoming man represents all humanity and brings righteousness to humanity through himself, through his son. For all who believe, on all and to all who believe, that is the idea of on all and to all is a draping, a dressing, a clothing of all humanity with this righteousness that God is bringing through his Son. It’s not something we attain. It’s not something we produce. It’s something that we are dressed with, that we are robed with, which is why Jesus in Luke chapter 15, you remember the prodigal son, the father rushes down to meet the son, and what does he do? Put a robe on him, which is a robe of honor and kingship, or rather princely honor. That is what God does with us. It’s amazing. Being declared innocent, we are freely by his grace, and because of the propitiation, that is, that God has taken his judgment, appeased his wrath against sin, and he’s taken it upon himself through the death of his son. Now, all of that, Paul is now going to show starts with Abraham. As I say, it could have started with Noah, as it did, and it could have started with Adam, as it indeed did. But Paul is wanting to show that it’s starting with Abraham because Abraham is the beginner of the race of Israel. What then shall we say that Abraham, our father, has found according to the flesh? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Now, what is this? Well, Paul is going to make it clear by the life of Abraham that God did not come to Abraham because he was a good and righteous man. He did not come to Abraham or to the race of Israel because they were some form of elite, some quality of humanity that could commend itself to God and therefore be saved. No, Paul is doing what he’s going to show through Abraham, is that this is Abraham who is elected. You remember that God is going to show the great truth of electing people. We are all elected, do you understand? We’re not wondering every day of our lives, oh, am I elected or not? Maybe I’m not elected. Is somebody over there a better-looking Christian, a better-behaving Christian? Is he elected? That’s not going to be what the worry of the human condition is. God has done something beautiful. choosing out of his love and his grace and his mercy to elect. That’s going to be shown later on, but Abraham is the type of that. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about before God. Then what does he say in verse 3? But what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now listen, this is where you can misunderstand this. You can think that it says, Abraham believed, and God says, well, well done, Abraham. I’ll count you a righteous man. You’re a righteous man because you believe. That is not what the truth is being said here. That is not the reality, rather, that Paul is speaking. Let’s go back again to Romans chapter 3. God justifies freely by his grace. Not by our faith, but by his grace. He justifies freely by his grace. But you say, Colin, you pointed out the other day, verse 28, that we conclude that a man is justified by faith. Yes, but you can’t set 328 up against 323. or 324 rather, that is, if we are justified or declared innocent freely by his grace, then faith, mentioned in verse 28, we conclude that a man is justified by faith, must be part of grace, mustn’t it? Of course. So what verse 28 is, is an ellipsis, what we call an ellipsis, that is, it is an abbreviation. We’re not strictly speaking justified by faith, we are justified by Christ in whom we have faith. So you mustn’t look to your faith and say, is my faith good enough, strong enough, sincere enough, earnest enough, surrendered enough, repentant enough? You must look to Jesus and say, Father, is your son good enough for me? Yes, he is. There’s always a yes to that. And therefore, Father, it is in him that I am justified and I trust him by faith. So this is true of Abraham too, you see. for what does Scripture say Abraham believed God? Now, how do you think Abraham believed God? You’d better go back to the story of Abraham, and we will do that in various places in this chapter, because Abraham’s life is an incredible story of how faith is born. It took him 25 years to come to believe what God said in a simple way, that I will give you a child. That is, in you all families of the earth shall be blessed. And he tried this way and that way. He tried to be intimate with his wife, but she was barren, and apparently he seemed to be impotent. Then he tried to have the child through his handmaiden, and then that became obvious that it was the wrong kid. And on and on, this attempt to do God’s promise by human works was being pushed into Abraham’s mind. But God kept bringing him back and saying, No, Abraham, it’s my job. And that is what you and I are going to believe as we trust in Christ, that it’s his job. It is not ours, and we trust what he has done for us. Thanks for listening today, Colin Cook. You remember yesterday I talked about a scholarship fund, and I want to encourage you to get used to this. Now, some of you will not be interested in it at all, but there is a young man coming up, and it’s the son of Mark in Nigeria, and he’s a really good scholarly kid, and yet he has very little advantage, little opportunity to go through school without aid. We need to be able to support him so that he does what I think he might pull off and become a doctor ultimately. He’s only 13 years old, but he’s studying well, and I’m asking you to consider $10 a month so that I can build a scholarship fund. If you will do that, please mark your donation scholarship fund. You can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com or you can send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
