Romans 4

The person who comes to see the truth that our standing with God is based on the works of Jesus finds himself engaged in a life-long intellectual and moral struggle that does not always feel like individual peace. This is somewhat ironic, since the gospel of God is a gospel of the greatest peace that has come to us through the death of His Son. Nonetheless when that gospel does come to us, it is not as if our spiritual struggles are over. We continue to face a battle. In that battle we wonder about the continuing role and worth of works of obedience in a life of blood-bought grace.

It is of first importance that we embrace the truth of what God alone has accomplished for us. Paul turns to the story of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham in order to solidify the understanding of the church in Rome concerning the good news that is ours in Christ? The question he puts forward is this: Did a man like Abraham, eminent for a great act of obedience in connection with his son Isaac, earn his right standing with God based on what he did for God, or did Abraham's good standing with God come in some other way? Paul is clear that any good news that leaves Abraham or us with something to boast about in ourselves cannot be the real gospel. Instead, Genesis 15 says that "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to Him as righteousness." His standing with God was a gift, and not a wage. Abraham trusted in God as the One who would justify the ungodly.

This was also the way for King David. In Psalm 32 he writes, "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." When we talk about the Lord not counting someone's sin against him, it should be obvious that the person has sin, and that the person is, in this sense, a member of the ungodly according to the standard of God's perfect righteousness. We should regularly ask ourselves this question: Was it necessary that Jesus lived a life without any sin? If we do not know the answer then we do not yet see the radical fact of the Lord's role for us as the perfect Lamb of God. In the face of God's law, Abraham was ungodly, and so are we ungodly, but Jesus was not ungodly, but perfectly righteous. This was necessary for us if Psalm 32 was to be fulfilled. Because of Christ's righteousness and blood, the Lord will not count our sins against us.

There is no religious rite or ritual that is the first cause of our good standing with God, or salvation would be by the work of that ritual. Circumcision was arguably the greatest ritual of Old Testament life. Paul says here that it was a ritual that was a sign of something, and a seal of righteousness by faith for Abraham. This same sign and seal was given to infant boys in the Old Covenant according to God's command. How was this a sign of righteousness by faith? Circumcision was a cutting ritual and an initiatory rite administered in the beginning days of covenant life. Paul says in another place that it was a commitment to keep the whole Law. The ritual itself modeled before God's people the covenant sanction for disobedience. "May this little child, my infant son, be cut off from the people of God if He should violate God's Law, even as this small piece of skin is cut off from his body today." This is the symbolism. How could parents rationally take this step, knowing the vastness of God's Law and the depravity of humanity? The only way to do such a thing is through trust in a Substitute for that boy. A spotless Lamb of God would have to come, fully obeying God's Law, and then be cut off from the covenant community on behalf of this child. This is the way that circumcision was such an accurate symbol of justification by faith; faith not in our own perfection, of which we have none, but in the perfection of another.

Because our salvation is based on the works of Jesus, God was able to bring the blessing of the obedience of Christ not only to the circumcised, but even to the uncircumcised. The circumcision itself is not a thing of merit that allows a person to boast before God, but a testimony of personal demerit, and a plea for some righteousness that can only be provided by our Substitute. It was fitting that Abraham received the pronouncement of His righteousness by faith in Genesis 15 before He was even given the rite of circumcision in Genesis 17. He was a father to both the circumcised and the uncircumcised who would have faith in Israel's God and in the work of Jesus Christ as our Substitute. What then of works? Are they unimportant or unnecessary? Not at all. They are a display of the faith that is ours for all who would walk in the obedience that flows from true faith.

What is this faith that we are called to? It is a belief that God can bring life where there is only death. Those who are spiritually dead cannot cooperate in their own rescusitation. This is a work that must be done by another. Once they are alive again, they can do many works, but they can do no works while they are dead. This God who has brought us spiritual life through Jesus Christ, shall also bring to us physical life forever through Him, for our God "gives life to the dead, and calls into existence things that do not exist."

This is the God in whom Abraham believed and in whom we also believe. We do not look at our own strength in order to see if we are likely candidates for the life-giving work of God. Abraham and Sarah, looking at themselves, could not have thought that they were likely candidates for parenthood. They heard the promise of God that life would come from the dead. Like Abraham, we believe in the resurrection of the dead and we give glory to God. God is able to do what He has promised. This has become not only the story of one man's fauth who lived thousands of years ago. It has now become the story of our faith. We have seen the truth that God raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. This one man was cut off from the people of God for us when He was delivered up for our trespasses. But now He has been raised as the object of our faith as it pertains to our own resurrection. We believe in Him, in His works, in His death, in His life, and in His power to unfailingly give life to the lifeless. We have been justified by faith, the kind of living faith that works itself out in resurrection obedience.