Romans 4:13-25
Notes
Transcript
13-17 18-25
13-17 18-25
13-17
13-17
13
13
The previous passage dealt with disproving that the circumcision had anything to do with reason for Abraham’s promise, in verse 13 Paul then goes on to also say it was not the law, that was given more than 500 years after Abraham, that is the promise or the reason for any righteousness attributed to Abraham or anyone but faith.
14
14
If anyone could adhere to the law, which no sinful fallen person can, but if you could then righteousness is your due wages and if it were only the ones that could follow the law in its entirety that were to be the heirs of Abraham and the promise that was given to him, the promise of a land and the promise of a people more numerous than the stars, then the faith that Abraham had has no meaning and all are lost. Also the promise of the one to come the redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ is void, if you can through your own will and works follow the law then there is no need for a redeemer.
15
15
But the purpose of the law was not to be an achievable set of standards it was to show how holy God is and that we cannot follow it perfectly even for a little while let alone forever. The law shows us that we are all under God’s wrath because he is holy and perfect and this perfect standard is unobtainable because of our fallen state. The last part of verse 15 can be summed up as, if there is no law against something than that thing is not against the law, and Christ did not come to abolish the law but to uphold it because we could not. In that we have faith.
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16
This is why it all depends on faith, the law is perfect and holy and we cannot be perfect and holy, the promise of a redeemer from Abraham’s offspring and the faith that we have in that redeemer is a work of Grace from God, because without God’s grace we would not be able to have that faith, and this is so that our faith can be not a work from us but a gift from God. This gift of grace for faith is not only for the Jews but all who shares the faith Abraham had, therefore Abraham is father of all us all, all who have faith in God and the faith in our redeemer Jesus Christ because there is nothing that we have done or will do that has or can save us from the wrath that the law shows the wrath that we are all under.
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17
I have made you the father of many nations is quoted from Genesis 17:5 when God renamed Abram, which meant father of many, to Abraham, the father of many nations because he is the spiritual father, the model for all believers because of his belief. He believed God when He told him that he would have a son from Sarah even though both Abraham and Sarah were “as good as dead” when it came to childbirth because of their age, but Abraham had faith and God showed that their age, or Sarah’s barrenness even when she was in child bearing years was any hindrance to God fulfilling his promises, God can call things into existence that do not exist, create an entire universe from nothing but the power of his voice, such a thing as making an old couple fertile again is well in God’s omnipotent capabilities.
18-25
18-25
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18
Abraham had faith and believed that God would do what He said, even though he may have had moments of doubt, or could not understand how God was going to bring about his heir, even so he did believe and had faith that God would provide offspring and make him the father of many nations.
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As we said earlier Abraham was 99-100 years old and his body was no longer capable, and Sara was barren twice over, when she was young she could not conceive and now she was well past the child bearing age at 90. Neither of these facts caused Abraham to give up and stop believing that God would do what he said.
20-22
20-22
All of the physical limitations that there may have been or the lack of knowledge of how God would do what he promised could deter his faith and belief that ultimately God would be proven true and all of his promises would be fulfilled, and all the time he was giving glory to God, even after Isaac came Abraham trusted God and trusted that God would provide the sacrifice needed, willing to sacrifice his son, the promise fulfilled from God because that was what was commanded. Abraham had faith even then that if a substitute was not found then God had the power and could raise Isaac from the dead after he had been sacrificed, a foreshadowing of the Christ to come who would be the sacrifice to end all sacrifices and be raised up from the dead. Abraham had true solid unshakeable faith in God, and this is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.
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23
The bible is the true and living word of God and in its pages are not just history and past events, it is a living word and relevant and meaningful to us now, the words in Genesis that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness was not just part of Abraham’s tale, those words are also for us.
24-25
24-25
Because just like Abraham, we through the grace of God can have our faith counted to us as righteousness as well, our faith that Jesus is God, was born from a virgin as the God man, fully God and fully man, lived a perfect sinless life, took the punishment on the cross that was due to us, the punishment of the wrath of God that we are all due and that the law shows us we are due, that he gave up his life of his own will after the punishment was delivered, and that he was raised again on the third day showing that there is no sting in death for us who believe and have faith.