Romans 4:18-25 - Believers Chapel

ROMANS
Lesson 14
October 26, 1980
Romans 4:18-25
BELIEVERS
BIBLE
BULLETIN
Believers Chapel * 6420 Churchill Way * Dallas, Texas 75230
The Faith of Abraham
S. Lewis Johnson, Jr.
Introduction
Men have for a long time been trying to understand our troubled age.
The solutions have been manifold. "For Karl Marx," Samuel Miller
wrote, "it was the millennial age of the proletariat; for Spengler, the
twilight of civilization; for Whitman, the age of the common man; for
Henry Adams, a dismal fate. For Nietzsche it was decadent and yet the
door to new possibilities; for Dostoevsky it was dangerously demonic;
for Bury, the age of liberty; for T. S. Eliot, a wasteland; for Ortego, the
upward rise of the barbarian; for Kafka, a nightmare; for Auden, the
age of anxiety. For politicians, it was the age of democracy; for
scientists, of space travel and unprecedented power, and for artists a
new loneliness and a deeper exile. 1
Miller went on to write, "If we have had our difficulty in deciding what
the age was really like, it is not strange. Its man-made wonders were
spectacular; yet so were man's crimes. If we handled nature like
giants, we handled ourselves like idiots." 2
One could obtain some general agreement that our age is an age
characterized by a great deal of secularity. Spiritual forces are no
longer the unifying bond for art, politics, history, and philosophy. Birth,
puberty, marriage, sin and death, once pivotal points of great spiritual
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significance, are now natural, biological, social, and primarily clinical.
As for advertising, it is the religious expression of the secularity of the
age, placarding the superficial glory of the material products of our
age. No longer are we to be saved by grace; we are to be saved by
gadgets, which become ours by the sufferings of monthly payments.
In this way we may expect, so we are told, to lose our money but gain
our soul. Miller is right, "Salvation was never more ardently proffered
by the church in its most fervent evangelism to save the world than it
is now by frenetically hepped-up hucksters, who promise the full
delight of heaven to those who are bored in their chrome-plated hell,
by giving them more of the same sort of thing." 3 The sad thing about
it is that now the evangelists of a fairly orthodox gospel (but generally
Arminian, not the pure gospel of sovereign grace) are using the same
methods, deceiving the simple-minded saints and extracting from them
their giant sums of money for their evangelical conglomerates. How
gullible the saints are!
Is there a way out Abraham lived in an advanced civilization, one
that was quite sure that it had the answers. Had they not been so
sure of themselves, that years before they had built a tower to
proclaim their self-sufficiency They desired to make their name great,
at the expense of the name of the Lord God. It was, however, to their
own destruction, but man never learns the truth about himself without
the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit. It is, therefore, very likely that
the patriarch lived in the midst of great ungodliness, yet he became
great in the eyes of the Lord God (cf. Josh. 24:2-3; Gen. 12:2), and in
the eyes of the leaders of the great religions of the earth (cf. Matt.
3:9; Gal. 3:29}.
Where did Abraham find the unifying center of life The raison d'etre
of life What was the secret of this eminent Bedouin chief who
thousands of years ago wandered from pasture to pasture over the
valleys and plains of the East, looking for the land and the life that the
Lord God had promised him That secret is the subject of the verses
to which we now turn in our study of Paul's Letter to the Romans.
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Really the answer is not difficult to understand; it is only difficult to
practice. Abraham's secret was the life of faith in the Word and
character of God. The nature of that faith is before us in Romans
4:18-25.
THE NATURE OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH
Its impediments (Rom. 4:18-19). The apostle in the preceding
verses of the fourth chapter, a chapter in which he seeks to
demonstrate that the Old Testament men were justified in the same
way that New Testament men are, his great illustration being the
patriarch Abraham. Having very cogently made his point, it would be
expected that someone should say to him, "But, Paul, just exactly what
is saving faith You say a man is justified by faith, not by the works of
the Law. But what do you mean by 'faith.' Just what is the kind of
faith that justifies" This question the apostle seeks to answer in the
last section of Romans four. His answer is, very simply, that faith is
unswerving trust in the God of the resurrection. That, too, was the
essence of Abraham's trust (cf. v. 17; Acts 27:25).
A brief review of Abraham's history might be helpful at this point. At
age 70 the God of glory had appeared to him and called him to go out
to an unknown land. His name at the time was Abram, which means
something like exalted father. He and his wife Sarah had no children,
which would have been a constant source of embarrassment to him in
the new land. Living as he came to live, in the place where camel
caravans were continually passing, he was exposed to the usual
oriental palaver and inquisitiveness concerning matters that seem quite
personal to us. They had often asked him about his family, wife and
children, especially in the light of his name. Behind his back they had
often commented upon the humor of the situation -- a man named
exalted father who had no children at all. Abram had had to bear the
concealed ridicule for a long time.
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Finally, at age 86 at the goading suggestion of his wife he had taken to
himself her handmaid, Hagar, and a son had been born, Ishmael. Now
all the members of the family knew where the problem lay.
Finally, at age 99 the Lord appeared again to Abram and renewed the
covenantal promises and gave him the sign of the covenant, the rite of
circumcision. At the same time he told Abram that the promised seed
would come from the womb of Sarah. In token of the situation Abram
was given a new name, Abraham, meaning father of a multitude. To
understand the uproarious humor of the situation let us listen to
Barnhouse, "There are some things in the Bible that cause me to
chuckle. I cannot help but think of what must have happened when
Abraham broke the news to his family and servants that he was now
changing his name. They all knew that his former name was Abram,
father of many, and they knew it had been somewhat of a thorn to
him. So we can imagine the stir of interest and curiosity when he
announced, 'I am going to change my name.' Were there some who
said to themselves with a laugh, 'The old man couldn't take it. It
finally got under his skin. After all, to be the father of nobody for
eighty-six years, and then to be the father of only one, with a name
like he has— father of many—must have its rough moments. So he is
going to change his name. I wonder what it will be’
"And then the old man spoke. 'I am to be known as Abraham--father
of a multitude.' We can almost hear the silence of the stunned
moment as the truth breaks upon them. Father of a multitude Then
the laughter broke forth behind the scenes. 'The old man has gone
crazy. He had one child when he was eighty-six, and now at ninetynine
he is beginning to get ideas.' Father of a multitude! Was there
ever anything more ridiculous for a man of his age" 4
Well, of course, it was ridiculous, humanly speaking, but in divine
things we shouldn't think and speak like humans. It is true, as I
believe Luther said, our thoughts of God are too often too human. We
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must always remember that the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men (cf. 1 Cor. 1:25).
Abram had begotten Ishmael in the power of his humanity, but he was
to beget Isaac in the power of the resurrection that God wrought in his
being. Just as He had said at the creation, "Let there be light," and
light broke forth amidst the chaotic matter (cf. Gen. 1:3), so would He
say, "Let there be Isaac," and Isaac, the child of the promise, would
come through Abraham and Sarah, when their bodies were physically
dead so far as generation was concerned.
The impediments to Abraham's faith were large and imposing. Paul
puts them in this way, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he
might become the father of many nations, according to that which was
spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred
years old, neither yet the dead-ness of Sarah's womb" (vv. 18-19). It
was as Chrysostom put it, "against human hope, in the hope which is
of God." 5
Paul may mean that Abraham was beyond the time of
hoping by the expression, "against hope," which may mean literally
beyond hope, but it seems more likely that he means simply beyond
human expectations, or perhaps, calculations. Cranfield aptly cites
Wesley's lines,
"In hope, against all human hope,
Self-desperate, I believe; . . .
"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,
And looks to that alone;
Laughs at impossibilities,
And cries: It shall be done!" 6
The ancient struggle of the human and divine viewpoints is lived out in
our individual experience every day of our lives. The expression, "that
he might become the father of many nations" (cf. Gen. 17:4-5), may
express the content of Abraham's faith, the result of his faith, or the
purpose of his faith. The last named is the most common usage of the
grammatical construction.
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In the 19th verse the Authorized Version reads, "he considered not his
own body," while the original text in most of the editions of it reads,
"he considered his own body." It is one of the rare instances in New
Testament textual criticism when different readings produce much the
same ultimate sense. In the one case the sense is that Abraham,
although he knew his body was now physically dead so far as begetting
children was concerned, still believed the promise, not giving human
consideration to the condition of his body. In the other case, the
sense is that he considered fully the state of his body and yet believed.
The result of both readings is essentially the same, although the
inherent less obvious sense of the latter makes it likely that that is
what Paul wrote. We take the sense to be: he considered his own
body, omitting the negative. What we have is Paul's exposition of the
sense of Genesis 17:17. He thinks that Abraham's laughter over the
idea of Sarah and him having a son is the laughter of faith.
Its encouragements (Rom. 4:20-21). The encouragement to faith
found in verse twenty is the promise of God, which in this case
includes the promises of Genesis 12:1-3 and the reference to them in
15:5-6. By the grace of God (of. Eph. 2:8-9} Abraham was enabled to
believe the promises given to him, and the result was that he gave
glory to God. That is the heart of the validity of justification by faith.
It leads to the glorification of the Triune God. Any plan of salvation
which does not lead to that, is not of God. That is why a plan
involving the free will of man cannot be in harmony with the biblical
text, "Salvation is of the Lord" (cf. Jon. 2:9).
In the 21st verse, the second of the encouragements to faith is
mentioned. It is the character of God. As Paul puts it, it is, "And
being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to
perform." Perhaps we might expand this second encouragement to the
power and faithfulness of God. His promises are the ground of our
hope, and His powerful faithfulness to His Word supports us as well
(cf. Heb. 6:13-20).
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The best biblical definition of faith is found in the expression of Paul in
Acts 27:25, "Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; FOR I BELIEVE GOD,
THAT IT SHALL BE EVEN AS IT WAS TOLD ME." That is it, simply
believing that things are and shall be just as God says they are. The
gospel of a crucified Savior is to be believed in the same way, that is,
the cross is the heart of a work of the Son that is an effective, penal,
substitutionary satisfaction rendered to the holiness and justice of God
for sinners, not for all without exception, but for all without distinction.
Faith, then, is simply taking the Word of God at face value. It is not
delusion, nor is it the presumption of rationalism, with its fatherhood of
God and brotherhood of man doctrine, nor is it credulity, akin to which
is the mumbo-jumbo of witch doctors, the Latin of the priests, and the
ritual of the churches. It is the reception of the Word of God as truth.
THE DIVINE RESPONSE TO ABRAHAM'S FAITH
The apostle writes in verse 22, "And therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness." The faith of Abraham was not merely in the promise
of God, but it was also a faith in the God who had promised, as the
preceding verses indicated. And now we have the divine response to
the faith of the patriarch.
The preceding verses have been a detailed exposition of the first part
of Genesis 15:6, "And he believed in the Lord," noting the characteristics
of that faith. With the "therefore" (lit., wherefore) the apostle
points out that the resultant imputation of righteousness is the result
of the expression of saving faith on the part of the patriarch.
THE PAULINE APPLICATION TO US
The twofold application of the Old Testament (Rom. 4:23-24a).
The apostle here makes the point that the story of Abraham is not
written for the sake of Abraham alone, that is, as a memorial of him, or
that he might live on in the memory of men. It is written for others
and for us, since the manner in which the patriarch was justified is the
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same method by which we, too, are justified by a just God and a
Savior. We secure the imputation of righteousness in the same way:
faith in the God of Abraham and in His promises concerning the
Redeemer. (Cf. 1 Cor. 10:6-11)
The essence of saving faith (Rom. 4:24b) . The essence of saving
faith, Paul says, is found in believing on Him who raised up Jesus, our
Lord, from the dead. It is no vague, indefinite, amorphous feeling; it is
the conviction that a set of facts concerning Christ are true. There are
few, if any, promises from God to the unsaved man. There is the offer
of salvation in Christ. An offer, however, is not a promise. Promises
pertain to the ones who have responded to the universal offer of
salvation in Christ. Incidentally, the "if we believe" of the Authorized
Version is in the original text simply, to us who believe.
The expression "that raised up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead," points
to the essence of faith. It is in the God of the resurrection, or in the
God who, in this context, "quickeneth the dead, and calleth those
things which are not, as though they were" (cf. v. 17). Cf. v. 19 (the
deadness of Sarah's womb). There is a harmony of essence between
the begetting of Isaac and the resurrection of Isaac's Seed, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The rationale of the saving acts (Rom. 4:25). In this expression,
which by its balance suggests that it was used often by Paul and
became something like a formula, and which seems to clearly recall
Isaiah 52:13— 53:12 (cf. 53:11-12, 5, 6, etc.), the apostle expounds
the meaning of the cross and the resurrection. His death took place
because of offenses, while His resurrection took place because
justification had been completed.
The word translated by "for" in the last verse has been taken in
different senses. Some have taken the first occurrence in a causal
sense, and the second one in a final (purpose) sense. In other words,
Christ died because of our offences, while He rose again for the
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purpose of our justification. That is the view of Cranfield 7 and Barrett. 8
It is difficult, however, to see the apostle giving the preposition such
different forces in clauses so obviously related and parallel to one
another.
Others have taken them in a prospective sense, a sense very close to
the purposive sense mentioned above. He was delivered up to make
atonement for our offences and raised that our justification might
become an accomplished fact. This is James Denney's solution, but it
founders on his inability to see that full saving efficacy is attributed in
the New Testament to the death of Christ (cf. 5:9; 1 Cor. 2:2; 15:17). 9
It is best, it seems to me, to take the two prepositions in their normal
causal sense. Thus, in God's sight the death justified, and the
resurrection is His receipt for the satisfaction of every claim of holiness
against those for whom Christ died. It is God's "Amen" to Christ's "It is
finished." Looking at the cross we see justification completed; looking
at the open tomb we see it accepted.
Conclusion
Abraham, then, found the raison d'etre,' the unifying center, of life in
faith in the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of the unbelief
and immorality of his day. It brought to him justification, peace with
God, and a meaningful existence in the society of God and men. It was
the same principle that was present in the lives of others of God's
saints, such as Enoch, Noah, Gideon, and others. And it is the same
principle that guides the spirits of God's saints today. May it be our
lamp, too!
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Footnotes
1 Samuel H. Miller, The Dilemma of Modern. Belief, pp. 1-2.
2 Ibid., p. 2.
3 Ibid., p. 9.
4 Barnhouse, pp. 310-18.
5 Cf. Cranfield, I, 245.
6 Ibid., I, 246.
7 Ibid., 251-52.
8 Barrett, p. 99.
9 James Denney, "St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans," The Expositor's Greek Testament
(Grand Rapids, 1961), II, 621-22.
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