The Father of the Faithful
The Father of the Faithful
Romans 4:1-12
My grandparents were the first husband and wife in the history of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin to both serve as president of the city council. My grandmother taught health at the University of Wisconsin while my grandfather worked at a local hardware store. They were first generation Americans from Norway. They raised their children in the Missouri Synod Lutheran church. My grandmother was a great cook, had strong opinions, and was stubborn. My grandfather was hardworking, servant-hearted, and never met a stranger. We would visit my grandparents for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. They helped shape who I am.
Parents and grandparents matter. Our family heritage shapes us. We all have a history. Our history helps shape our identity. How has your history helped to shape your identity? Each one of us has our own unique story. Each family has its own history. But each Christian is part of the same story. We have a shared family history. We have a common heritage. If you believe in Christ by faith, you are children of Abraham.
Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
Our family history matters. Paul shows in Romans 4 how all Christians are part of the same family and why it matters.
We will work through our text by asking four questions of Abraham and his descendants.
What was gained by Abraham? (v.1)
Paul is writing to a church filled with Jewish and Gentile believers. He has laid the foundation showing how all are sinners and both are only saved through faith in Jesus. Romans 3:23-24,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Paul is not highlighting their differences, but what they have in common. At the end of chapter 3, Paul writes in Romans 3:20,
Since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and uncircumcised through faith.
Paul knows that someone is going to object to this teaching so he asks the question for them. Romans 4:1,
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
In other words, why does it matter that I have descended from Abraham?
The Jews took great pride in their history. Their identity was wrapped up in their heritage. They were special because they were Jewish. Their whole lives and culture was tied to their ethnicity. Now Paul is saying that salvation is not merely given to ethnic Israel but to the Gentiles as well. It is a very simple question to the beginning of the previous chapter, Romans 3:1,
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Paul’s teaching is shaking up their worldview. It is rocking their identity.
Imagine you were 25 years old and your parents came to you and told you were adopted. Everything you once thought instantly changed. Your identity would be shaken. “Was everything I thought I knew about myself a lie? Well then who am I?” This is what is happening to Jewish believers as they are listening to Paul. “Does it even matter that I am Jewish?” Tap into that emotions as Paul will explain that their family heritage is even better than they thought.
What was given to Abraham? (v. 2-5)
Paul is in the meat of his argument. Justification is by faith. One is declared not guilty of their sins and forgiven on the basis of Jesus Chrsit and his righteousness and not from works. For no one will be justified by the works of law. And has made his argument and now he turns to Abraham to further make his case. Romans 4:2–5,
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 believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Abraham was given righteousness. It was a gift by faith. He did not earn it.
The concept is clear. When we work, we earn wages. We agree to perform certain tasks, like teaching math or uploading data or filing claims, then our employers agree to pay us. We work, and we then deserve wages. Now if Abraham was justified by what he did then he would get the credit. He would earn his salvation by what he did. And Paul is emphatically making his argument, from Scripture, that Abraham was given righteousness not by what he did, but through faith.
Abraham was given a promise in Genesis 12. One of the greatest promises in the Bible. Genesis 12:2–3,
[2] And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. [3] I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
He was given this promise, but years have passed and he still does not have a child. Abraham begins to be impatient on when the promise will be fulfilled. After years of no children, and having one of his servant as his heir, God speaks to him, Genesis 15:4–6,
[4] And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” [5] And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” [6] And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Abraham believed God and God counted his faith to him as righteousness. Abraham did not earn his righteousness, it was given to him.
He uses Abraham to undercut pride and entitlement. The Jews believed they deserved salvation because of their heritage and their obedience to the law. They thought it was their due. They thought they were entitled to righteousness. If I do this, God must do that. And it may be easy for us to fall in the same trap. If I come to church every week and serve and give my money to support God’s mission, then I deserve comfort, good health, obedient children, recognition, or a relationship. When we think God owes something because of what we do, we believe we can earn our righteousness. We think we deserve it.
Can you see any entitlement in you? When you do not get what you want from God, and you become bitter or upset, you are struggling with entitlement. You believe you deserve or have earned what you desire. You are living in a works-based mentality. And you have fallen from grace. If we are honest with ourselves, it probably happens more than we think.
What is given to those of Abraham? (v. 5-8)
And then Paul writes a profound sentence. He connects Abraham’s faith and God’s free righteousness to us. If we believe like Abraham, we will receive what he received. Our faith will be counted to us as righteousness. Romans 4:4,
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
The one who believes he can’t earn his salvation, but believes only God can justify the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness like Abraham. Focus on that word, ungodly. You are ungodly. Abraham is ungodly. To be ungodly is to have missed the mark and fallen short of God’s glory. Every single person is ungodly. We are not like God. We are sinners. We are wicked. Evil. Rebellious. And yet, God will count us righteous if we believe.
What do we have to believe? We have to believe that God sent Jesus Christ to be put forward as our atoning sacrifice. We must believe that Jesus lived a perfect life and died to pay for our sins in our place on the cross. He must believe that he not only died for us, but three days later was raised from the dead. His resurrection is proof that God will give righteousness to those who believe because Jesus was given his due, or what he earned for his righteousness. Are you trying to earn your righteousness by what you do or are you believing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to you?
Paul is showing how being a child of Abraham by faith is much better than being a child of Abraham by the flesh. The one who is in Abraham by faith is truly blessed as King David points out in Psalm 32. Again, Paul is using the Scriptures to make his point. He is not dismissing what it means to be a Jew, but he is teaching what it actually means to be a true Jew. Romans 4:6–8,
[J]ust as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“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.”
We are given righteousness by faith and blessedness by faith. The blessedness is the peace that gives to us on the basis of our righteousness. To be blessed is to be deeply secure and content and happy in God regardless of any circumstances.
When God solves your greatest problem, how can you not live in peace? Think of your lawless deeds. Think of your evil sins. Your lies, lusts, anger. Your pride, greed, sloth, arrogance and fear. Think of what you deserve for those sins. You deserve eternal hell. You deserve to be sent out from the presence of God. you deserve to be judged. And yet, in Christ Jesus, those lawless deeds are forgiven. Through faith in the blood of the Lamb, those sins are covered. You are blessed. You are deeply secure and content and happy in God regardless of what circumstance you are in.
God gives righteousness and blessedness to us in Christ. Let me ask you, are you living a blessed life? Do people know you as a man or woman who is content and happy in God? Or do people know you as one who complains or grumbles at the circumstances of your life? If you are prone to complain or grumble, you are not thinking enough of the blessedness of being in Christ Jesus. And our complaining is most likely a sign of our entitlement and what we think we are due because of our work.
We are given righteousness by faith and because we are given righteousness by faith, we should display the joy of being blessed. God used my grandmother often to teach me this principle. I worked to pay my expenses in college. And there were many months where I did not have the money I needed to pay my rent or expenses. And like undeserved grace, my grandmother would “randomly” send me a check to pay exactly what I needed. Those checks were regularly reminders of the righteousness freely given to me and the blessedness of being cared for by a loving heavenly Father. Beloved, we are ungodly and are justified freely in Christ and counted righteous!!! Let us be people who focus more on what we do have, not on what we don’t.
Who is grafted in with Abraham? (v. 9-12)
Paul continues his argument reminding his readers of the blessedness of faith over works. The blessing of inherited righteousness is not given only to the Jews but all who like Abraham, believe. Romans 4:9–10,
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For 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.
Abraham was called by God in Genesis 12. He believed and was counted righteous in Genesis 15. And he was given the sign of circumcision in Genesis 17. The question Paul asks is a key one, “How then was it counted to him?” Was it counted to him by faith or by works? It was by faith before his obedience in circumcision.
Beloved, this is crucial for us. God does not say clean your life up then come to me. He doesn’t say be godly and then you will be saved. He simply says believe. Believe and you will be righteous. Faith comes before obedience. Obedience is merely a sign of faith. And this is what Paul says, Romans 4:11–12,
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.
Abraham is the father of faith for two groups. He is the father of faith to those who believe without being circumcised and he is the father of faith to those who are not merely circumcised but believe like Abraham.
It is fitting that we had baptisms today as baptism and circumcision are connected as a sign of faith. Colossians 2:11–14,
[11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. [13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Baptism is the outward sign of inward faith. Baptism doesn’t save but displays salvation. We have been buried with Christ. Our sins have been taken to the symbolic grave and we have been raised from the dead by faith. God has forgiven all of our trespasses by canceling the record of our debt through his blood. He nailed our sins to the cross so that our lawless deeds could be forgiven and our sin covered.
The Church of the New Testament is not like Israel of the Old. Israel was primarily identified ethnically and their keeping of the law. The church is not built on ethnic or nationalist lines, but on faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone. As John Piper says,
The Church is not a continuation of Israel as a whole; it is a continuation of the true Israel, the remnant—not the children of the flesh, but the children of promise.
The church is a continuation of true Israel who were children of Abraham by faith. We see this in verse 12 where Paul specifies who belonged to the true Israel, “and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” The church is a spiritual community built on faith not an ethnic community built on obedience. Baptism is a sign of faith for those who believe in Christ who testify that God justifies the ungodly through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our family heritage matters. We are grafted into Abraham’s family by faith. And we now show that being living as part of a family of faith in the church. It is much better to be a child of Abraham by faith and not merely according to the flesh. Being part of the family means something. It probably means far more than we give it credit for. When we understand we are part of the family, our lives change. When we understand who is in our family, our lives change. When we understand who brings our family together, our lives change. Jesus Christ has made a way for everyone who believes in him to be part of his family. As John writes in the opening of his gospel, John 1:12–13,
But to all who did receive [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
To be born of God, is not of works, it is not our due, it is a gracious act of God by faith.
The question today is not is your family history important, but what family history is most important? You are not defined primarily by your flesh, but your faith. The family history we have with Christ is the most important heritage we could ever have. For Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, and I am one of them, I pray so are you. Let's all praise the Lord.