Romans 4:1-12

Paul begins in Romans 1:18 to 22 by pointing out what is called general or natural revelation. That is what Paul is stressing is actually suppressed by unbelievers and that all humans receive this revelation from nature. It is also called general revelation because we would not know many specifics about God without special revelation. During the reformation the material cause or the cause we see argued by Luther and others was often “Sola Fide” or the biblical doctrine that was are justified by faith alone. But the formal cause of the dispute or the underlying cause was a difference about “Sola Scriptura”. The Roman Catholic Church held that there were two sources of special revelation. Those sources for them were Scripture and tradition. So while both sides accepted the infallible authority of Scripture the Roman Catholic Church departed from the teaching of Book of Romans disallowed any teaching from Scripture that would contradict tradition. We reject that teaching (although sometimes our reaction to change in our church services makes me wonder) and although creeds such as the 1689 London Baptist Confession may be brilliant in summarizing and clearly teaching us the Gospel and while they may merit deep study and meditation … they must bow the knee to Scripture. They must be judged by their fidelity to Scripture and, if in conflict, be corrected by Scripture.

We need this high view of God’s revelation in Scripture when we move on to verses regarding the universal sinfulness of mankind. In fact, Romans will continue to teach you about yourself and your salvation and you need that high view of Scripture to understand Romans.

Paul brought conviction to the heart of the first century Roman Church by making sin personal to them and by declaring the depravity of mankind and making conviction of sin personal to us as well. We should all be weeping for our sins when we get to Romans 2:6-16. We should be weeping for our failure and sins even before we read on to Romans 3:9-18 in which our life before Christ is presented.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul is determined that the Christians in Rome (and all us who have come after) will understand that that apart from Christ they are lost and that salvation is Sola Fide or by faith alone. Paul goes right to the most significant religious person in Judaism. He uses Abraham as his example who I would guess every Jew in the audience would assume was justified by his works of obedience.

Romans 4:1-6
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

Abraham had lots of works as well as a cousin named Lot. For example, his tithe to Melchizedek is commonly thought to be an Old Testament theophany (Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7) and his willingness to offer his son Isaac was another act he performed. Since Abraham had offered his son in Genesis 22 it seems odd to stress that it was his faith was counted as righteousness yet he never committed a work that gained merit for salvation. Even in the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham figured God would raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:19).

Ask yourself how we can make up for sin. In our minds we sometimes seem to drift to the conclusion that if I stop a particular sin then God should forgive me for it if I behave pretty well from this point forward. Yet in our society if a criminal wanted to be forgiven for his crimes because he wasn’t committing one right now and he said he was sorry for those crimes previously committed we’d think he was working on an insanity defense. In the movie, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” after Delmer’s salvation experience (in which he is standing in a grave yard with nothing except a roasted gopher for dinner when he is compelled to rush into the water and be baptized followed by his friend Pete) he claims to be completely free from the consequences of his sins and even confesses to crimes he said he didn’t commit prior to his salvation. The unbeliever Everett says, “Even if it did put you right with the Lord the state of Mississippi is a little more hard nosed.” That movie has a lot to say about salvation and the sinful heart of man. But Pete, Delmer’s friend, uses the term absolved (to set free from the consequences of guilt) …

Romans 4:7-12
“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.”
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely
circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

It seems reasonable to ask if this scripture argues for believer’s baptism since many argue for a parallel between OT circumcision and NT baptism but that isn’t the point here. Here we see faith and imputed righteousness preceding the obedience to the law. Obedience to the law then was a sign of the righteousness he received by faith. Your obedience to the moral law revealed in Scripture as God’s will is then a sign of the saving faith in your heart. Faith without works is dead because a justified heart can’t be dead and will seek to please the Father. The justification we receive freely will drive our obedience as we live before the face of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to know that you are justified by faith alone so that you’ll run with patience the race you have before you.