Sermon notes March 2nd, 2025

Romans 4     

Let us recap what we’ve learned in the last three chapters:

1. 1:1 Paul introduces himself as one who was purchased (implied in the designation a bondservant of Jesus Christ), he was called on the road to Damascus he was called to be an apostle, a special emissary of the Savior, and separated, set apart to take the gospel to the Gentiles. 
2. Paul in chapter two had three classes of people. They all consist of those who look down on their noses at the heathen, considering themselves more civilized, educated, and refined. They condemn the pagans for their gross behavior yet are equally guilty themselves though perhaps in a more sophisticated way. Fallen man (Christians) can see faults in others more readily than in himself.
3. The Jews have had many special privileges. The most important is that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. The OT Scriptures were given to Jews to write and to preserve, but how have the people of Israel responded to this tremendous privilege? Overall, they have demonstrated an appalling lack of faith, that not all Jews have believed, but does this mean that God will go back on His promises? After all, He did choose Israel as His people, and He made definite covenants with them. Can the unbelief of some cause God to break His word? Certainly not! His point was to show us that no matter Jew or Gentile we’re all the same, we’re all under sin, we all need a Savior.
4. Paul proves his point by referring to two of the greatest figures in Israel’s history: Abraham and David. God made great covenants with both these men. One lived centuries before the law was given, and the other lived centuries afterwards. One was justified before he was circumcised, and the other after.

Let us first consider Abraham, whom all Jews could call their forefather. Abraham is also extremely important also as a leader of Islam and as a patriarch of the Islamic faith. Muslims recognize Abraham as the ancestor through whom many other prophets and saints came, including Moses, Isaiah and Muhammad. The Quran lists, in the sixth chapter, some of the greatest figures to have through Abraham's progeny. How did this happen? “Through Ishmael the son God didn’t plan”. Or did He

• Abraham was 75 years old when God first made the promise that Abraham would be made into “a great nation.” Genesis 21:5 tells us that Abraham was 100 years old when Sarah gave birth to Isaac, which means Abraham had to wait 25 years! To see the promise.
• So, some 11 years into Gods promise Sarah has an idea, gives Abram, her maid servant Hagar for him to have a child with. The results, Ishmeal. Interestingly enough, God uses Ishmael to make a great nation in him. This next scripture is God giving direction to Hagar: 

Genesis 16:9-16                                             New King James Version

9  The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11   And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

“Behold, you are with child,                                                                                                And you shall bear a son.                                                                                     You shall call his name Ishmael,                                                                          Because the Lord has heard your affliction.

12   He shall be a wild man;                                                                                        His hand shall be against every man,                                                                      And every man’s hand against him.                                                                          And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

13   Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 

14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15   So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years oldwhen Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. 

• Consider these events: Abram is promised a son at seventy-five years old to his wife who was barren. At eighty-six Abraham still trying, Sarah says it’s not working, take Hagar and have a child, maybe this is what God was telling you. So, he does. Hagar gives birth to Ishmael. 13 years later, Abraham is now 99 years old God opens Sarahs dead womb, (by the way it is safe to estimate that Sarah was around 91 years old when Isaac was born) and gives Abraham Isaac at 100 years old. The story of Abraham and Sarah is absolutely amazing by miraculously allowing her to conceive and give birth to Isaac, even though she was well past childbearing age, signifying a powerful act of God, to fulfill His promise to Abraham; this is considered a significant miracle in the biblical narrative.

Romans 4                                                         New King James Version

1   What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?

• What was his experience according to the flesh? What did he find concerning the way in which a person is justified? HE BELIEVED!!

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 accounted to him for righteousness.” 

• It says “he believed in the Lord, and God accounted it to him for right standing”. God revealed Himself to Abraham and promised that he would have a numberless posterity. The patriarch believed in the Lord, and God put righteousness (right standing) to his account. In other words, Abraham was justified by faith. It was just as simple as that. Works had nothing to do with it. They aren’t even mentioned.
• But someone may argue, “Doesn’t it say in James 2:21 that Abraham was justified by works?” Yes, it does, but there the meaning is quite different. Abraham was justified by faith in Genesis 15:6 when he believed God’s promise concerning a numberless posterity. It was thirty or more years later that he was justified (tested by God) when he offered Isaac as a burnt offering to God (Gen. 22). This act of obedience proved the reality of his faith.    
• It was an outward demonstration that he had been truly justified by faith. Let’s look at scripture where God talks to Abram.

Genesis 15:1-6                                              New King James Version

1   After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

2   But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

3   Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

4   And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 

5   Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6   And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

 

Romans 4:4-5

4   Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

5   But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 

• Notice that he believes on Him who justifies the ungodly. He doesn’t come with the plea that he has tried his best, that he has lived by the Golden Rule, that he has not been as bad as others. No, he comes as an ungodly, guilty sinner and throws himself on the mercy of God.
• And what is the result? His faith is accounted to him for righteousness. Because he has come believing instead of working, God puts righteousness to his account. 
• God clothes him with righteousness and thus makes him fit for heaven. Henceforth God sees him in Christ and accepts him on that basis.

Romans 4:6

6   just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:  

• Next Paul turns to David to prove his thesis. The words just as at the beginning of this verse indicate that David’s experience was the same as Abraham’s. The sweet singer of Israel said that the happy man is the sinner whom God reckons righteous apart from works. Although David never said this in so many words, the Apostle derives it from Psalm 32:1-2, which he quotes in the next two verses. Paul direct quotes David. 

Romans 4:7-8

7   “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,                                        And whose sins are covered;

8    Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”  

• What did Paul see in these verses? 
• First, he noticed that David said nothing about works; forgiveness is a matter of God’s grace, not of man’s efforts. 
• Second, he saw that if God doesn’t impute sin to a person, then that person must have a righteous standing before Him. 
• Finally, he saw that God justifies the ungodly; David had been guilty of adultery and murder, yet in these verses he is tasting the sweetness of full and free pardon.

Romans 4:9-10

9   Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 

10   How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 

• Here Paul seizes on a historical fact that most of us would never have noticed. He shows that Abraham was justified (Gen. 15:6) before he was ever circumcised (Gen. 17:24). 
• If the father of the nation of Israel could be justified while he was still uncircumcised, then the question arises, “Why can’t other uncircumcised people be justified?” In a very real sense, Abraham was justified while still on Gentile ground, and this leaves the door wide open for other Gentiles to be justified, entirely apart from circumcision.

Romans 4:11-13

11   And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 

• Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of Abraham’s faith. This may mean that his faith was righteous, or it may mean that he obtained righteousness through faith. The latter is almost certainly the correct meaning; circumcision was a seal of the righteousness which belonged to his faith or which he obtained on the basis of faith.

12   and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

13   For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

• “The argument continues relentlessly on as Paul chases every possible objector down every possible alleyway of logic and Scripture.” The apostle now must deal with the objection that blessing came through the law and that therefore the Gentiles who did not know the law, were cursed. 

Romans 4:14-15

14   For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 

15   because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

• The law brings about God’s wrath, not His blessing. It condemns those who fail to keep its commandments perfectly and continuously. And since none can do that, all who are under the law are condemned to death. But where there is no law there is no transgression. Transgression means the violation of a known law. Paul does not say that where there is no law, there is no sin. An act can be inherently wrong even if there is no law against it. But it becomes transgression when a sign goes up saying “Speed Limit 20 MPH.”

Romans 4:16-18

16   Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, 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.

17   (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 

18   who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 

• Romans 4:18, the Greek word for "hope" is "elpis" (elpuhs), which means, "expectation," or "confident trust," essentially signifying believing in something even when it seems unlikely based on human circumstances; in this context, it represents placing faith in God's promises 

Romans 4:19-23

19   And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 

20  He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 

21   and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 

22   And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

• God was pleased to find a man who took Him at His word; He always is. And so, He credited righteousness to Abraham’s account. Where once there had been a balance of sin and guilt, now there was nothing but a right standing before God. Abraham had been delivered from condemnation and was justified by a Holy God through faith.

23   Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 

Romans 4:24-25

24   but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 

25   who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

• The Lord Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. Although the preposition because of (Greek. dialog) is used here in connection with both our offenses and our justification, the context demands a different shade of meaning in each case. He was delivered up not only because of our offenses but in order to put them away. He was raised up because of our justification—which we are justified. 
• In the first instance, our offenses were the problem that needed to be dealt with. 
• In the second instance, our justification is the result that is assured by Christ’s resurrection. 

There could have been no justification if Christ had remained in the tomb. But the fact that He rose, tells us that the work is finished, the price has been paid, and God is infinitely satisfied with the sin-atoning work of the Savior.

James 2:21-24                                               New King James Version

21   Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 

22   Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 

23   And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.   24   You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

• We read that Abraham believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him for righteousness. Here Abraham was justified by believing; in other words, he was justified by faith. 
• It is not till we come to Genesis 22 that we find Abraham offering up his son. It is then that he was justified by works. As soon as Abraham believed in the LORD, he was justified in the sight of God. But then, seven chapters later, God put Abraham’s faith to the test. Abraham demonstrated that it was genuine faith by his willingness to offer up Isaac. His obedience showed that his faith was not merely a head belief, but a heart commitment.
• He was justified by faith Godward, and by works manward. God justified him the moment he believed. Man says, “Show me the reality of your faith.” The only way to do this is by good works.

Genesis 22:1                                                  New King James Version

1   Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

5   And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

6   So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 

7   But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

8   And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

12   And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Not counting the standard mention of Jesus Christ in the greeting at the beginning of his letter, James specifically mentions Jesus only one time. The impression you get from James is that he’s tired of hearing Jesus’ name thrown about as though that was all that mattered.  In his one reference to Jesus he says that if you show favoritism to the rich, then you can’t possibly believe in Jesus.  Believing in Jesus means nothing less than living the kind of life He lived.

This argument between Paul and James is a good one to have, because they sort of balance each other out.  James could have backed his argument up pointing to the time Jesus himself said that just because we call him, we shouldn’t think we’re necessarily headed to Kingdom of Heaven.  Nope, he said, you got to do the will of His Father.  But Paul could have found plenty of things Jesus said to back up his argument, because Jesus’ parables tend to be just full of grace.

As much as James emphasizes what we’re supposed to do as Christians, grace isn’t altogether missing in what he has to say.  In fact, he’s got that exquisitely gracious line that began our reading:   “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…”

Which is to say whenever any act of generosity occurs in this world, God is behind it.  Whenever someone, anyone, lives graciously in this world, they are being a sign of God’s presence.

 

In our Men’s group Friday we watched this short film that Len called my attention to called, “Change for a Dollar.”  In it, this homeless man who lives on the spare change people give him spends a whole day giving away all he has to people in need.  He buys a hot cup of coffee to a cold, homeless women.   He buys a flower that he gives to a man who has just had a fight with his wife in the Laundromat so he can go back inside and give it to her as a peace offering.  He gives matches to cold, homeless folks so they can start a fire by which to warm themselves.  He gives a dime to runaway teenage girl so she can call her Mom and tell her she wants to come home.  Quietly, without calling attention to himself, he goes about living in this world in a way that bears witness to the grace and reconciliation that Jesus brought into this world. living graciously, bringing blessing and reconciliation to all he meets.

 

If you think about what James is saying about how every generous act of giving comes from the Father of lights, it’s kind of humbling for us Christians.   It means an atheist who is living with kindness and generosity might well be more of a sign of God’s presence than we are when we’re failing to live graciously with those our lives touch.

I’ve been told a number of times by people that I have a very hard job – even the hardest job.  They say this because I often listen to people as they tell me their troubles.  I appreciate the sentiment, but the truth is, I think you all have the harder job.  That is, if you realize that you’re ministers too.  Every Christian is called to ministry.  I’m called to a specialized ministry of word and sacrament, which means my primary setting is the Church itself.  You folks, though not perfect, are a pretty loving bunch in so far as you are trying to follow Jesus.  It makes it a pretty nice place to serve.

• I think James would agree with me about this.  He has that line in our lesson this morning about how when people listen to the word but don’t do it “they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.”  We come to Church on Sunday to gaze into the mirror dimly, and in doing so catch a glimpse of who we really are.  We’re God’s beloved children, who God has set free that we may be in this world as those who can return good for evil, peace for hostility.  My job is to help you have a mirror moment.  You’re job is then to go out there in the world and remember who you are.   I get to spend more time by the mirror.  You are the ones with the challenge of going far from the mirror and needing to remember what it was you saw there.

 

• In a few moments, you will come forward to gaze into the mirror that is found in the bread and the cup that reminds us of Jesus’ great love.  As James would say, rich and poor alike are invited to come on equal footing, and as Paul would say, we’re all sinners saved by grace, so again, we’re all together on the same level.  And having received such graciousness as Jesus offers us at this table, we go forth to live lives of generosity and grace.