Romans 4:1-5
by:
Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com
INTRODUCTION
Paul has presented the doctrine of Justification in Romans 3:19-31. As he
continues to address the religious Jews of Rome he uses an illustration
of justification that p[re-dates the OT Law. He presents the case of Abraham.
Abraham is used in the epistles as an example of our life of faith. Abraham
was the physical father of Israel by procreation. He is the Spiritual Father
of all of us by way of faith. As he was justified by faith, so are we. As
he was sanctified in his spiritual walk by faith decisions, so are we. As
he anticipated by faith his ultimate glorification, so do we.
Romans 4:1-4, Justification Salvation by faith.
Hebrews 11:8, (see v 2, this is Sanctification of the Believer). Abraham
was sanctified by faith decisions and faith obedience.
Heb 11:9-10, Glorification. He looked ahead to eternity by faith.
Abraham is one of the key figures in the Scriptures, being mentioned 285
times with over 70 references in the New Testament.
Romans 4:1
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the
flesh, has found?
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Paul, continuing his Socratic style, asks a question. "What should
we say or conclude when we consider Abraham."
"According to the flesh" refers to Abraham while it applies literally
to the Jews who claim Abraham as their father, Paul is simply using the
phrase to refer to Abraham while living.
"Has found" is a perfect, active, infinitive. A result, a conclusion
found by Abraham as a result of what God did in justifying him.
Westcort and Hort do not find this word in the better manuscripts, so it
may be in the margin of some Bibles.
Romans 4:2
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about;
but not before God.
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Our works, our deeds do establish in the mind of others our character. Our
deeds validate our mental attitude and our words. So there is a form of
justification or a declaration of human righteousness from man as a result
of our works.
If that was all that mattered, what others thought of him, then there would
be a cause for boasting before men.
Topic: JUSTIFICATION
BUT NOT BEFORE GOD...
Romans 4:3
For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was
reckoned to him as righteousness. (from Genesis 15:6)
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It is the Bible that is the absolute final authority and the absolute criterion
in this matter. Not rationalism nor empiricism. Not what appears to be right
before man but what is declared to be right before God.
Paul emphasizes the Scriptures because then, as now, man, especially religious
man, had added to the OT not only their own interpretations of the Law but
additional laws.
They had taken the Law that was designed to show the total inability of
man to justify himself before God and turned it into a systems of works
for righteousness.
So they and we today are reminded of just how Abraham was reckoned with
or imputed with perfect righteousness.
A simple equation: He believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
READ 2 Cor. 5:21
Topic: IMPUTATION
To believe God is not only to believe that He exists. It is to believe also
what God has to say.
In Genesis 15:4-6 Abraham is questioning God about his heir:
"Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
This man (Lot) will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from
your own body, he shall be your heir. And He took him outside and said,
Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count
them." And He said to him, So shall your descendants be. Then he believed
in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness."
God made a promise to Abraham. and Abraham believed God.
We see here the true essence of faith ... to trust is what God has promised
when He has promised and at all times to trust in God as the One who is
faithful.
James 2:20-24
"But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without
works is useless?
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up
Isaac his son on the altar?
"You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of
the works, faith was perfected;
"and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God,
and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend
of God.
"You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."
Both Paul and James look back to Genesis 15 as the time when righteousness
was imputed to Abraham. Both agree this was a divine response to Abraham's
trust in God's promise.
James then jumps ahead in Genesis to Chapter 22 to illustrate when that
trust was tested. Now the object o faith is God's promise and God's character
that backs up the promise. But in both Genesis 15 and Genesis 22 the content
of what is believed is Isaac!
Believe he will be your heir and believe that you could sacrifice him and
God could restore him to life.
Genesis 22:5, "And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the
donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and (we will)
return to you."
WHEN DID THIS OCCUR:
Genesis 12:1-4 Abram is obedient to God, he is a believer
Genesis 15:1-6 Abram believed God's promise of the seed who will be the
Lord Jesus Christ through Isaac, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Genesis 14:9ff The first sacrifice that affirmed the belief Abram had in
the plan of God
Genesis 17:23 Abraham is circumcised, 13 years after the events Genesis
15 when he believed God and this non-meritorious faith was reckoned to him
as righteousness.
PRINCIPLE: Abram (Abraham after Genesis 17:5) was saved and credited with
the righteousness of God, prior to any sacrifices and long before any circumcision.
Genesis 22. Abraham obeys God and is willing to sacrifice his only heir,
his son. James tells us this was a demonstration of the righteousness that
had been imputed years ago. His trust in God was put to the test and he
passed.
Hebrews 11:17-19, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten
son; it was he to whom it was said, In Isaac your descendants shall be called.
He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which
he also received him back as a type."
Romans 4:4
In contrast to that: Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned
as a favor, but as what is due.
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The word "favor" is CARIS grace! You cannot work for grace, you
cannot earn it nor deserve it.
If something is given as what is due it is not grace.
A very simple work ethic is presented in this verse. If you work, you get
what is due to you. If you do not work and yet receive the imputation, it
is grace.
Remember the old song Sixteen Tons? The more you work the your deeper in
debt, you owe your soul to the company store.
Same principle applies at salvation. The more you try to work for salvation
the further away from salvation you get. The more in debt you become.
WORKS at salvation and in the Christian life do not work. They contradict
grace and they move the unbeliever and the believer further away from God
has for them.
Topic: GRACE
Romans 4:5
In contrast now to works: But to the one who does not work, but believes
in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,
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Here the object of our faith, our trust is the one who does something we
have come to recognize we cannot do.
Only God can justify the ungodly. And all of Romans 1:17 through Romans
3:18 has demonstrated that we are just that, we are ungodly.
The word UNGODLY is a religious word, it is the antithesis of GODLY . .
. but what does that mean?
GODLINESS: EUSEBIA, A WORD STUDY:
1. The common New Testament Greek word for godliness is EUSEBIA
a. It is not found in the Gospels and begins to appear only
in the later epistles
b. But because it was a religious word it had a rich usage in classical
Greek
2. Simply, the word was used as man made his approach to an idol. He was
to have an attitude of godliness, which would include fear and reverence.
3. This attitude, however, was replaced as the idol was approached with
an attitude of harmony. And as stated in classical Greek, admiration.
4. In the same way, the believer reaches for harmony with God through three
stages:
a. Fear: Dominant concept in O.T.
b. Respect: Dominant concept in Gospels
c. Love: Dominant concept in the Epistles
5. The emphasis in EUSEBIA is to move into a relationship of harmony. This
is based on knowledge and is friendship:
II Peter 1:3, "Seeing that His divine power has granted
to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge
of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."
LIFE is the horizontal relationship, while GODLINESS is the vertical relationship.
6. Some of the German theologians have written extensively on this word:
a. One said that it was the good and careful cherishing of God
that goes beyond fear
b. Luther: The recognition of dependence upon God that leads to the confession
of human dependence.
In II Peter 1 we would see virtue as the recognized need for dependence
and godliness as the action of this dependence.
c. Luther also stated: Godliness is to be at harmony with God.
7. The only non-cultic use we have is classical Greek is found in Lubker's
Sopia Christis, Theologia vol 2, p 54 and is the idea of EUSEBIA man to
man in which the idea of equitable bearing one to another is brought out.
We grow to have an equitable bearing with Christ, a friendship.
8. At the end of the earthly ministry of Christ, the Lord changed the relationship
he had with those who believed in him:
John 15:15, "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave
does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for
all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."
A friend knows about his friend, knows what his friend is doing. A friend
of Christ is a man or woman who has applied Bible truth.
9. Therefore, the approach to God and friendship with Christ is summed up
in the approach of Godliness, coming to a relationship of harmony and friendship
with Christ.
That is why godliness is called a mystery.
I Timothy 3:16, "And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Beheld by
angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up
in glory."
As unregenerate man we are ungodly. We can do nothing about that but God
has done everything about it. He can justify us.
This comes about by faith or trust in the one who has the power to justify
even those who are not His friends.
Topic: GODLINESS
End of Lesson 16
Grace Notes
Warren Doud
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