“What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
For all of human history before Jesus, and in every religious movement other than the one bearing His name since, salvation in whatever form it has been imagined has been understood to be the result of things we have done. When we do the right things, we gain the prize of life. We receive the reward of our efforts. What God offers in Christ, however, is radically different from this. And better. As Paul continues in his presentation of the Gospel, he now sets his sights on unpacking how salvation works and why, in spite of what we might have imagined, it has actually always worked the same way.
The apostle John includes a couple of intense debates between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders in his Gospel narrative. In one of these, Jesus encouraged some folks who were starting to wrap their minds around what He was saying by telling them that if they continued in His words, they would come to more fully understand the truth about the world and how it works. And, their understanding and application of truth would lead them to freedom. In response, they indignantly insisted they didn’t need freedom because they had never not been free. They were Abraham’s children and thus heirs to God’s covenant promises. That gave them all the freedom they needed.
The Jews’ status as children of Abraham loomed large in their self-perception in the first century. That is what made them the people of promise. God had a special relationship with them that He didn’t have with anybody else. After all, they were the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham to create a nation from his descendants that would bless the rest of the world. The world needed them, not the other way around.
Well, one of the key features of God’s covenant promise to Abraham was the sign of circumcision. All the male descendants of Abraham were to be circumcised as a sign in their flesh that they were part of God’s covenant with him. This is what marked them out as Jews more than just about anything else. The Law was important, to be sure, but it was subsequent to the sign of circumcision. Their being children of Abraham was what gave them access to the covenant of Moses and the Law in the first place.
For Jesus to have suggested that being a child of Abraham was somehow not enough to make a person right with God was blasphemy of the highest order. And in fact, that episode ended with the Jewish leaders’ whipping up a lynch mob to try and stone Him to death. Well, at the end of the previous chapter in Romans, Paul was talking about the fact that circumcision really didn’t matter in terms of one’s standing with God. What mattered was faith. Access to salvation in Christ is granted by faith and faith alone.
Anticipating the objections the Jewish background members of his audience were likely preparing in their minds, Paul opens his next section by taking them straight back to Abraham. He had brought up circumcision. Abraham was where that crucial sign began. If circumcision really didn’t make any difference in one’s standing before God, then what about Abraham? “What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?” That is, if circumcision doesn’t matter, then how was Abraham right with God?
Paul’s argument is simple. If Abraham did something in order to gain a right standing before God, then whatever it was that he did is something we need to make sure to do as well. And, he and we can boast about doing whatever it is once we have done it. We can point to our great and grand efforts to earn our righteousness. As Paul put it, “If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about.” And that’s true. If Abraham did something to gain his right standing before God, then good for him. Sure, Paul adds the caveat, “but not before God,” because God’s righteousness is bigger and better than ours no matter how much we might have done, but at least before people, Abraham (and his descendants who follow in his footsteps) could crow a bit. In the minds of the Jews, the sign of circumcision was this work about which they could boast.
The trouble with this approach to thinking about being Abraham’s children and God’s righteousness, though, is that it’s not correct. Abraham didn’t do something to gain his right standing before God. At least, he didn’t do something physically active. And this isn’t some secret that only a few people ever knew about either. It’s right there in the Scriptures for anybody to see for themselves. “For what does the Scripture say?” Paul asks. Then he quotes from Genesis 15: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”
That’s what Abraham “did.” He believed God. He trusted in God. He put his faith in God and demonstrated that faith by willingly doing what God instructed him to do. The legitimacy of his faith was borne out by his obedience to God’s commands. In other words, Abraham didn’t “do” anything. He believed something and acted on that belief to demonstrate that he really believed it. The actions in this case were the evidence, not the substance. The faith was the substance.
Okay, but what about circumcision? Wasn’t God’s covenant with Abraham made official by the act of circumcision? Wasn’t that the sign given to Abraham that was to mark all of his (male) descendants forever? Sure, but that wasn’t the thing that made Abraham right before God in the first place. That came after. Paul’s quote about Abraham’s being credited for righteousness because of his faith came from Genesis 15. The sign of circumcision didn’t come until chapter 17. The faith came first. The justification by faith came before any kind of law or command or physical sign. Paul’s point, which he is going to explore in more detail in the rest of the chapter, is that being justified before God, being declared righteous, being granted salvation (all phrases describing the same basic phenomenon) was first and foremost the result of faith, not works. No one ever did something that made themselves right before God. Being right with God has always come by faith.
Now, there are a lot of reasons this is so important. Paul gives us one of the most important reasons in the next couple of verses. “Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed.” That idea makes sense, I hope. When you go and collect your paycheck from work, you might tell your employer thank you as a matter of common courtesy, but not in the sense of expressing gratitude for his doing something out of the ordinary for you. This is because you are simply collecting what you are owed. You did the work; the employer is merely giving you what you are contractually obligated to receive. In that moment, the employer is in the debt of the employee. That paycheck is not a gift but a legal obligation on the part of the employer to the employee. Withholding wages is not the employers right, but an injustice that a just legal system will quickly correct. In this sense, the employer and the employee are legal equals who are contractually engaged with one another. The relationship doesn’t go any deeper than that. (Yes, I know many employment situations result in close filial or familial bonds, but that’s beside the point at the moment.)
If this was how salvation worked, then we would be God’s functional equals. If righteousness was something God granted to us in exchange for our good works, then salvation would be nothing more than a contractual obligation. There would be no reason for gratitude or worship or love of any kind. It would simply be His giving us what we are justly due. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. We are not God’s functional equals. He does not owe us anything. He does not somehow need our good works and is not grateful when we do them. Doing some good deeds or, in the case of Paul’s context, being circumcised does not obligate God to do anything for us.
What gains us a right standing before God is when we are willing to accept Him for who He is (namely, God) on faith and then live accordingly with that belief. “But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.” God is ready and willing to forgive our sins and bring us into a right relationship with Him, but He’s only able to do that when we are willing to take Him on His own terms, when we are ready and willing to accept Him for who He actually is. There is still the matter of justification, of course, such that the price for our sins has been paid, but Jesus has already taken care of that. Now, in Him, righteousness is permanently set as a matter of faith. It always was before, but in Christ, it is even more fully so.
What this means is that there’s nothing you can do to make yourself right with God. Let me put that somewhat differently to bring out how good this news really is. What this means is that there’s nothing you have to worry about doing in order to make yourself right with God. There’s nothing you have to worry about continuing to do over and over again in order to keep yourself right with God once you get there initially and have subsequently done something to interrupt the relationship as we are all prone to do. Being right with God has always been something that has come by faith lived out in meaningful, practical ways. Now, in Christ, this is even more fully the case.
If you want to be right with God, the process is exceedingly simple. Just commit yourself to the right set of beliefs (namely, that Jesus rose from the dead and that He is Lord), live in light of those beliefs (a commitment He will help you keep through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit), and He’ll take care of the rest. In fact, He’s already taken care of the rest.
The Nexus 
Amazing , is it not, that a rapist, and mass murderer sentenced to death can be granted access to heaven and eternal life simply by accepting your god, Yahweh /Jesus whereas an ordinary atheist such as me, is, as far as you and your religion / worldview are concerned, doomed to spend eternity bring tortured in Hell.
Truly, your religion is utterly sick.
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Help me understand what exactly is sick to you about an offer of salvation that is equally available to anyone who desires to receive it such that no one is necessarily doomed to anything? You are just as capable of being granted access to heaven and eternal life as that rapist or mass murderer. You simply choose not to receive the offer. Again, how is that “utterly sick”?
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First, because your god, Yahweh create humans in need of salvation then pronounced that he… Oops I’m so sorry.. He is the cure. That in itself is psychotic.
So what we have is believe or be doomed for eternity. This is not really much of a choice now is it?
And as your god, Yahweh is the one who created this Hell specifically for non-believers then this makes him as sick as your religion.
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You know, if you would cut the needless snark, we could potentially have meaningful conversations. Perhaps doing some research on how to have substantive, respectful conversations with people who don’t agree with you would be worth your time?
In any event, you need to go back to the drawing board on your understanding of basic Christian truths claims. You’ve got them wrong from the start here. It’s no wonder you think so poorly of Christianity when you only understand a caricatured version of it rather than the real thing.
Christianity doesn’t teach that God “create[d] humans in need of salvation.” The need for salvation entered the picture when we rebelled against Him and His rightful authority as Creator and God. He wasn’t then obligated to do anything to save us, but offered us a way out of the mess we created anyway because of His love for us. Your understanding of the matters you are addressing is incorrect (at least so far as the teachings of orthodox Christianity go) and thus your conclusions are in error.
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Wrong. You need to study Genesis a little more closely.
Your god created Hell, a place where he sends non believers to be tortured for eternity simply for refusing to accept him as a saviour.
Then think of the millions of children in Hell simply because they were born in the wrong country whose parents worship the ‘wrong’ god.
Utterly sick.
That you accept this and teach it is also somewhat deranged, don’t you think so? Especially as you impart this nonsense onto your own kids.
Out of interest, what do you tell your children when they ask about the millions of Hindus who don’t believe in your god?
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Interesting. Which part of Genesis should I study more closely exactly? The part where God creates the world and everything in it and declares it good, or the part subsequent to that where humans choose to violate the one command He gave, giving an entrance to sin into the world?
You have twice now spoken of God as having “created Hell” in the past tense. That’s not correct thinking on the subject as far as what we see in the Scriptures. Thus, all of your subsequent conclusions are again in error.
When you’re commenting on the blog of a Christian pastor that is read by an overwhelmingly Christian audience who are fairly well versed in the basics of Christian theology and doctrine, continuing to make statements that reflect what I have trouble concluding is anything other than a willful lack of understanding of the matter isn’t a very good look. I’d be glad to help give you better information so you don’t keep coming across as ignorant on the matters you are criticizing, if you are willing to receive it.
Either way, it appears this will have to be another dead-end conversation. By the way, you still didn’t haven’t answered my initial question of what is so sick about an offer of salvation that is made equally to everyone.
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So who created Hell, if not your god, Yahweh?
Of course I answered it. You just didn’t like my answer.
If the one offering salvation is the one who made us ill in the first place then that is sick.
Offer to everyone? Well that is a first rate lie if ever there was one.
And you didn’t answer what you say to your kids when they ask what happens to all the millions of Hindus who do mit worship your god, Yahweh?
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You keep using the past tense. That’s not correct. Is my continuing to tell you that simply not registering? While there will one day be a Hell, it doesn’t exist yet. You’re stuck on a caricatured and generally incorrect understanding of Hell. As a result, your thinking on the matter is in error. I’ve tried to offer corrections in the past, but you weren’t interested. This is once again a place that you don’t know what you are talking about, but you aren’t willing to learn, so you just keep sounding like you don’t know what you’re talking about. I really am trying to save you from that.
And, no, you didn’t answer it at all. You took the politician’s move of answering the question you wanted to answer or perhaps the question you wish I had asked. But you didn’t answer the question I asked at all: What is sick about an offer of salvation that is made freely available to all people equally? And, the New Testament authors are abundantly clear that this offer of salvation is made equally to everyone. If you’ve missed that, then you haven’t read very closely any of the times you have read it.
Your complaint that God “made us ill in the first place” reflects a near total lack of understanding of basic Christian theology. In other words, you’re complaining about a religion that I agree with you should be rejected. But you’re not complaining about historically orthodox Christianity.
So, you have tried two different ways to dispute the premise of the question, but you haven’t actually answered it. Disputing the premise and offering an answer aren’t the same thing. What is actually sick about an offer of salvation made equally to everyone?
And I didn’t bother to answer your question because it’s your standard red herring when you are trying to avoid seriously engaging with a point I’m making, and I’ve answered it or a version of it numerous times in the past. If you insist on asking it again as a method of distraction from the real point, you are free to go back and look up any one of the several responses I’ve given in the past.
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1. It is the final destiny of every person who does not receive salvation, where they will be punished for their sins. People will be consigned to hell after the last judgment.
2. The offer of salvation is sick because your god, Yahweh is the cause of sin in humans and then he has the temerity to announce that all we have to do is acknowledge we are sinners and believe in the character Jesus of Nazareth and we all get to go to heaven and live forever. Failure to heed this supposed wonderful offer will, on the day /moment of our death result in being sent to Hell. See 1.
This is made even worse if you are unaware of your god, Yahweh and his ‘offer’ or through no fault of your own, been born into a Hindu culture, for example.
Notwithstanding the fact this is all simply superstitious bullshit, that it is indoctrinated into children who have liilttle or no defense against this filth by their equally indoctrinated parents or should-know-better ministers should be considered as child abuse.
The REAL point, Jonathan,is that you believe this garbage (in whichever form is currently fashionable) and pass on such vile doctrine as fact/truth, even to your own kids.
And as I have said before, what happens if they walk away from Christianity and call you out for what you did?
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You keep making statements that reflect your ignorance of the subject you are criticizing. Once again: I’m really trying to help you not look either ignorant or clueless or both, but I can only do so much to help you if you won’t receive it.
Nowhere in orthodox Christian theology is it taught that God is the cause of sin. Nowhere in the Scriptures is that a supportable position.
Nor is it anywhere taught that anyone will be sent to Hell “on the day/moment of our death.”
When you have sloppy and incorrect thinking, you wind up criticizing in ignorance.
Furthermore, as we have talked about several times, criticizing doctrine when you don’t believe in the starting point of that doctrine is nonsensical. If God exists, the rest falls into place. If He doesn’t, then criticizing doctrine (that you don’t at all understand) is pointless.
Where this leaves us is that you still haven’t answered my original question. You once again criticized the question and quibbled with its premise. You didn’t actually answer it. But, as you don’t seem willing to do so (perhaps because if you actually deigned to answer it, you’d have to acknowledge that it’s a just and generous offer), I’ll just consider this conversion over.
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4. One can criticize anything whether it be fact or fiction. That you believe such rubbish is fact and teach it as such is even more reason to critisise it, especially when children are subject to such filth, which, as I have mentioned before, is, tantamount to child abuse and should be regarded as such.
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