(13)It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. (14)For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, (15)because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
(16)Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (17)As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations."He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
(18)Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (19)Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. (20)Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, (21)being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (22)This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." (23)The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, (24)but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. (25)He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
We talked last week about Abraham having been considered righteous through his faith and that this had come before the covenant of circumcision and even before the law had been established. Circumcision was instituted fourteen years after he was considered righteous by faith and the law did not come until 430 years after he was considered righteous by faith.
As we are working through the book of Romans we see three major battles Paul is fighting here, battles that he is fighting with the truth of the gospel. Again these are incorrect theologies.
Salvation by works
Salvation through the covenant of circumcision
Salvation through the keeping of the law
Paul like a surgeon is cleanly cutting his way through this disease that has plagued the Jews and is replacing this disease with fresh living tissue which is Christ and His gospel.
(13)It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. (14)For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, (15)because law brings wrath.
Why does law bring wrath? Because if our faith is in following a set of rules thinking that if you just do this you will be perfect and gain salvation, then your faith is not were it should be. You will find that you are incapable of fulfilling it and will be then be judged by it. Your faith should always be in God and in the work of Christ on the cross.
If you notice here Paul at this point does not say “The Law” meaning the Jewish Law but just law or better yet general morality. For the Jews “The Law” and for us the morality that God has instilled in all of us. Being a good person is not what gets you salvation.
If we think that we have fulfilled some sort of rules or regulations then we tend to think we are owed something and God does not owe us anything, but it is we who owe Him.
Paul is showing us here that if we think that we can achieve a saved status with God on our own fulfillment of some set rules on morality and not by faith in Him then we have some consequences.
Paul here shows us three consequences:
Faith has no value – We cut God right out of it and are saying that it is me who decides if I deserve to gain salvation and not God.
The promise is worthless – Living by a law or the law nullifies Gods promise to us to have righteousness by our faith. We know we can’t live by the law perfectly so if that is what we are putting our hope in then we are as good as dead.
The law brings wrath – This third consequence of trying to achieve a saved status by the law principle is that, instead of achieving salvation, all one actually achieves is wrath. If you live by the law then when you fail the perfection needed to accomplish it you just seal your fait.
A better set of consequences by faith:
Faith establishes grace – Eph. 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
Faith makes salvation certain – Again if God is in control, and He is, and we have faith in that, then we as always imperfect people can’t mess it up because God is perfect and He can’t mess anything up.
Faith opens the door of salvation to all – No matter who you are or what you have done in your life, none of it matters, all that matters is that you have faith, faith that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.
(18)Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
(19)Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. (20)Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, (21)being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed”
“Without weakening in his faith”
“He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God”
“Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised”
When life is at its worst and when we are at our lowest points in our life that is when our faith needs to be at its strongest.
James 1:2-4 says this – (2)Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, (3)because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (4)Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Consider it pure joy James tells us, that when life is at its worst that is the time to be most joyful because the testing of our faith develops perseverance so that our faith will then be even stronger. And knowing that should bring us joy in itself.
When I think of this I think of the story of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Remember when Christmas morning came and all the people woke to find all there presents and Christmas trees and ornaments and anything that had to do with Christmas were taken from them. The Grinch thought that this would in some way take away their joy from the day. He was surprised to find out that it didn’t.
Nothing in this world can ever take away what God and Christ has given us. No matter what life brings us it can not take away the joy of knowing that a loving and merciful God sent His Son to die on the cross for us. That is a joy that overwhelms anything else that life dish out to us.
(22)This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." (23)The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, (24)but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
(25)He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
When Paul talks about being justified he is talking about the payment of our sins by Christ’s death on the cross, here also he talks about Christ’s resurrection. He does this because the resurrection is the proof of Gods work of Christ on the cross. It is a testament to the truthfulness, faithfulness, love, mercy, grace and power of our God. It was so no one could ever say that what He promised, was possibly not accomplished.
God put a big exclamation point right at the end of it by the resurrection Christ so there could never be any doubt.
