16. ROMANS CHAPTER 4 VERSES 4-17 MESSAGES IN ROMANS – A LOOK AT ABRAHAM: THE SIGN OF CIRCUMCISION WAS A SEAL OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HIS FAITH - MESSAGE 16
[A]. REVISION AND A BIT EXTRA
Last time we looked at Romans 4:4-12 carefully and just to summarise what we say, the word of God is very clear about the ONLY path to righteousness. It comes about by faith, faith in the God who pardons, and forgives our sins, who is merciful and gracious. I have selected six verses to remind us of last time.
{{Romans 4:5 but to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,
Romans 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
Romans 4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.”}}
{{Romans 4:9 Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised also? We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.”
Romans 4:10 How then was it reckoned? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised,
Romans 4:11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be reckoned to them,
Rom. 4:12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.}}
It is those passages Paul is basing this argument on to show that all people, Jew and Gentile must come by faith and only faith can lead to justification. When God appeared to Abraham and gave him the great covenant, the sign of that covenant was circumcision in the flesh. Thus, since that time all descendants of Abraham – Jews and Moslems – (though many Moslems are not DNA descendants of Abraham – Iran, Egypt, Indonesia for example) are circumcised nationally to this day. In Romans 4:11 Paul calls circumcision a seal, so seal and sign are the same things. It is a mark of the covenant between God and Abraham. However in matters of faith it has no bearing or validity.
Romans 4 verse 12 - Paul has concluded that faith is not dependent upon circumcision and is open for all. He ends this with declaring Abraham is the father of circumcision but is careful to place faith in the proper context. Romans 4:12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.
Abraham is called the father of circumcision, but because his faith was anchored in God while he was uncircumcised, then Paul argues it is not circumcision, but faith that connects us with Abraham. Romans 4 is the faith chapter.
All must come to God by faith believing that He is and that He will justify the repentant sinner who enters in through faith to the great promises given to Abraham, which flow into many blessings for the child of God who has become a son of God and joint heir with Christ. That is grace and mercy.
The great promises to Abraham were given before he was circumcised. Paul takes the path of a similar argument when writing to the Galatians because this Roman chapter and Galatians are closely related.
Just before we move to verse 13 there is a bit more. For the Christian there is a circumcision that operates for us. Paul talks about it in Colossians –
{{Colossians 2:11-14 “and IN HIM YOU WERE ALSO CIRCUMCISED WITH A CIRCUMCISION MADE WITHOUT HANDS, in the removal of the body of the flesh by THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and HE HAS TAKEN IT OUT OF THE WAY, having nailed it to the cross.”}}
The old flesh, that is the old sinful nature, was cut away through faith in Jesus Christ when we were saved. If you like, that was a spiritual circumcision and Christian baptism pictures this. When a believer is immersed it is showing that the old life of the flesh has died (has been cut off) and the person is now alive in a newness of life. I will always decry the practice of most groups who correctly practise believer’s baptism, but they do not baptise at the point of becoming Christians. Only then do Romans 4, Romans 6, and Colossians make proper sense. To give people a probation time between coming to Christ and being baptised, is not scriptural. A believer should be baptised the same time he or she is saved and that was the practise in the Acts of the Apostles without exception in the cases recorded. In this matter most of the Christian church is doing wrong by the one coming to faith. Also it is so strengthening to the new believer.
Taking a look at Romans 4:12. Abraham is the father of circumcision for those of his descendants known as Jews, but it requires more than just ancestry. He is father of the circumcision only to those who also follow in Abraham’s footsteps and live and practise the life of faith Abraham lived when he was uncircumcised. The true Jew is he who lives that life of faith in the footsteps of his father Abraham. All this comes back to the fact that it is not circumcision that counts for anything but the faith as demonstrated by Abraham’s life he lived as an uncircumcised man before God for the first 99 years of his life. Righteousness comes about by faith for Jew and Gentile alike.
[B]. RESULTS OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH
ROMANS 4 VERSES 13-17
{{Romans 4:13 The promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be HEIR OF THE WORLD was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith,
Romans 4:14 for if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified,
Romans 4:15 for THE LAW BRINGS ABOUT WRATH, but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
Romans 4:16 For this reason it is by FAITH, that it might be in accordance with GRACE, in order that the PROMISE may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Romans 4:17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.}}
(a). VERSE 13
Paul uses another term for Abraham which is “heir of the world” but then goes on to say this had nothing to do with the Law of Moses, that being 600 years away still. What Paul is doing is simple though the argument gets a bit involved here. Abraham was given the great promise of heirship but it was given when he was uncircumcised and it came about because he believed God. Abraham was the friend of God and had this exceptional faith.
That faith made him a righteous man. Paul is emphasizing faith and not Law. All God’s blessings come about by faith, not by adhering to a set of rules and instructions. This is the same argument he is using in Galatians. Sarah is the one of promise leading to blessing while Hagar is the one of bondage, which is the Law. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, not by the Law of Moses.
(a). VERSE 14
If a person became an heir just because he was living under the Law then what is the purpose of faith? Faith is useless. If all it took to be righteous with God was to be living with the Law of Moses then faith is void/useless and the great promises God gave were abolished. In fact it makes a mockery of Abraham if faith was obtained through keeping the Law. Becoming heirs of God and joint heirs comes about by accepting the promises, not through striving to reach a standard of perfection through Law keeping.
The Law was the pedagogue (schoolmaster in the AV) to bring us to Christ and its purpose was the helpful signpost along the road to meet Christ. By the failure of the Jew to keep the Law, it was signaling a better way, which was the way of faith that contained all the promises. Simply, one could not become an heir of God through the Law, and if that was possible, then faith would be irrelevant. Abraham shows that faith was 100% relevant.
[c]. VERSE 15
Verse 15 needs an explanation. It says “Law brings about wrath” and this is because the Law contains penalty. You fail so you get punished. This was the problem with the Law. It brought about death, for the one who broke the Law invoked death. No one could keep the Law but that did not make the Law bad; the Law was good. It was people who were bad and could not keep the Law. The failure was the people.
The Law could have made one righteous. The Law was perfect. That was the problem. If the Jew could fulfill the Law to the letter, then he would have been declared righteous. None of that would have been through faith but by a strict adherence to laws, rules and principles. You remember this incident – {{Matthew 12:9-10 Departing from there He went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man with a withered hand, and they questioned Him saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” — in order that they might accuse Him.”}} The legalisers were overcome by legal adherences so that mercy, promise, faith and righteousness were cast aside.
It would be true to say that without the Law, sin could not properly be defined. Paul is saying that if there was not a law to spell out right and wrong, then a sinner could not be condemned by his failures. I could not be condemned for breaking the speed limit if there was no speed limit. When there is a law, then there is a violation and that was the problem with the Law. It condemned a sinner because it made one aware of what sin is/was.
(d). VERSE 16
Paul now gathers up his argument and uses three great spiritual words – FAITH, GRACE, and PROMISE. The net is cast wide for this promise relates to all who enter by faith. The faithful ones are in the same boat as Abraham. The sense is that we are all “a sort of clone of Abraham” for we follow his faith that makes righteous. Paul adds that we are all Abraham's children because he is our father (having the same faith).
Verse 16 introduces a word previously mentioned but here explained. It is grace. Faith operates through grace, and grace is the exact opposite of the Law. We are made righteous through faith and there is no other way. Works has no part. The Law has no part. It is God’s underserved favour to us, which makes us righteous when acted upon by faith.
Another term is used for Abraham and this is “the father of us all”. The application is both to Jew and Gentile. All who have faith are linked to Abraham and we are his descendants through faith, and only by faith. As a result we can also enter into the promises that were given to Abraham. Those promises include an inheritance, blessing and fellowship. It is more thoroughly explained in Galatians including this verse – {{Galatians 3:29 “and if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”}} Of course much that was promised to Abraham was centred in the physical land, whereas the promises for us are in our spiritual home. The Jews are God’s earthly people; the members of the Church, Jew and Gentile, are heavenly people.
(e). VERSE 17
This is a most interesting verse. It begins with a quote from here – {{Genesis 17:5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram but your name shall be Abraham for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.”}} That was granted to Abraham because he believed God. The name Abraham means “the father of many” or “the father of multitudes”.
Paul adds more to this verse by saying God gives life to the dead, and creates from what was non-existent. They are both big statements.
Verse 17 is another special verse that repeats the promise Abraham becomes the father of many nations but then goes on to say “who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” Faith opposes the flesh. What is the flesh? It is, briefly, that “the flesh” is human nature, in the Fall, as un-renewed and unassisted by Divine special grace. To be fleshly minded is death but to be heavenly minded is life.
Faith conquers the old flesh and brings us into life. God moves us from death into life when we get saved, and you notice the ending of the verse – “and calls into being that which does not exist.” Just think for a while what God brought into being for you when you believed, that did not exist for you up until that point in time. There are many. These are the blessings and the promises and the inheritance. Make a list of them.
Of course we can make an application here in verse 17. Giving life to the dead can mean raising the ones who have died and that will happen in the resurrection. “Calls into being that which does not exist” applies to the creation of God as seen in Genesis 1:1. Giving life to the dead, and the creation, both exhibit the power of God. We can’t understand the enormity of that power. We have no concept how something can be created out of nothing. Yet there are 10 to the 27th power suns in the universe at the best estimation.
Our sun changes 5 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second, and ours is only a small sized sun. Many burn more than 10 times that amount. No one can estimate how much hydrogen is changed every second in the universe. It is way, WAY beyond us. BUT it is that Creator God who creates us as new creations in Christ, and who will raise the dead bodies of the saints. It ought to humble us enormously.
