Hello, dear reader! I’m glad you’re here. Today I’m caught by Paul’s example of Abraham, whose “faith was credited to him as righteousness.” Abraham trusted God so completely that he hiked into the wilderness and prepared an altar on which to sacrifice his own beloved son, because that’s what God asked him to do. At the last moment God provided a ram to be sacrificed instead. How can we strive to put everything—including and especially the things we love most—on the altar before God?
Here is today’s text, in which Paul argues that we are saved by faith plus nothing.
Romans 3:21-4:25 (NIV)
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless,15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
I love verse 25: “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement… he did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished…” To me this underscores the merciful nature of God, that he has to exact justice for sin, but he also balks at harsh punishments. The Atonement answers for all the sins that came before, and applies even to the Jews who were attempting to keep the law.
The bottom line: we are saved by faith plus nothing. We can’t be saved by the law, no matter how good we are at following it, because that means relying on ourselves, not God. This note from my Life Application Bible to verse 4:21: If Abraham “had looked only at his own resources for subduing Canaan and founding a nation, he would have given up in despair. But Abraham looked to God, obeyed him, and waited for him to fulfill his word.”
It is freeing and comforting that we can’t be expected to “go it alone” in this life. I suspect it’s easier for personalities and temperaments like mine (patient, trusting, not all that ambitious in the worldly sphere) than for others who have met with great success on their own merit and hard work. In some sense my faith has grown because I’ve spent a lot of time quietly working on poems and waiting and trying to understand what God wants me to do, and the answers I have received are: Love, and wait on the Lord.
The concept of grace is powerful for people in grinding situations (illness and poverty especially come to mind today) probably more than for high-achievers who “have it all,” because it has been made apparent how little in this life is really in our control, and how much we need God. The gifts of grace and time in whatever measure are what he’s given us to dwell with and in.
Speaking of altars, I’ve been taking a class in devotional poetry, and this week we are reading George Herbert.
THE ALTAR A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears, Made of a heart and cemented with tears: Whose parts are as thy hand did frame; No workman's tool hath touch'd the same. A HEART alone Is such a stone, As nothing but Thy pow'r doth cut. Wherefore each part Of my hard heart Meets in this frame, To praise thy name: That if I chance to hold my peace, These stones to praise thee may not cease. Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine, And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.