Romans 4:6-15
by:
Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com
Romans 4:6
Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons
righteousness apart from works:
Paul now jumps ahead to another brief illustration prior to getting back
to his discussion of Abraham. This is very wise because he will quote David.
The religious Jew may be thinking at this point that all this is fine regarding
Abraham but Abraham live prior to the giving of the OT Law (by about 600
years).
But David lived and ruled under the OT Law:
"just as" is a conjunction from the adverb KAQWS and means "just,
exactly as", i.e., no difference in God's grace with Abraham, with
David, with the people to whom Paul writes, or to us.
Blessing comes a part from works . . . we cannot expect to work for a blessing.
God is greater in grace than that.
Romans 4:7,8
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins
have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into
account. (quoting Psalm 32:1,2)
Psalm 32 is a companion Psalm to Psalm 51, David's Psalm of confession after
his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite.
In both Psalms he is overwhelmed by the grace of God and forgiving him of
his sin.
PRINCIPLE: We will sin, and when we do, we can confess that sin and by faith
return to fellowship with God. We should also be overwhelmed at the graciousness
of God.
In Psalm 32 David encourages others who have sinned to return to the Lord
for His gracious forgiveness.
Believers who are in some system of works get OOF and stay OOF due to their
guilt and shame but God is gracious to forgive.
By quoting Daved in these Psalms, Paul brings what was true regarding justification
by faith prior to the giving of the Law to what was true after the giving
of the Law.
Abraham lived about 2000 BC. The Law was given in 1440 BC and David lived
about 1000 BC.
Yet justification was not in any way altered by the absence of the Law or
the presence of the Law or now, the fulfillment of the Law.
Verses 9 to 12 deal with the extent of the blessings.
Romans 4:9
Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised
also? For we say, Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.
The prepositions used here show us how justification and blessing work:
1. The preposition "upon" is EPI, which is a superlative
and looks at something resting upon something else. Here, the blessings
of God are resting upon the believer.
There is blessing for the one who is justified: he is saved, he is in God's
family, and he has tremendous potential.
2. When the verse states that it was "faith" that brought about
the declaration of righteousness it uses the preposition EIS which can be
translated with a view towards or leading towards.
It is faith, non-meritorious, that results in justification which is the
imputation of +R which sets up a potential for +R in time and secures +R
in eternity.
But what we have right now is the blessing, all we need to do is recognize
it. Are we aware of the fantastic blessings that are ON us right now.
Some who read this verse came up with two objections:
1. This blessing by faith is only to the Jews, the circumcised.
Abraham is the Father of the Jews so it is limited. But as we have seen,
the imputation of righteousness came prior to circumcision.
2. The other objection not stated could be that this FAITH system is only
for the Gentiles, whereas the Jews have a Law / Works system.
Topic: FAITH
Verse 10 starts to deal with these objections.
Romans 4:10
How then was it reckoned? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?
Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;
The imputation of righteousness for Abraham came fourteen years after the
events of Genesis 15 when he was justified by faith and credited with righteousness.
Circumcision, occurring much later, was a sign of what God had done fourteen
years earlier.
Romans 4:11
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness
of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father
of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be
reckoned to them,
Topic: CIRCUMCISION
So Abraham becomes a great example of righteousness imputed as a result
of justification by faith and faith alone in that it occurred prior to circumcision.
ABRAHAM IS THE FATHER OF ALL WHO BELIEVE and circumcision is not an issue:
1. He is the father of the One Seed: The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew
1 genealogy)
2. He is the spiritual father of all believers, because the only way to
become a believer is the same way he became a believer and that is by faith.
Galatians 3:29, "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
offspring, heirs according to promise."
3. He is the earthly father of all Jews by way of Isaac and physical lineage.
PRINCIPLE: Abraham is the only member of the human race that was a righteous
Gentile and a righteous Jew. He is the Father of all of us who put faith
alone in the promise of God.
Romans 4:12,13
And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision,
but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which
he had while uncircumcised.
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of
the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Here we see Paul making a transition to the fact that faith is the system
by which Abraham trusted God for all things.
If we can trust Him for salvation we can trust Him for sanctification and
glorification.
Every blessing of God comes to the believer by way of faith.
ROMANS 4:14-22 asks the question "What about the Law?"
Romans 4:14
For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise
is nullified;
Simply put, you cannot have it both ways. God did not institute a system
of Law for some and Faith for others. These Law systems, which are the systems
of works vs grace, are incompatible and mutually exclusive.
If it is Law, notice what happens if Law is the system:
1. Faith on our part is made empty: Perfect tense. As soon as
Law gets into the process faith is void.
2. The promise in God's part is destroyed: Again a perfect tense indicating
that God's promises would be destroyed if Law-Works were the system.
Topic: LEGALISM
Romans 4:15
For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is
there violation.
This is the explanation of the previous statement.
1. For you see, Law brings about wrath. The phrase "brings
about" is a very strong word for something that works according to
a standard. Here the standard is the Law and wrath or the ORGE or anger
of God works according to the standard of the Law.
This tells us that if we rely upon the Law-Works system there is only one
outcome, the wrath of God.
2. In contrast, where there is no Law there is not violation or transgression:
The word "violatin", PARABASIS, is technical and looks at violations
or transgressions of a legal code.
In Romans 2:23 this word is translated "breaking the Law".
In Galatians 3:19 we read: "Why the Law then? It was added because
of transgressions . . . until the seed should come to whom the promise had
been made."
Now take away the Law and there is no identification of violation.
The OT Law with its 600 ordinances for living for all the Sons of Israel
was very specific and yet it also gave freedom to Israel in the areas in
which there was no Law.
Simply put: NO LAW = NO BREAKING OF WHAT DOES NOT EXIST.
The church today must understand that principle because so many believers
try to establish law where there is not law. If God chose not to lay down
a law in a specific area of life then that area comes under doubtful things,
not the DOs and the DON'Ts.
One purpose of the Law was to show man that he was a transgressor of God's
righteousness.
End of Lesson 17
Grace Notes
Warren Doud
1705 Aggie Lane, Austin, Texas 78757
Phone: 512-458-8923
E-Mail: wdoud@bga.com
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