The promise for Abraham and his seed is to inherit the cosmos (Romans 4:1-25 from a NPP)
July 3rd, 2009 by Dustin
Here is the link: http://www.timberlandbiblechurch.org/audio/dustin’s%20personal%20mp3s/romansaudio5.mp3
Again, please don’t comment unless you listened to the teaching. Enjoy!
Summary
4:1-8 – Abraham’s faith – believing the promise.
4:9-15 – Not by circumcision and not by Torah.
4:16-17 – The whole family, according to the promise.
4:18-25 – God gives life to the dead and the meaning of Christian faith.
Chapter 4
Should be read in the same argument with 3:21-31. It should be taken as a single argument. Notice how chapter 4 will ultimately answer what 3:21 begins to ask:
“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets”
How is it that Paul can say “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” in 3:28, and then conclude by saying that “Do we nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law” (3:29)?
Paul needs to argue that men are justified by faith apart from works of Torah, AND that this is clearly taught within Torah!
Alternative translation to 4:1
“What then shall we say? Have we found Abraham to be our forefather according to the flesh?
Does this mean that if we are not God’s covenant people that we have to be incorporated into the physical family of Abraham? Answered in 4:16
No, because if we go back to Abraham, he was reckoned to God as righteousness (a covenant member) through faith.
4:5
“But to the one… believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith was credited as righteousness”
Cf. Exodus 23:7 “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.
Rom 3:25 – He passed over the sins previously committed.
Genesis 15- faith and righteousness (covenant membership)
Genesis 17- circumcision
The promise always envisioned faith because it was ultimately to go to the entire world, not just a single race.
V16-17
God always planned a single worldwide family (a single people).
God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
-Dead need to be brought back to life (Ezek 37)
-“Call” those who don’t exist = Gentiles
V20-21
yet, with respect to the promise of God, he:
1- did not waver in unbelief but
2- grew strong in faith,
3- giving glory to God, and
4- being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Therefore it was credited to him as righteousness.
Failure to worship God results in corrupting and human degradation*
1 God as creator is ignored by humans (1:25) (4:17)
2- Human bodies dishonored because of idolatry (1:24) (4:19)
3- Humans did not glorify God as God (1:21) (4:20)
4- Humans knew about God’s power but failed to worship (1:20) (4:21)
5- The dishonoring of bodies by females and males turning away from one another (1:26-27) (4:19)
I enjoyed hearing this teaching from Romans.
Here are some of my notes:
Faith restores us, many problems fixed by having the faith God wants us to have
Believing God’s promises the key
John the baptist first preaching the kingdom and how God’s people
began to be defined by his preaching
Here are some things I heard and want to investigate further:
Call- Is this the sound of the Word, the distinction in the sounds
of the good news that we begin to hear (understand?) which
is a revealing of God’s promises? , repeated sounds God gives
us which keeps us interested in order that we continue
Divide- See Isaiah 53, Was Christ divided and given to the great
(broken body given to those who are rich in faith?)
The promise to Abraham that he will be a father of many nations-
Is this to be thought of as more than having lived in this world,
and having offspring that continued on? Doesn’t this include an
active ‘fathering’ by Abraham in eternity? (Abraham sitting in the
throne with Jesus in eternity, fathering the nations? Also, the
Lord’s throne in heaven is for all who believe. All of us have a
place in it. One throne made up of many thrones)
“Of the faith of Abraham”- look at Genesis 18:19, the things God
saw in Abraham.
When I hear a good teaching of the word, I often get moved into
other things. I think that’s as it should be.
Hope you all listen and enjoy it as I did.
I would say that “call” is again the word Paul uses to desctibe what the gospel does in our lives and the role it takes, regardless of our response. Note how Paul uses “call”-
NAU 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
NAU 1 Corinthians 7:18 Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised.
NAU 1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that.
NAU Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
NAU Galatians 1:15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased
NAU Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
NAU Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
NAU Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Hope that helps.
Dustin
It’s the call of God that brings us into our high calling in Christ Jesus.
I noticed something with Abraham in Genesis 18. It’s like he knew,
or saw, or perceived that the city of Sodom was one and that within it there may have been some righteousness, but that God would
judge the city as being one and everyone in it subject to the judgement of God that he would bring upon the whole.
It seems that Abraham understood that situation as being ‘of one
body’ in a sense….aspects of the gospel, hidden in a mystery?
There was a plea for mercy, depending on a condition of 50
If that many were just, it could be saved on condition if ifty
Then it was brought down to forty
It then could be saved, maybe, kinda, sorty
So it was brought down to thirty
If maybe it could be found for surety
Then down to twenty
If maybe a salvation for plenty
But then down to ten
If only a few righteous men
But there was only one righteous ever
Jesus, the one who sinned never
Now that all people he might save
Whosoever believe on his name
So in this story of Sodom there’s a call of God to intercede, and to understand that judgment is coming. There’s also the understanding that God is able to save the righteous out of the world, especially those who will leave and never look back. There’s
also a hint that through the righteousness of some other, the whole
could be saved from the wrath of God.
Does God spare nations for the sake of a righteous few? I think so.
Let’s never underestimate the value of good intercession and righteous living. Those who will live righteously will need the righteousness of Christ to cover for them as well as his intercession
for us, his mediation according to the will of God. I wonder, how will
we know what righteousness God requires for the saving of a city
or nation? How will we know the amount? Will it be fifty or twenty,
or less? Will it be ten or thirty or more?
Here’s a verse that caught my attention from Romans.
Romans 4:16
For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the decendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
It seems to me that I should ask the question concerning those who pertain to the promise guaranteed, who are spoken of as
‘of the law’ here, and that question is…”When, before or after Christ?”
I believe there were those who were of faith who were of the law,
before Christ, who received the promise spoken of here, by faith,
but now, after Christ has come, what about those who are ‘of the
law’, are they of faith or not?
Can a man be under the law today and still be of faith? It seems to
me that he will find himself a bit out of step with God, and a bit out
of time.
Maybe there are some today who are making that transition out of
the law and into the faith of Christ. They are doing as they should be doing. Some might still hold to some traditions ‘of the law’ and yet know the liberty that is in Christ, having their confidence not in the law, but in him who freed them from the law. That’s fine, isn’t
it?
I would say that we should be patient with those people. What Paul would say, from what we read in Romans and Galatians, is that those who still have one foot in Torah should not divide from other believers on issues such as circumcision, Sabbath keeping, or purity laws. Doing those things are not what marks out the people of God under the New Covenant.
I would also point out to those Rom 8:1-4 and 10:4.
Dustin
There’s so much light in Romans. In walking through some deep things of God, God teaches us by his spirit.