Romans 4:13-25

 

Romans 4:13-25

Background

Paul continues his conversation about the formation and promises of God’s people. What makes the people of God righteous? It’s actually not their obedience to the law; it’s their faith in God that’s credited to them as righteousness. It’s not that the law doesn’t matter; Israel’s faith was actually expressed by their obedience to it! Paul’s point is that you can have faith whether or not you have the law, and it’s faith - not the law - that has made the people of God righteous from the very beginning (including Abraham!).

A Promise not Tied to the Law

While there are some Old Testament covenants that are a two-way-street (“if you’re faithful, then ____; if you’re not, then ___”), Paul is making the point that the promises God made to Abraham weren’t attached to any law. God simply said “he would inherit the world,” and Abraham believed him. That was it!

  • Paul says what would’ve happened if God had hitched his promise to Abraham’s (and Israel’s!) obedience to the law. What would’ve happened? Why?

    • It might feel like Paul keeps talking about the same stuff over and over and over again. But each week, he’s actually adding something new or unique to the overarching point he’s trying to make. What does his observation about God’s promise to Abraham here add to his overall argument?

God’s Grace is Our Guarantee

So God’s promises to Abraham weren’t delivered through the Law. That’s good news! Not only for Abraham, and not only for the people who would have the law (Israel) - but for everyone “who is of Abraham’s faith.” The promise, Paul reminds his readers, was that Abraham wouldn’t just be the father of ONE nation, but of MANY nations. His descendants wouldn’t be purely of the law (Israelites), but everyone who had the same faith in the same God that he did.

  • Most of us at The Village would be considered Gentile Christians. Have you stopped to think at any point in time how significant it is that God planned from the get-go to not only include ethnic Jewish people in his family, but everyone?

    • What does God’s promise to Abraham tell you about the scope of redemption and reconciliation he has in mind?

    • How is grace the only guarantee we have that God’s promise would be delivered to all of Abraham’s descendants?

Faith in God Above Ability or Circumstance

Lest anyone trivialize the difficulty of “faith,” Paul reminds the reader of what Abraham was asked to believe: namely, a relatively unknown God who said at 100-years-old and with no children that he would father many nations. And now today, we’re called to believe something even more outlandish - and yet something that’s already happened: that God has raised Jesus from the dead!

  • Is that sometimes hard for you to believe? Why or why not?

    • Do you ever think it’d be easier if the Christian faith were actually based on things you could see, do something about, and know for sure? What’s the upside to being able to place our faith in someone who can do things we can’t? What’s hard about that?

  • When Paul says that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification,” what does he mean?

 
Not AshamedScott O'Donohoe