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Bible Study- Lutz, Florida
Established
November 2008
Rightly
Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
- Romans by the Book
Lesson 30
Just
to refresh our memories and so we can get off to a proper start our last lesson
ended at Romans chapter 4, verse 3. This
was where Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, reminded his Jewish objectors of a
Bible Truth:
Romans 4
3: For what does
the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED
GOD, AND IT (his
trust in God to do all He had promised) WAS
CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
As
I’ve said before “For what does the
Scripture say” is one of my favorite quotes from Scripture and I use it
often. The Apostle Paul borrows this
Bible verse too for a reason, as we shall soon see.
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For
Such a Time as This
By
Wayne Watson
(Refrain)
I was placed upon the earth
To hear the voice of God
And to do His will, whatever it is
For such a time as this
For now and all the days He gives
I am here, I am here and I am His
For such a time as this
All
of Romans chapter 4 is about Abraham and his Justification by faith (alone) apart
from works. The evidence of this event
is clearly written in Scripture.
Of
course Abraham had no idea that his example of stepping out in faith would be
so critical to the Apostle Paul’s Doctrine of Justification by Faith.
But
man is limited in his abilities are we not.
We
can’t see beyond the present moment.
However, the Creator God sees the entire picture from beginning to
end. Furthermore, everything God made
has a purpose.
Proverbs 16
4a: The LORD has
made everything for its own purpose.
Sometimes
God’s purpose is revealed in short order.
In other times, year’s even centuries pass by before God’s purpose is
“manifested” = show something clearly –
to make something evident by showing or demonstrating it very clearly.
When
the LORD God (Jehovah) chose Abram to be the father of a great nation (Genesis
12; 15) God saw a special quality in him that no other man on earth possessed at
that time in history; long before Abraham was.
How
do we know this Truth. It’s in your
Bible.
You
just have to spend some time looking these things up.
Long
before the creation event the Holy Trinity met in counsel and “predetermined”
the plans for the entire human race from start to finish (see Acts 2:22-23).
In
addition to that we Have Jesus’ own word, please turn to the book of John.
John 8
56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it (through the eyes of faith) and was glad.”
57: So the Jews
said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58: Jesus said to
them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
I
chose these verses to teach you that Jesus has always existed.
He
didn’t just appear on the scene in that tiny manger in Bethlehem.
Jesus
is the Creator God. He is Jehovah in the
O.T. and the Messiah in the N.T.
Let’s
get back to Abraham. When the Creator
God chose him, no one knew or believed in the one true God. We should review our Biblical Timeline:
- The Tower of Babel was approximately 2175 BC
- The Calling of Abraham was approximately 2000 BC
- The Mosaic Law was given to Moses approximately 1500 BC
Only
25 years separates the Tower of
Babel experience from the calling of Abram.
If
you’ll recall from our Genesis study, the Tower of Babel is the beginning of
all false pagan worship. Every false
religion on this planet tonight, I don’t care what it is or where it is, every
one of them have their roots back at the Tower of Babel.
From
the midst of all that paganism and idolatry God chose one man to be the father of a great nation. But this paganism existed even in Abram’s own
home, that’s why God told Abram to leave his country, his relative’s, and his
father’s house. God wanted him separated
from all that evil influence! Of course,
we know from Scripture he didn’t do this.
But that’s for another Bible lesson.
Why
am I mentioning all of this? It ties
right in with Romans 4:3.
You
see, one of Paul’s main concerns, at this time, was to answer Jewish objections
to the Doctrine of Justification by faith (alone).
Paul
decided the best way to approach this was to introduce the Biblical example of
Father Abraham into his discussion. This
was a wise decision.
His
Jewish brethren could easily relate to him and he was the man that the LORD God had personally chosen to start the
line of Israel.
All of Israel would
agree that Abraham was “justified” and
he was declared “righteous” by the
LORD God; the only question was when.
Paul
knew the Scriptures, as any God fearing Jew must, therefore, the Jews would
agree that whatever was true of Abraham must also be true of them.
Therefore,
Paul reaches back into Jewish history, to the very beginning actually, to bring
forward the case of the founder of the Jewish nation. If he could show these gentlemen that Abraham
was justified by faith apart from works of the Law, then Paul’s teaching
could not be declared false.
For Such a Time as
This
So,
what does the Scripture say?
Romans 4
3b: “ABRAHAM
BELIEVED GOD, AND IT (this act of faith) WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Do
you understand Paul’s strategy?
He’s
using the Word of God to prove his case.
Let’s
review Scripture.
Romans 4
4: Now to the one
who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
5: But to the one
who does not work, but (does what) believes
in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
6: just as David (Paul is referring
to King David) also speaks of the
blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7: “BLESSED ARE
THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED,
AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
8: “BLESSED (or happy) IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE
INTO ACCOUNT.”
9: Is this blessing
then on the circumcised (the Jews), or
on the uncircumcised also? For we say,
“FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
10: How then was it
(his
faith) credited? While he was circumcised, or
uncircumcised? Not while circumcised,
but while uncircumcised;
11: and he received
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had
while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without
being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,
12: 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.
Let’s
examine these verses closely.
Verse
4:
Now to the one who
works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
A
Jewish objector may well ask Paul this question, “What difference does it
make?
“So
what if Abraham was saved by faith what does that mean for me?”
Paul
explains, “When you go to work, you labor to earn a paycheck. It isn’t a gift.
Your
paycheck is payment for the “work” you performed.”
That’s
not so hard to figure out. A paycheck is
certainly not a gift. You earned it.
If
salvation is by works, then God owes you eternal life in heaven.
But
I would ask, “How many good works must a person perform in his or her life?
Is
there a point system, and what sort of good deeds count; what doesn’t count?
I’ve
been around awhile and I’ve never seen any information about this posted in any
church building. I’ve never seen it in
any book or pamphlet or a description of the type of good deeds you must do or
how often. I’ve read the Bible; there’
absolutely no information concerning this works based theology.
We’ve
already learned from chapter three that salvation by works is unacceptable to
God. (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 2:8-9).
Verse
5:
But to the one who
does not work, but (does
what) believes in Him who
justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
We’re
only in chapter 4 of Romans but you should know by now that God will not accept
salvation by works of any kind.
But
any sinner who approaches God with a humble heart and in faith, still filthy
and unclean, true; not only will He save you but He will begin a process that
cleans you up inside and out. But
salvation always comes first.
Verse
6-8:
…just as David (Paul is referring
to King David) also speaks of the
blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
“BLESSED ARE THOSE
WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED, AND
WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
“BLESSED (or happy) IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE
INTO ACCOUNT.”
Paul
introduces another Old Testament inspirational force in these verses.
He
quotes the words of King David in Psalm 32.
Here’s another thing to consider.
Abraham lived before the Law.
King David lived under the Law.
If these two men both agree on “justification”
by faith, then Paul’s case is airtight.
In
case you’re not familiar with Psalm 32, it’s part of David’s confession to God
after his sin with Bathsheba. You may
know the account (see 2 Samuel 11).
King
David confessed his sins to God, and God forgave him. Of course there were consequences because of King
David’s sins, but the relationship between God and David was restored. This brought David to write, “Blessed (happy) are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man whose
sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Verse
9:
Is this blessing
then on the circumcised (the Jews), or
on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “FAITH
WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
We’re
going to stay focused on the Jews or the “circumcised”
in this part of the lesson.
We
look at this verse today and say circumcision – no biggie.
It’s
just a medical procedure right?
But
in Abraham’s day and in the Apostle Paul’s day it meant a great deal.
It
was a sacred ceremony (an everlasting covenant) ordained by the LORD God between
Him and the Jewish males (see Genesis 17).
The
covenant of circumcision was a sign that marked a Jewish male for life and
revealed his relationship to the one true God.
The Jews could not conceive of an uncircumcised person being acceptable
to God!
If
a gentile wanted to convert to Judaism there were three things he must do:
Be
baptized, offer a sacrifice, and be circumcised.
Circumcision
was more than just a ceremony to a Jew; it was the very moment where the
individual entered into a true relationship with God.
Now
in the second half of this verse we come to the reason for Paul’s debate.
His
entire case of justification by faith hangs in the balance.
For we say, “FAITH
WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Paul
had already established that Abraham was saved by FAITH.
This
point his objectors could not deny. The
Scriptures said so.
But
you see it’s a matter of timing.
Was Abraham
declared righteous before or after he was “circumcised?”
Paul
is basing his entire case of Justification by faith on the answer to this
question…
When
did the LORD God declare Abraham “righteous?”
Paul
said Abraham was credited with righteousness BEFORE being circumcised.
Romans 4
10: How then was it
credited? While he was circumcised, or
uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but
while uncircumcised.
Paul
bases his argument on Bible chronology or when certain things happened to
Abraham in his life.
It’s
time to go to work Bible students.
How
old was Abram when the LORD God called out to Abram?
(The
timeline is in this lesson.)
How
old was Abram when the LORD God promised Abram a son?
How
old was Abram when the LORD God changed Abram’s and Sari’s name to Abraham and
Sarah?
At
what age was Abraham circumcised?
When
you have answered these questions, you have answered Paul’s question as to when the LORD God declared Abraham “righteous”
before or after his circumcision.
I’ll
have the answer at the beginning of the next lesson.
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
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