Dr. Bradford Reaves
CrossWay Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
As we move deeper into the study of Romans, I would like for us to consider some key theological terms to understand what we are studying:
Propitiation: an atoning sacrifice that succeeds in turning aside the wrath of the one to whom it is offered. Propitiate is “to regain someone’s favor; to appease.” So Christ’s propitiation is the turning away of God’s wrath toward us as guilty sinners by enduring God’s wrath himself on Calvary (Zondervan’s Bible Dictionary)
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:25)
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)
Redemption: The act of purchasing a slave for the purpose of setting him or her free. "This is precisely how the New Testament describes the work of Jesus on our behalf. Jesus is our Redeemer. He is the One who paid a ransom for our souls. The ransom purchased by Christ is paid to God for the debt we owe to Him.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight (Ephesians 1:7–8)
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (Romans 6:22)
Justification: The opposite of condemnation. It is the legal act of God based on the meritorious work of Christ on Calvary imputed to the sinner where God declares one absolved from all sin and released from its penalty. In our justification through Christ, we have four essential acts:
1. Remission of Punishment
2. Restoration of Favor
3. Imputed Righteousness of God
4. New Legal Standing before God
(Zondervan Bible Dictionary)
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (Romans 4:5)
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16)
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, (1 Corinthians 1:30)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 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. (Romans 5:1–2)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
The fourth chapter of Romans consists primarily of a lengthy illustration of the powerful truth proclaimed by the apostle Paul in the third chapter.
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:28)
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:1–8)
This is the "Divine Dilemma" with which Jesus was confronted in John 8:1-11. A group of Pharisees -- who were wary of Jesus because of His "radical" interpretation of the Law -- brought to Him a woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery. Their understanding of the Law was clear: she should be stoned to death for such a crime. They were certain that the message of grace and forgiveness that He had been preaching would have to be compromised by the red-handed seriousness of the charges brought against her. How, they wondered, would Jesus handle the seeming dichotomy between their stern understanding of God's pure and righteous justice and His gentle teaching, which (to their minds) over-emphasized God's great love and mercy?
Many of Paul's readers wrestled with the same question. How can God be both fully just and fully merciful? That these two qualities of God form part of our understanding of His character is widely accepted, but the manner in which He can manifest both at the same time exceeds the limits of human comprehension. And that is exactly the point! There exists no satisfactory human solution to this riddle; a "Divine Dilemma" requires a "Divine Resolution." This fact should lay to rest once and for all time mankind's pathetic attempts to be reconciled to God by means of any human endeavor.
The stupendous act of Christ's voluntary surrender of His life on the cross at Calvary is explained by Paul with the word "propitiation." As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, ...according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission [ forgiveness ] (Hebrews 9:22). And as the apostle Paul himself will declare in Romans, The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In order for God to be truly "just," He must mete out the punishment which He Himself has declared awaits those who sin against Him. On the other hand, God's Word says that He is truly merciful, ...longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
On the cross, God fully satisfied His long-delayed final response to sin. His justice was served in the death of the Perfect Lamb as an atoning sacrifice. His love is expressed in His justification of those for whom Christ died. (Duke Jeffries, Sermon Central)
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:9–12)
Paul makes it clear: Abraham’s righteousness did not come from performing good works but from belief in God. It was a righteousness obtained through faith. So the argument by the Jew then would be that they are circumcised and set apart. Paul here is arguing that circumcision is not an act of justification. And the heart of that argument is that Abraham was uncircumcised when God justified him and believed God in faith. Abraham was counted as righteous in Genesis 15:6. He did not receive the covenant of circumcision until Genesis 17, which was at least 14 years later. Therefore, his righteousness wasn’t based on circumcision but on faith. The circumcision was not an act of justification, but rather, it was an outward expression of the justification that was already placed in him by God.
“Our father Abraham” is an important phrase, one that the ancient Jews jealously guarded. They did not allow a circumcised Gentile convert to Judaism to refer to Abraham as “our father” in the synagogue. A Gentile convert had to call Abraham “your father,” and only natural-born Jews could call Abraham “our father.” Paul throws out that distinction and says that through faith, all can say, “our father Abraham.” (David Guzik)
“What is written of Abraham is also written of his children,” meaning that promises given to Abraham extend to his descendants. Paul heartily agreed with this principle, and extended the principle of being justified by faith to all of Abraham’s spiritual descendants, those who believe, who also walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham. (Barclay)
Like circumcision was an outward expression of a covenant with God, so Baptism is, in some sense, the sign of the New Covenant God makes with His Church. Baptism is the outward sign of an inward change. It represents a rebirth in Christ.
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11–12)
This circumcision does not involve the cutting of the body; it is a cutting away of our old nature. It is a spiritual act and refers to nothing less than salvation, effected by the Holy Spirit. Baptism, mentioned in verse 12, does not replace circumcision; it follows circumcision—and it is clearly a spiritual circumcision that is meant. Baptism, therefore, is a sign of inward, spiritual “circumcision.”
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as 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. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:13–25)
Another question that would arise in the mind of a Jew would be, “If salvation is by faith, then what about the Law?” The Jews gloried in two things: circumcision and the Law. If a Jew were to become righteous before God, He would have to be circumcised and obey the Law.
Abrahm was justified by believing God’s promise, not by obeying God’s Law; For God’s Law through Moses had not yet been given. The promise to Abraham was imputed purely through God’s grace. Abraham did not earn it or merit it.
“To impute" means "to credit to one's account." This is a key term in understanding the doctrine of Justification by Faith, and its use in Romans 4 provides another wonderful example of God's great mercy toward sinful believers. As Paul states in v.23-24, when God included his "imputation of righteousness" to Abraham on the basis of his faith in the Biblical record, He did so for our benefit. Not only will God impute righteousness to anyone who expresses believing faith in Christ, but He promises never to impute sin to the accounts of those whom He justifies. (Jefferies)
At the age of 60, God came to Abram and called him out of idolatry in the city of Ur and told him to go to a land that He would show him. God literally sovereignly plucked him out of all humanity and said, “Leave your city, leave your idols, go to a land that I will show you.” We don’t really know what the means of divine communication was, but it was very effective. We have no biblical record of the conversation that God had with Abram, but Abram obeyed. He left his home. He left his people. He left his land, took his wife, and went on a journey with his servants to an utterly unknown destination. That is a big leap of faith.
But Abraham’s faith was greater than that. Abraham believed in God for the promises given by God, even when there was no evidence by God of the promises to come. Listen to the words of Dr. Donald Barnhouse:
“Now, Abram was an Oriental; he was used to the palaver of the Orientals. Furthermore, he was strategically located along the roads of the camel caravans that carried the commerce of the ancient world between Egypt and the north and east. He owned the wells, and his flocks and herds were great. The Scripture says in Genesis 13:2 that ‘Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold,’ and when the caravans of the rich merchants came into the land, either from the north or from the south, they stopped at Abram’s wells.
“The servants of Abram took good care of the needs of the camels and the servants of the traders. Food was sold to the travelers. And in the evening time the merchants would’ve come to Abram’s tent to pay their respects. The question would have followed in a set pattern. The guests would have said, ‘Abram, how old are you?’ ‘How long have you been here?’ But maybe the most interesting question they ever would have asked would be, ‘How is it that you have the name Abram? How many children do you have?’
“It must have happened a hundred times; maybe it happened a thousand times, and every time more galling than the time before. ‘Oh, father of many! Congratulations! And how many sons do you have?’ And the humiliating answer had to come back, ‘None.’ Many a time, there must have been the half-concealed snort of humor at the incongruity of the name and the fact that there were no children to back up such a name. Abram must have steeled himself for the question and the reply and hated the situation with great bitterness.’
“Father of many, father of none, and it was a world of cloth and goatskins where everybody lived in tents and where there was little privacy from the eyes and none from the realm of the ears. There must have been many conversations on the subject. ‘Who was sterile, was it Abram or was it Sarah?’ ‘Was he really a full man, or was the patriarch somehow deficient?’ He had no children, and his name was ‘father of many.’”
God imputed His righteousness to Abram and changed his name to Abraham. God changes his name by adding a “ha” in the middle, Abraham. That means father of multitudes. Ishmael was the son of the natural generation; Isaac was of the supernatural generation because Abraham was so old and Sarah was barren. Abram brings
Ishmael in the power of human strength. Abram begot Isaac in the power of God and, in fact, a kind of resurrection strength. God gave life to the deadness of Sarah and the deadness of Abraham. This is so foundational to our understanding of the gospel.
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now, this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. (Galatians 4:22–28)
Are you spiritually barren? Like Abraham, are you sometimes looking for a promise that has no evidence of it yet to come? That’s the faith of the Christian. We are looking forward to the promise of God through Christ.
