Romans 4 -- Lawyer Speak Translated

Paul was a former Jewish lawyer, and his arguments regarding faith are unshakeable.  Yet the lawyer-talk can almost get a normal person lost.  I loved how my commentary cut to the chase:

 

The Jews were basing their salvation on being physical descendants of Abraham, on being circumcised (tough for the women to comply) and on following the law of Moses.  Yet they’d completely overlooked something that Paul points out:  God had declared Abraham righteous 14 years before he’d been circumcised and hundreds of years before Moses had received the law.  Abraham couldn’t have read the law and determined to follow it.

 

He also didn’t have a Bible, he was almost alone as a believer, and there were no believers before him with a long record of faithfulness – all the things we have today to help us believe.

 

There was another point I liked – the part about resurrection in verses 17-25.  My commentary said that what this had to do with Abraham was that reproductively, he and Sarah were both “dead”.  But God resurrected that part of their being, from the dead, and allowed them to have a child.  It was that one promise from God that Abraham had believed and clung to.  Despite his reproductive death, Abraham still believed that what God promises, He performs.

 

I also loved what I read about David here, from Psalm 32:1-2.  God imputes (credits to our account, must like interest) righteousness, not sins.  “Once we are justified, our record contains Christ’s perfect righteousness and can never again contain our sins.  Christians do sin, and these sins need to be forgiven if we are to have fellowship with God, but these sins are not held against us.  God keeps a record of our works, so that He might reward us when Jesus comes, but He is not keeping a record of our sins.”

 

Father, thanks for such a better understanding of these very technical human terms describing our relationship with You.  Thank You for Your Son and for His taking on of my sins so that You could credit me with His righteousness – an invaluable and totally undeserved gift from You!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford