Romans 4:19-25 ‘Abraham Justified By Faith’ Pt.2

TEXT
Rom 4:19
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.

• Still talking about Abraham’s faith here. Paul goes on to say what we summarised in the last section – Abrahams faith was not weak. That is, it wasn’t faith in the completely obvious – it was faith against hope. He was already 99 when he had a son, and Sarah was 86 – well beyond birthing age! Beyond that, Sarah was barren anyway, which meant she could never have kids even when younger. But see that it says Abraham did not ‘consider his own body’. The physical didn’t even enter his calculations – God said it, it must be true! That is faith.

Rom 4:20
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

• See that faith brings glory to God. How does it do this? Well when we have faith we are looking beyond the purely physical, we look beyond ourselves and our own futile logic and see His glory and His truth. That is what kindles the faith in us. By having faith we are giving Him that glory that He inherently has.

Rom 4:21
and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

• How often we lose it at this stage! We know God’s promises and we ‘trust’ them, but we don’t actually realistically physically expect Him to actually come through with them! And when He does, so often we attribute the result to our own hard work!

Rom 4:22
And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."

• With this much more grounded definition of faith in place, Paul again asserts that this faith was accounted to him for righteousness. What does this mean? Righteousness comes through a faith which says yes to God through the stormiest of circumstances, the most unbelievable of promises and the longest of waiting times. If we have that faith – inspired by His glory – then it is accounted to us for righteousness!

Rom 4:23
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,

Rom 4:24
but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,

• In these two verses we see that God is sovereignly directing the paths of men – and indeed, inspiring the human authors of the Bible. In no other way could the account of Abraham’s justification by faith being meaningful to us be explained. That is, here Paul says that Abraham was just ‘imputed’ righteousness for his own sake, but also so that we would have an example of what justification means. Thus, God is looking 2000 years into the future while He is sitting in the tent with Abraham, promising Him a son (with Sarah laughing outside). And He inspired the author of Genesis to include that very statement so that we, 4000 years later, may benefit. To me, this is a clear claim of inspiration of scripture.
• Paul draws the parallel here. Whereas Abraham had faith in God’s promise to him, we are to believe in Him who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. That is His promise to us. Faith in this remarkable (and completely physically unbelievable) act – faith against all hope, and faith that outlasts all trials, will be accounted to us for righteousness.

Rom 4:25
who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

• ‘delivered up because of our offenses’ – Jesus was crucified because of our sin. He could only die because He took our sin upon Himself. Note that ‘delivered up’ is an active word. That is, Jesus wasn’t walking around and then found Himself crucified one day – no, it was the very plan of God, and the action of God the father to deliver him up to men. However, this death was not enough.
• ‘raised because of our justification’ – the fact that Jesus rose from the dead implies that he is able to justify us, because He is completely just. That death held no power over Him means that He had no sin – He had completely dealt with it and thus He had justified us. It proved that He is just, and the justifier of the ungodly.

 

SUMMARY
Paul concludes his assessment of Abraham’s justification by faith by first broadening the understanding of what faith really is – what it stands against and endures. He then remarks that if Abraham was justified so, then surely we are too, since God is the author of history and makes things happen not only for their own time, but also for the future. He finally draws the parallel of Abraham’s belief in God’s promise, and our own belief in God’s promise of justification through His glorious Son.

 

WHAT DO I LEARN?
I am again in awe at the complexity and beauty of God’s plan of redemption, and that 2000 years before coming to earth He would make a promise to a man in order to explain to us what faith is. Also, I am again seeing how closely knit the death and resurrection of Jesus were – how often we focus on His death without His resurrection!