Life Project Blog

Romans 5:12-21

The NIV (and other translations as well) has added a subtitle at the beginning of this section which says “Death Through Adam; Life Through Christ”. To the editors of the NIv I have two things to say to that subtitle: First, “Amen.” Second, “Why would you place a subtitle immediately before a section that begins with the word ‘therefore’?”

As I have pointed out so many times, the word “therefore” is used to draw a conclusion from the preceding passage, and that means what came just before “therefore” and what comes right after “therefore” go together; they are not separate. In defense of the NIV editors, many theologians over the centuries have read 5:1-11 and 12-21 as two different sections as well in total disregard of the rules of interpretation, rules they would apply anywhere else. Go figure?

I point this out because if we get that point, 12-21 gets much easier to follow. You see, these verses are about the supremacy of the sacrifice of Christ, not about the mechanics of sin; sin is defeated, as is death and the Devil. Here’s another way of saying the same thing: Adam screwed up; he was the first man to screw up. Later on, I screwed up too. Yikes, I have trouble with God because I screwed up. God sent His Son to sacrifice so I could get right with God. I accepted His grace through faith, and now I’m OK with God again. I am happy about that.

See? That wasn’t so bad…

Verses 1-11 tell of our assurance of salvation because of God’s amazing love and the grace that He offered to us. Verses 12-21 give us the assurance that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is more than enough to pay the price for our sins because that all-sufficient sacrifice has utterly defeated sin, death, condemnation and Satan.

I don’t see any particular reason to read something else into this passage, do you?

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Romans 4:16-17

Paul continues from where we left off last time, now drawing his conclusions: God’s promises are guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants through faith; carrying his DNA has nothing to do with God’s promises because it’s all about our faith.

Paul continues:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Romans 4:18-24

When I read this, there are so many thoughts running through my mind: What amazing faith Abraham had!

Without just repeating all of the things I’ve already said in this passage, and without restating what Paul has so clearly written here, I’m just going to leave you with one thought; that’s right, just one.

It’s a big one though; maybe you should sit down before you go any further…

OK, are you ready? Here goes…

No human being is excluded from God’s grace, unless he chooses to exclude himself.

Can you think of anybody who needs to hear that today?

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Romans 4:9-12

To make his point about the validity of Gentile redemption without first being circumcised as Jews, Paul uses an argument called a “self-evident truth.” No matter what a man’s position on circumcision might be, he will not argue with this point, for it is self-evident.

What’s that, you have a question here…? Why is it self-evident? Seriously?

It is because, as any man will tell you, in order for a grown man to be circumcised, one of two factors must be present: A, Superior force, or B, great faith. (We’re funny like that.) That Abraham submitted voluntarily is a demonstration of faith, it is not the means by which he received faith.

Therefore, since salvation is by grace through faith, and faith is required for circumcision, circumcision, by necessity, must be irrelevant to the obtaining of faith in the first place.

This logic led to a first century theological crisis that plagued the early church, for as we know there was a great deal of conflict over this point when well meaning Jewish Christians asserted that Gentiles must become Jews before they could be Christian. Please understand that these Jewish brothers weren’t just trying to be difficult, they were actually trying to help, for they had been taught that no one could inherit the blessings promised to Abraham’s seed without actually being Abraham’s seed. Their understanding was entirely physical, and the descendants of Abraham were his descendants in the flesh; they carried Abraham’s DNA.

By the way, that is why circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, for it marked the very physical organ that would deliver Abraham’s seed, ensuring that any offspring produced would be sons and daughters of Abraham.

The entire Old Testament system was physical in nature, and what people then and now have a hard time comprehending is that this system was only an illustration of the reality which would come through Christ. Jesus provided the fulfillment of the descendants promise made to Abraham, for it was through Jesus that all nations would be blessed and through whom those descendants would be more numerous than the stars of the heavens.

The only thing was that Jesus was not born of a human father, and that is where we transitioned from the physical illustration, to the heavenly reality− that is how the Gentiles could be saved into God’s family without Abraham’s DNA. That is also why circumcision is not necessary for a Christian male, for physical DNA is irrelevant. Instead, the thing that counts is not our human birth or lineage, but rather being born again of the Spirit.

It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Romans 4:13-15

Abraham did not receive God’s blessing because he followed the Law, when Abraham was alive, there was no Law, for that came centuries later. Abraham was blessed by God because he believed God, and so it is for us to this day.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:1-3

Having stated his thesis in the last section, Paul moves on now to prove it; what better place to begin than the story of Abraham? After all, all Jewish history begins with Father Abraham. Abraham found favor in God’s sight, but that favor wasn’t the result of his works, it was found because of his faith. He was no more perfect than you or me, in fact he made some bizarre mistakes, and still he was righteous in God’s sight because of one thing and one thing only: He believed God. God offered Abraham a promise, and Abraham decided that he would believe God, and God decided that Abraham was righteous when the only thing he had done was to make a decision to believe God.

Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness

Romans 4:4-5

Paul illustrates this idea with an example. A man who works has earned his wage as an obligation on the employer’s part. The employer pays the worker nothing until the payment has been earned through work, and when the obligation is paid, the employer has no obligation whatsoever to pay anything else. A gift is different, for it is given freely− if it isn’t given freely, then it isn’t a gift. In the same way, grace is not earned by working because if it was it wouldn’t be grace; it would be a payment for services.

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.

Romans 4:6-8

David had a sense of what was to come when he wrote this, for there is no specific provision in the Law for what he referred to here. David, like Abraham, believed God and was a man after God’s own heart even though he was far from perfect. Believing God, he perceived  a time that was coming when God would provide for outright forgiveness for those who would place their faith in Him and so he decided to do his best, as had Abraham long before, to live as though God’s promise was already fulfilled: We call that faith.

Oh yes, and God, through Jesus Christ, took care of the rest!

Romans 3:21-31

In the first main section of Romans, Paul demonstrates that Mankind is in a perilous situation, for none can be saved through the working of law− unless of course one is perfect.

But we are not perfect.

Paul’s purpose in writing the second main section of Romans is to let us know that there is another way, apart from the workings of law; the way of grace. This concept however, is as complex as it is simple, an apparent dichotomy that gives trouble to many in understanding it. Comprehending that none of us is perfect really isn’t difficult; we see it in others, we see it in ourselves, human imperfection is ubiquitous. Comprehending that God’s standards are way too high for mere mortals isn’t that complicated either, after all He’s God. Yet if God’s standards are so high and we are so imperfect, how can God maintain His standards while letting us off the hook? Ah yes dear reader, that is the tricky part, isn’t it? Paul answers that question in 3:21 – 5:21, the second major section of the letter.

 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify (3:21). God has introduced a new system, a system that is apart from the Law; entirely new. Yet in doing so, God has maintained the high standard of the Law without compromising His integrity that the Law has demonstrated. It is a system that has been promised in the past, and now it has finally been revealed. In verses 22-24 Paul explains that this new system is based upon our placing our faith in Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith (25a). Here is where Paul tells us how God has done this amazing thing. Then Paul reveals the tricky part:

to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:25b-26

When an Old Testament Jew died, he died in his sins, for the sacrifices of the Law did not take sins away, they postponed punishment for a year at a time. Under that system, God agreed to hold off dealing with the sin question, but He didn’t agree to forget about it entirely; a permanent solution would come later which is how Jesus became the fulfillment of the Law. Now Jesus has come and completed His work, and if we would like to receive God’s grace we may, but in order to receive it, we must place our faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for both Jew and Gentile, from Paul’s day until now.

Suppose I wrote out a check to you for $100,000. as a gift. Before I sent it to you, I shoot you an email asking you if you would be interested in accepting my nice gift, for I wouldn’t want to clutter up your mailbox if you didn’t want it; all I’m asking is that you send a quick reply and let me know that you will accept it, and the gift is yours. I’d almost be willing to bet that most of you would hurt my feelings by not placing enough faith in me to accept this gift that I’ve worked so hard to be able to offer you! Why I would imagine that if I just mailed the check to you, most would be afraid to cash it, some might even call the police.

I’m hurt, dear reader, I’m hurt…

In any event, this is the case that Paul is setting out to demonstrate in this section as he moves on to verses 27-31, where he points out that the result of this grace is that there is no longer any distinction in God’s sight between Jew or Gentile, and that the redemption we have received in Christ has nothing to do with any righteousness we might have apart from God’s grace: This is the fulfillment of both the Law and the prophets.

Yet, this is not to say that there is nothing we do to receive grace, however. Does that surprise you? To be quite honest, there are three things we must do to receive grace, but you can relax, for none of them involve our earning of grace in any way− but we must accept it. To accept grace, we must decide to believe God when He offers it. Second, if we decide to believe God’s offer, we must then decide to place our faith in Jesus Christ, and then we must decide that our first two decisions are irrevocable.

Look, you already lost out on $100,000. of free money because you didn’t make those decisions, how much more important is forgiveness of your sins and eternal life? Come on people; let’s make up our minds here!

Hopefully Paul can make this point with more eloquence than I have. We’ll see as we continue our study…

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Romans 3:9

We have arrived at Paul’s conclusion of what he has been discussing in this, the first main section of Romans. Without any doubt, his conclusion is one of those “good news – bad news” kind of things. The good news is that neither Jew nor Gentile has anything over the other: They have amazing equality. The bad news is that they both have serious problems with God.

Verse 9 leads us right into the fray: The Jewish Christians have no advantage over the Gentile Christians, because the very thing that makes them Jewish is the Law, and the Law condemns them for their disobedience to it.

In verses 10-18, Paul cites Old Testament passages to bear this out; I’ll let you read them on your own…

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 3:19-20

Does anybody really want to go back to the Law?

This is precisely why God promised deliverance through Jesus Christ, for the Law could never make a person righteous in His sight, and it is also precisely why God has no intention of ever going back to the Law in the future. The Law has served its purpose by making the people aware of their sin and their need of salvation. If you look at the world around you, you might notice that apart from God, people have a nasty habit of not noticing that their ways aren’t exactly all that wonderful. Of course, we know that the Law also had a second purpose, that of binding God’s people together into a Kingdom, a Nation, and in the Old Testament, it did so in form by providing an illustration of what would come in Christ.

And then Jesus came and fulfilled the Law entirely, bringing about, by His sacrifice on the cross, a wholly new kind of Nation, a Nation that is not of this world, but rather a Kingdom of Heaven, a Kingdom that is within us even now.

When we next get together, Paul begins a new section in Romans, one that explains the redemptive work of our Lord; see you then.

Romans 3:1-8

I really enjoy these passages in which Paul uses a style called “modified diatribe” or as I would say, a rant. In these verses, Paul gets into an argument with himself. To be sure, he is not confused about these issues, he instead is trying to anticipate common objections to the revolutionary statements he has made at the end of chapter 2, and in all likelihood these reflect arguments that he has had with prominent Jews in the past.

The first of these questions and answers is found in verses 1 and 2 where Paul asks the question: What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? (v. 1) and then provides the answer:  Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. (v. 2)

Since Abraham’s day, the Jews have had a special relationship with God, and it was to them that God provided His Word, and to them that He trusted that His Word would be protected and obeyed, which of course takes us back to the problem of their unfaithfulness. They had the relationship and the Word and the Law… and they didn’t keep it.

The next Q & A is in verses 3-4:

Q: What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? (v. 3)

A: Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge. (v. 4)

The question relates to the proposition that if God would punish His people for their disobedience, then God would be acting in a way that was unfaithful to His covenant promises in the Law, namely that He would be their God and they would be His people. Paul flatly rejects this premise in verse 4 (“Not at all!”) but that exposes a fundamental error in the understanding of many people, both then and now, who miss the fact that God made two kinds of promises in the Old Covenant, for as you read through the Law, you will find that it is full of “blessings and curses”.  There are promises of blessing for those who keep the Law, and curses, which are also promises, for those who break the Law. To put it another way, if a person kept the Law, they would be entitled to claim the promise of a blessing, but if they broke it, God promised to curse them, thus for God to provide the blessing and forget the curse would mean that He wasn’t faithful to the whole Law.

This is the point that Paul makes in verses 5-8:

But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

Paul mentions in verse 5 that this is a human argument. As we read it, we might even think it is a frivolous argument, which it is. These are just the kinds of arguments that often trip us up; silly ones, based on human thinking that cannot begin to see things from any perspective other than a personal one; they are the kinds of arguments that children make.