Romans 4:13-25 The Gospel - Gods hope offered to all people

Theological Proposition/Focus: Abraham's faith, not his works, was credited to him as righteousness. This passage emphasizes the nature of faith and its role in our relationship with God, showcasing that righteousness is available to all who believe in God's promise, particularly through Jesus Christ. Justification and righteousness are granted through faith in God's promises, as demonstrated by Abraham, offering hope and a clear path to redemption for all believers through Jesus Christ.

Christ Focus: This passage points to Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. Just as Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness, so too are believers made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, who embodies the promise made to Abraham and secures it for all who believe.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: The passage encourages believers to reflect on their own faith. In times of struggle and uncertainty, understanding that faith, like Abraham's, counts for righteousness and can bring hope and assurance. Our standing before God is based on belief and trust in Him, rather than our performance.

Introduction

Image: Flight instruction vs. the practical test, hope and legalism

The hardest part of learning to fly is the FAA practical test. In fact, I think it is fair to say that most pilots fly to their highest standard on that practical test. You see, the standards are very tight. For example, after take-off, you must bring the airplane into a climb and maintain the best climb speed within 5 knots through the entire climb. It is a true challenge. So, you need to climb out at, say, 60 knots, and if you're looking around and the speed creeps up to 66 knots, well, you have just failed your test.

On the flip side, when receiving flight instruction, an instructor will tell you to aim for 60 knots, but if you slip up and get up to 66 knots, the instructor will tell you that you should slow down to keep your climb at 60 knots. It is a radically different environment.

I am convinced that we can live life in two ways. We can view God as our Examiner or our Instructor. Certainly, God is the judge, and He has every right to examine us, but the relationship that God seeks with us is that of our Instructor guiding us to right behavior—not that He might flunk us on our check-ride, but instead that He might help us achieve a life lived the way it was meant to be.

Setting the Stage:

A major theme throughout the book of Romans is that God offers salvation freely to all people, regardless of heritage. Here again, we continue building out this theme.

Body

Promise not Performance — God's promises are received not earned (13-15).

The promise to Abraham and his descendants wasn't through the Law but through the righteousness that comes by faith. This point highlights the impossibility of achieving God's promises through human effort alone, leading to a life of hope rather than legalism. Just as Abraham's faith allowed him to partake in God's promises, our faith in Jesus opens the door to righteousness, affirming that God's promises are received, not earned, aligning with the Christocentric theme where Christ fulfills the law's requirements.

God's promise to Abraham came not through the Law but through faith (13).

The idea of promise is an important construction in Pauline theology.

A quick search for the Greek word ἀγγελία (promise) shows that word appears 26 times in 25 verses in Paul's writing. What is striking is that in all instances, the word promise is a reference to something of God. That is, in the Pauline Epistles, promises always come from God.

When talking about God's promises we need to remember we can hang our hat on that!

Children often toss out the word promise, and even adults will abuse the word, but we need to recognize that a true promise comes from God. As such, the idea of a promise is far more significant than we sometimes give it credit. A promise is a statement from God that we can completely count upon.

Consider the following passages:

• Numbers 23:19 "God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"

• Titus 1:2 "in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time."

• Hebrews 6:18 "God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged."

God's promise to Abraham was rooted in faith not righteous works Abraham had done.

But Paul has more to say. Not only does God make promises, but Paul is arguing that God made a promise to Abraham not because of righteous works that Abraham had done in following the law but rather because of the righteousness that came from faith!

Faith unlocked righteousness, and God made promises to Abraham.

Let me just go a little further to draw a contrast. There is an ancient text that is not part of the inspired word of God, written by Jesus ben Sirach around 200-175 BC. The book, while not part of the Bible, does provide us some valuable insight into what the Jews at the time really believed. Chapter 44 of the book has a section of text that claims that Abraham had no "smudge on his glory" and goes on to attribute God's promises to Abraham to the fact that Abraham kept God's laws. What we can learn from this text is that many Jews from this time in history subscribed to the idea that Abraham had earned God's favor by keeping God's laws.

To this, Paul says, "absolutely not!"

In fact, depending on the Law robs faith, and even God's promises, of significance (14).

Paul has pretty strongly argued throughout chapter 4 that Abraham received the promise based upon faith, not the law. So now Paul makes a wonderful argument—really a proof by contradiction. Here is my summary:

• Suppose for a moment (a Greek first-class conditional) that the Law is the key to unlocking God's promise.

• Then Abraham is only the father, as far as the blessing is concerned, of one nation, hardly the heir of the world.

• But that is not what God promised, so then God's promise is invalid, which means Abraham's faith was invalidated, and the entire thing falls apart because God cannot be trusted!

Ultimately, the Law brings wrath, not favor (15).

Paul once again beats on the same drum. The law does not make one righteous; the law condemns.

The statement "And where there is no law, there is no transgression" should not be taken as a statement that without the law there is no such thing as sin but rather as a general maxim. Regardless of the law, there is a general notion of right and wrong, God's law written on our hearts; but with the law, transgression becomes specific and clearly spelled out. Again, the law serves not to make one righteous but to condemn.

What does this mean for us? We need to recognize that if we focus on rules, accomplishments, and measurable outcomes, we are eventually going to fail and feel shame, guilt, and condemnation. Instead, we need to focus on the God who tells us that even when we fail, even when we are not enough, He has made us a promise, and He will keep His promise.

MTR: Consider "where do I struggle to feel like I am enough?" Then ask what God's promise means in that context.

• Think about this for a minute.

• You might fail an exam.

• You might get a speeding ticket.

• You might miss a bill payment.

• You might not get the promotion.

• You might fail at a particular job.

• But none of those things need to define you! If you have accepted Christ as Savior, then you have your identity in the promise that you are a child of God. You don't have to be enough because He already is enough!

Faith's Unprecedented Favor — Faith brings the believer into relationship with the author of life itself (16-17).

Faith brings certainty and assurance about the promise. This section reflects on Abraham's unwavering belief despite his circumstances, illustrating how God's promises aren't constrained by human limitations. Faith, which is open to all, unites believers with Abraham's legacy, as faith transcends both law and lineage. Through Christ, we are all children of the promise, and God's faithfulness is rock-solid, encouraging believers to trust even when hope seems far-fetched.

Faith becomes the genetic marker that identifies one with God and guarantees one's standing before God (16a).

In Genesis 17:5 "No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations." God changed Abraham's name from Abram to Abraham.

• The name Abram means "exalted father."

• The name Abraham means "father of a multitude."

The promise that God made all the way back in Genesis 17 was a promise that Abraham would be the father of not just many people but, in fact, many people groups.

Consider this: to be the father of many nations requires something special, both unity and diversity. If everyone was the same, then Abraham would be the father of many but not many nations, or maybe we should say many groups. What I think we see here is a very special promise. Abraham's physical descendants are important, but so are those whom God has brought into the promise through faith.

Diversity has become a hotly debated word, and I don't want to get too far into the weeds, but what I do see here is an important reality. Your diverse distinctions matter, but so does your unity through faith. In fact, the genetic marker of being associated with God is no longer a physical genetic marker but rather faith. This doesn't mean that distinctions go away; in fact, Paul still speaks of those under the law and those who are not. What we see is that one's standing before God is based on one's faith.

Since faith is the marker, being under the Law or outside of the Law does not determine one's position before God (16b).

What I see here is something very special. Value is placed both on one's physical heritage and one's spiritual heritage.

Specifically, the Jews play a special place in God's plan. We will talk much more about that in Romans 11. But from the standpoint of salvation and one's eternal standing before God, what matters is not the Law or physical heritage; what matters is the heritage of faith.

Image: What are you passing onto the next generation? "I'm the only boy among the cousins" is a lot of pressure but we should feel pressure to pass on the Gospel too.

I was talking with one of the kids in church about a year ago. I won't single him out by name, but as we were talking, this kid told me, "I am the only boy amongst the cousins; that means I am the one who will carry on the family name. That is a lot of pressure."

But here is the thing: that same pressure this young man feels should be pressure that we each feel—not to pass on our physical heritage but to pass on our spiritual heritage. In the eternal picture, the heritage that matters most is the heritage of faith. Are we passing on that heritage?

Faith brings us into relationship with the author of life itself (17).

In verse 17, Paul brings everything together with a reminder that the God of Abraham, the God who we call our God, is the author of life. Paul uses the phrase "the God who gives life." This is no arbitrary statement. The God of Abraham is the God who first breathed life into Adam, the God who made the barren give birth to Isaac, and the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

The God who gives life is the only one who could keep what was a seemingly impossible promise: to make Abraham a father of many nations.

Moreover, this same God of life is the creator Himself. There is no higher position than that of being in relationship with the creator of the universe. We must understand, remember, and draw upon this present reality: faith has brought us into relationship with God Himself.

MTR: This week memorize Hebrews 4:16.

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

True Trust Transcends Trials — In the midst of trials, you can have faith (18-25).

The promise of God is not an easy life; it is a life that places full dependence on the God of the universe.

Abraham's faith was more than easy no-trial faith; Abraham had faith in the trial of his life (18-19).

I want you to take a minute to consider the faith that was Abraham's faith. God called Abraham to leave the center of civilization, Ur. God called Abraham to leave his family. God called Abraham to trust in spite of the fact that he had no heir.

In verse 18, Paul captures Abraham's level of trust: "against all hope." Abraham, at 99 years of age, was promised a son, and his wife Sarah was 90 years old. Both were well past the age in which they might hope for a child. The door was shut, locked, and bolted. But against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.

The text is clear in verse 19. Abraham was not just a naive follower of God who had a false hope because he had no idea how bad things really were. No! Verse 19 tells us that Abraham understood that there was no natural way he was going to have a son!

You may be going through incredible trials. Any hope may seem absurd. When others tell you to trust, you may think they are just being naive! I don't know the details, but what I know is that against all hope, one can find hope in the God of the universe.

The object of faith is nothing less than the omnipotent God of the universe (20-21).

The wording of verse 20 is hard to capture in English. The grammatical construction of Greek simply allows what might be thought of as a more poetic or emotive construction.

Read verse 20 again: "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith."

In the Greek, unbelief (ἀπιστία) and faith (πίστις) form beautiful parallels. Moreover, the idea of not wavering (οὐ διεκρίθη) might be better translated as "was not internally divided." In other words, Abraham had every reason to doubt God, but not only did Abraham's faith exceed his doubt, but it also overcame his doubt so that there was no internal division; in fact, his faith was strengthened.

In somewhat more modern language, we might say that Abraham's faith mastered his doubts, forcing them to submit to faith instead of causing internal division.

How is this possible? How can we enjoy that sort of victory in our own life? By being fully persuaded that God is the omnipotent God of the universe.

The mechanism of salvation is the death and resurrection of Jesus (22-25).

In verse 22, Paul reiterates the key point of the passage: Abraham believed, and that belief was the key to righteousness. But in fact, there is more going on by the time we get to verse 22. Verse 22 helps us to understand more specifics about what faith, belief means. Specifically, verse 22 tells us that it was Abraham's belief that God's promise to bring life to that which was dead or barren that was key to Abraham's faith.

Look at James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." The key to saving faith is not just a belief in God. The key to saving faith is a belief in the promise of God to save.

Paul continues this idea in the remainder of the passage by drawing what may be one of the most significant connections in the entire Bible.

• Abraham believed that God could give life against all hope, and that belief was credited as righteousness.

• A true Christ follower believes that God raised Jesus from the dead and promises the same resurrection to sinners who place their trust in God, and that is credited as righteousness.

So, into the theological weeds we dive.

Jesus died for our sins. We know this to be the case, and verse 25 says nothing short of this. The death of Jesus paid the wages of our sin. This is the whole idea of substitutionary atonement and what we mean when we say that a just God found a way to overcome our sin problem.

But what does it mean that he "was raised to life for our justification?" And this is where things get really cool. God raised Jesus from the dead against all hope, against all natural law. Dead people don't rise! This resurrection of Christ is also the first fruits of our own future resurrection. When we place our complete trust in the resurrection, we are taking a step of faith on par with Abraham, and that step of faith is grounds for God to declare us righteous just as He did for Abraham.