Week 9 - Tuesday

Abraham, Justified By Faith

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3)

The fourth chapter of Romans is all about a man named Abraham. About 4,000 years ago Abraham lived in the city of Ur. Ur was located in Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates River, about one hundred miles from the Persian Gulf in the area now called Iraq. God spoke to Abraham (whose name at that time was Abram) and told him to leave his home and travel to the distant land of Canaan where God would make him the father of a great nation. Abraham obeyed God’s command and it was his descendents who later became the nation of Israel. All Jewish people are descended from Abraham. By calling Abraham our forefather according to the flesh, Paul includes himself as one of those descendents (Rom. 11:1). Chapter 4 begins with the words what then. These words link Paul's discussion of Abraham to the subject he has just presented in chapter 3. That subject was salvation by faith. In this chapter Paul is going to use Abraham as the supreme human example of salvation by faith. By doing so he is attacking the very heart of traditional Jewish teaching. The Jews believed that a person was made right with God by obeying the Law. Their rabbi’s also taught that the reason God chose Abraham to be the forefather of the Jews was because he was the most righteous person alive in the world at that time. Because of this they considered Abraham to be their most important forefather and the greatest person who ever lived. In this chapter Paul is going to show the Jews that Abraham was not justified by works, but by his faith. Paul hopes then they will see, if Abraham was not justified by his works, that no one can be.

Paul begins by confirming that Abraham was indeed a great man. What made Abraham so great was his obedience to God. Imagine leaving your hometown, and everything you know, to move to a distant land you know nothing about. That was only the beginning of Abraham's obedience to God. He faced many difficult situations in the following years and remained faithful to God. Finally God gave him the greatest test of all. He asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son. Abraham was so obedient to God that he would have taken his son's life, but God stopped him from doing it. If there ever was a a person who could have been justified by works, it would have been Abraham. If that were the case, Abraham would have had something to boast about. However no one, no matter how good they are, has any right to boast before God. Remember God's standard for righteousness is perfection. For the most part Abraham obeyed God, but he was far from perfect. God told Abraham to leave his country and his relatives, and travel to Canaan. Abraham didn't completely obey God because he took his father and his nephew along. He then only traveled as far as Haran, where he stayed for several years before finally completing his journey to Canaan. While in Egypt Abraham lied about his wife, trying to protect his own life, instead of trusting in God. After years of waiting for a son, he fathered one with his wife’s maid, instead of waiting for the son God had promised him. Abraham wasn't perfect. Just like every person who has ever lived, he was a sinner. But Abraham believed God and God took the faith Abraham had, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Readings for today: Gen. 12:1-2, 11:31, 12:11-13, 15:1-6, 16:1-4, 21:1-3, 22:1-18