Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
May 9, 2021
Opening Prayer
Psalm 119
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to keep your righteous rules.
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O Lord,
according to your word!
108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,
and teach me your rules.
109 I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.
111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever,
for they are the joy of my heart.
112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.
Prolegomena
Psalm 119:105
John 5:39
Acts 10:39-41
The Scriptures reveal Jesus. They also reveal his “path” in which we follow. We cannot follow Jesus without the Bible – Genesis through Revelation. This is the tool God has given to (a) proclaim Law and Gospel (b) create faith in Jesus, (c) deliver forgiveness, life, and salvation to us, and (d) guide us into a sanctified life.
Romans 4:13-15
13 For the promise to Abraham
and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through
the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For
if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and
the promise is void. 15 For the law brings
wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Law and Gospel = Commands and Promises
The Law does not reveal the righteousness of God that comes through faith. Instead it …
A.
“…was given by God, first, to restrain sin by
threats and the dread of punishment and by the promise and offer of grace and
benefit.” – Smalcald Articles, II, 1
a.
Unrestrained sinners respond with hostility –
these utterly reject an external standard of righteousness and a law unto
themselves.
b.
Some become blind and arrogant. They think
they’ve kept the Law, but are actually hypocrites because their righteousness
falls short.
c.
We sinners are often somewhere on a continuum
between these points.
B.
“The chief office or force of the Law is to
reveal original sin with all its fruit.” – Smalcald Articples, II, 4
V. 14 – “For if the heirs (are) from the law, faith is has been made invalid and the promise has become useless.”
·
Both the verbs regarding being null and void are
Perfect Passives.
·
This touches back to 4:4 – “Now to the one who
works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”
·
Earning righteousness is opposed to the whole
idea of inheritance.
·
If faith and the promise are “null and void” or
“invalid and useless” – what are we left with?
o
Works – which have been shown to be insufficient
for righteousness before God.
The Law brings wrath
-
Brings – The word has a sense of working at
something. I like to translate it as “produce.”
o
If God’s Word is a light and a lamp – the Law
shows us where we fall short.
o Lex
semper accusat – the Law always accuses
o
Recall the Three Uses of the Law
§
Curb
§
Mirror
§
Guide
Where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
-
There would be no transgression because there
would be no line/standard to overstep.
o
Trans – across
o
Gress – go
-
But the Law is there and it is real.
o
They show that the work of the law is written on
their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting
thoughts accuse or even excuse them (Rom. 2:15 ESV)
o
"Do not think that I have come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a
dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matt. 5:17-18 ESV)
o
For I tell you, unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. (Matt. 5:20 ESV)
Romans 4:16-17
16 That is why it depends on
faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed
to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one
who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as
it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence
of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not exist.
Because of this (it is) from faith, so that (it is)
according to grace, so that it (is) to be a secure (firm, reliable, certain,
trustworthy) promise to all the seed …
-
Because the Law does what the law does and God
wants the promise to be rock-solid reliable
-
It = the righteousness of God
-
Is from faith according to God’s grace
-
Grace – gift, God’s undeserved mercy
Notice how the passage connects the Jews and Gentiles – this is an important theme in Paul’s letters. The gospel connects us across ethnicity, social status, gender, age, and type of sin.
-
Thus Abraham is the father of us all
-
In the presence of God – literally in the
sight/judgement of God
-
God – the one who gives life to the dead.
o
This is the miracle of conversion!
o
This is what is happening in Baptism!
-
God who calls “the not being as being.”
o
Genesis 1
o
Throughout the O.T. God is God because He
created all from nothing.
Romans 4:18-21
18 In hope he believed against hope,
that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So
shall your offspring be.”19 He did not weaken in faith
when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was
about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of
Sarah's womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver
concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory
to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able
to do what he had promised.
Who beyond hope on the basis of hope believed that he was about to be the father of many nations according to what he had been told.
-
According to the world’s standards Abraham was
beyond hope.
-
On the basis of the promise (according to what
he had been told) Abraham had hope.
-
God’s promises inject hope into hopelessness.
v. 21 – fully convinced, completely certain, fully assured that what he has promised he is powerful/strong/able to do.
-
God’s power is intended to be a comfort to us
here.
-
Psalm 145
Romans 4:22-25
22 That is why his faith was “counted
to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it
was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but
for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised
from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered
up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
-
Again – counted = credited. This is God’s
judgement, the one who created by saying, “Let there be,” says “his faith is
righteousness.”
-
This word is for us also. The sense here is of
an action resulting from a divine decree so there is a high degree of certainty
- be destined to, must, certainly will be credited as righteous.
24-25 - … but also for us, those who will certainly be reconned (as righteous), to those believing upon the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over / betrayed on account of our trespasses and raised on account of our righteousness.
Notice that the authority for crediting righteousness is not placed in God’s creation, but in the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead.
-
This is actually the starting point of our faith
– the resurrection (and the preceding death).
-
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – First Importance
-
1 Corinthians 15: - Now if Christ is proclaimed
as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection
of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then
not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been
raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15
We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God
that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are
not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has
been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is
futile and you are still in your sins.
-
We work backwards from there – Jesus is the
risen one and therefore speaks authoritatively in our lives regarding
forgiveness and salvation as well as regarding the Scriptures, the Law, etc.
There is a neat play on words in v. 25
-
Jesus was handed over/betrayed on account of our
trespasses.
-
Jesus was raised on account of our
righteousness.
-
In the first statement our trespasses are the
cause of Jesus being handed over/betrayed and in the second Jesus’ resurrection
becomes the cause of our righteousness.
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