Tag: Romans

Morning Musing: Romans 4:22-25

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“Therefore, ‘it was credited to him for righteousness.’ Now ‘it was credited to him’ was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I enjoy listening to classical music. I also enjoy listening to new music. Those two musical preferences don’t often play very well together because there aren’t very many albums featuring new classical music coming out. Instead, there are new recordings of old music. That’s the thing about classical music, though: it’s classic. It has withstood the test of time and is good enough to keep being played and replayed over and over again. Every now and then, though, you come across something different like a variation on an old theme. Let me tell you about a fun recording I found the other day and another variation on a theme that’s rather more important.

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Morning Musing: Romans 4:17-21

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“As it is written: ‘I have made you the father of many nations’ – in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the more incredible things about the Scriptures is, other than Jesus, it doesn’t make any of the characters into heroes. Yes, some of them are praised highly for one character trait or another, but they are all broken in some way. They all have a fatal flaw or twelve that prevents them from achieving God’s righteousness and experiencing the full goodness of His plans on their own. Abraham is most definitely included in this less-than-perfect club. But he still got some things right. Let’s talk about what Abraham got wrong, what he got right, and the example he sets for us.

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Morning Musing: Romans 4:16

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“This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We are tribal by nature. We naturally and quickly form ourselves into groups based on pretty much any category imaginable, and then set our group apart from any other group. More than that, we fairly easily set our group against any other group. We see the world very much in terms of us and them. Because of that, when God had created a people through whom He wanted to introduce Himself to the world, they started treating their relationship with Him as something that set them apart from everyone else rather than sharing it as was always His intention. That is, they started to guard it as their own and only their own. But God always intended a relationship with Him to be for everybody. This universal intent lies at the heart of the Gospel. It is also where Paul goes next.

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Morning Musing: Romans 4:13-15

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“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world  was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Faith is one of the essential ingredients for getting through life and enjoying most of the ride. Assuming on a fairly generic understanding of faith as simple belief in what we cannot see, we definitely don’t go a day and rarely go more than a few moments without it. Sometimes we fool ourselves into buying into the notion that we don’t need faith, but this is little more than playing a game of philosophical Opposite Day where we just stake out whatever is the opposite position the people around us hold. It’s silliness masquerading as seriousness. I wonder if part of the reason faith is such a central aspect to our lives isn’t because God designed salvation to operate on faith. Let’s talk about one reason faith is so essential.

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Morning Musing: Romans 4:9-12

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“Is this blessing only for the circumcised,  then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith, while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I don’t think I consciously remember a single Sunday school lesson before about sixth grade (and I only remember one from that year). But I do remember my third and fourth grade class quite well. Our teachers brought us Schwartz’s glazed donuts and Tang, and we sang Father Abraham most weeks. It was a silly Sunday school song whose motions we always did backwards such that we wound terribly dizzy by the end of it. But the point of the song was to teach a theologically rich spiritual truth that we find Paul espousing in this next part of his letter.

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