Faith and Father Abraham

Heavenly Father, we confess we often take for granted the grace upon grace in our lives – that you have saved us, first of all, most important; not only that you have saved us, but you’ve called us into a church, and a good church like this one. So many faithful people over so many years. And you’ve called us for such a time as this, with all of the challenges around us and yet all of the opportunities. You’ve given us resource upon resource and abilities and access and opportunities. So, Lord, would you speak to us yet again this Sunday, now through your sermon, that we would hear the things we may know and be reminded again and learn things that we don’t know and recall the things we have forgotten and that you would cause us to take you always at your word? In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Romans chapter 4:1-3. Romans chapter 4:1-3. Here’s God’s Word:

“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For 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 counted to him as righteousness.”

The first four chapters of Romans are meant to drive home this one big idea. These first four chapters are about the righteousness of God that is revealed from faith to faith. That’s what Paul said in chapter 1:17. And in one sense, these four chapters are all driving at that one message, to tell us about the righteousness of God that is revealed by faith. To put it in theological terms, his overriding concern has been to prove in our heads and in our hearts justification by faith alone. That’s the main thing he is talking about in these opening chapters. And if you’ve been here the last few weeks, you know that has been the main theme at the end of chapter 3. If you look in the last paragraph of chapter 3:27-31, be reminded: there we saw two interlocking themes in that concluding paragraph. In verses 27 and 28, we saw we are justified by faith apart from works. So that’s one of the themes. They’re all under this big theme, but that theme. And then interlocking that in verses 29-30, we saw Jews and Gentiles are equally a part of the people of God, because the promises of God for both come through faith. So, one interlocking theme (27-28) that justification is by faith apart from works, and then related to that (in the other verses in that paragraph) that there’s only one God and one people of God because Jews and Gentiles both are justified in the same way, namely by faith.

Those are the two big themes, and those two big themes carry over into chapter 4. And if you look at chapter 4, the headings – these aren’t inspired – but the headings in the ESV even suggest these twin themes coming over into chapter 4. So, you see before verse 1, “Abraham justified by faith,” and then before verse 13, “the promise realized through faith.” Those were in a nutshell the interlocking themes, the conclusion of which we saw in chapter 3, and now they’re carried forward into chapter 4. You get an idea of what chapter 4 is about by looking at chapter 5:1. Glance there. 5:1, “Therefore” – when you see a therefore, you ask yourself, what is the therefore there for? – well, it’s pulling in what Paul’s argument is in chapter 4 and really all of 1-4. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith” – so, chapter 5 tells us what 1-4, and chapter 4 in particular, are about. We know we are justified by faith. Now, you may be thinking, “We’ve heard that. What else can be said about being justified by faith?” Well, the Apostle Paul thought quite a bit more could still be learned about this big idea. And so, in order to prove this point – big point, justified by faith; these two interlocking themes, justified by faith apart from works, and therefore, there’s one people of God, one way to become the people of God; that’s faith – in order to prove this point, he goes to the Old Testament, one example in particular: Abraham. Now, he’s going to mention David. We’ll come to that next week. David in verse 6 provides corroborating evidence, but chapter 4 is clearly focused on Abraham. If you’re in the ESV, you can see Abraham is mentioned by name in verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 9, verse 13, and verse 16, and I count at least 15 verses of the 25 give some reference – either his name or the pronoun – some reference to Abraham. So, clearly this chapter, Paul wants to drive home the point he’s been making about justification, which he’ll then pick up in chapter 5 and go on to some new themes. He wants to make this point by looking at one man in the Old Testament, Abraham.

So why Abraham? Why was Abraham the key figure? What was so important about Abraham? Well, look at verse 1. You see those two words: “our forefather.” Propator in the Greek. You can hear like in Spanish, padre. Father pro. The before father. Our forefather. Now we know this. Maybe they were singing the song here in the Roman Sunday school. Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So, let’s just praise the Lord. Right foot. I don’t know the rest of it. They didn’t do that part. Father Abraham. And notice the rest of that verse, “according to the flesh.” So, he’s writing now – he’s thinking about his fellow Jews. The audience we’ve already seen in the church at Rome is Jew and Gentiles, though this suggests it was maybe predominantly Jewish. “What then shall we say?” Alright fellas, he says. Ladies and gentlemen. Our forefather, Father Abraham, the head of our people. So, he’s addressing his fellow Jews. Ah, they all knew that they were going to look. Let’s look together at Father Abraham. If you were talking about the United States, let’s look at George Washington, our first president. Maybe you’d look at Martin Luther, the Reformation, or John Calvin if you’re Reformed. There’s someone that you say, “This is the head of our clan. He’s the man. That’s our guy.” So, they all knew – Abraham, he is the captain of our team. He is the father of our family. So, what lesson should we draw from the head of our family? That’s what Paul is saying. Our Jewish family. What was so great about Father Abraham? He’s the hero. He’s the progenitor of our entire nation. How should Abraham be remembered? That’s really what verse 1 is asking. Okay, my fellow Jews, let’s talk about the guy. He’s the man. We all love Father Abraham. What was the big deal about him?

Well, there’s lots of positive things to remember about Abraham – leaving his homeland, receiving the promise, rescuing Lot, routing the eastern kings, blessed by Melchizedek, interceding for Sodom. He and Sarah have a child in old age. He enters into a covenant with God. So, there’s lots that they could talk about. What is the singular takeaway about Abraham? Now here’s where you need to know what some other Jewish authors were saying about Abraham during this relative time period. If you came to church this morning, and you thought to yourself, I sure hope pastor’s gonna quote some intertestamental rabbinical sources, bingo card for you. This is an exciting day, but this is important to realize. The intertestamental period – that is, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Between Malachi, you have about 400 years, and it’s not that the Jews stopped writing things. They wrote lots of things. They continued to think and expound upon the Scriptures. And you need to know what some of these sources say. So, I’m going to give you several quotations.

The first is from the Book of Jubilees, it’s called. This was a Jewish work – all of these are Jewish works – from about 200 years before the time of Christ. This book retells the stories from Genesis and Exodus. It’s apocryphal, but it’s just a way to give some further interpretation and retell the stories. Well, here’s what Jubilees chapter 23:9-10 says. It’s talking about the world after the flood had grown wicked. And then it says, “with the exception of Abraham, for Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord and well pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life.” So, this is a significant book, Book of Jubilees. You hear what it says about Abraham. He was perfect.

Here’s another example from the book of Sirach, sometimes called Ecclesiasticus. Actually, the person’s name was Jesus Ben Sira. Jesus was a very common name. Jesus the son of Sirach. It’s wisdom literature. It’s around the same time, maybe 200 years before the time of Christ. Here’s Sirach 44:19-20, “Abraham was a great father of many people. In glory there was none like him, who kept the law of the Most High and was in covenant with him. He established the covenant in his flesh, and when he was proved, he was found faithful.” So, there’s another from the same time period. What’s the big deal with Abraham? He was found faithful, and he kept the law. This is one of the themes in this, because Abraham – this is going to make sense when we come especially to verses 9-12. Why does Paul make such a big deal about when Abraham was declared righteous? Because many of these intertestamental sources considered Abraham – yes, he came before Moses, he came before the law, but he kept the law himself.

Another example comes from a very small book called The Prayer of Manasseh, after Manasseh from the book of Genesis. No one really thought that this was from him, but given that title. So this is maybe just 100 years before the time of Christ. Prayer of Manasseh 8, “Therefore thou, O Lord, God of the righteous, hast not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against thee, but thou hast appointed repentance for me who am a sinner.” Did you hear that language? You appointed repentance for sinners, not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They didn’t need that, but for sinners like me.

One other example. This last example may be the most pertinent. This comes from the Jewish philosopher Philo. P H I L O. He lived in Alexandria, in what was then the Roman province of Egypt. And he’s significant because he was a contemporary of the Apostle Paul. Philo died around 50 AD, and Romans was written probably around 57. So, these are Paul and Philo. Paul would have known of this author almost certainly, and listen for the very different ways that they explain. So, Philo is a Jewish theologian. Paul is a Jewish theologian. But Paul is a Jewish theologian who has had his heart born again by Christ and now sees everything through the lens of Christ and is bringing the Old Testament to bear. So, Philo wrote a book, a treatise, on Abraham. Let me give you the full title, because this full title will tell you what Philo was arguing in this book. It’s called A Treatise on the Life of the Wise Man Made Perfect by Instruction or on the Unwritten Law – That Is to Say, on Abraham. It’s often shortened, just On Abraham. But did you hear there – he’s writing a treatise about instruction, how one becomes virtuous. And then you heard the language “unwritten law.” So, about someone like Abraham, who came before the law of Moses, and yet he kept the law. So Philo argues that there are men who lived in the Old Testament who have lived – here’s a quote – “irreproachably and admirably, whose virtues are durably and permanently recorded as on pillars in the sacred Scriptures, not merely with the object of praising them in themselves, but also for the sake of exhorting those who read their history and of leading them to emulate their conduct.” In particular, this Jewish philosopher Philo focuses on, he calls a sacred triad of persons. He says, “This sacred triad were lovers of God and beloved by God. They loved God, and God in turn loved them.” And that sacred triad is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He says, “They were endowed with special virtues, bestowed with special graces, and through sound instruction, their natural gifts and endowments were made perfect.” That’s his argument. So, to summarize all of that, for Philo, the story of Abraham is about how a special man with special gifting and endowments, through enlightenment and learning and education, can become virtuous. How Abraham was able to keep the law even before the law was written, and therefore, this sacred triad – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and especially Abraham are a lesson to be emulated for all the other Jews in how, by learning and education, you too can keep the law and become a virtuous child of God.

Paul, now I hope you can see, is telling a remarkably different story. Paul was well trained as a Pharisee. He had been to the best seminary of Gamaliel. He had gotten the best instruction. So, it’s not fanciful thinking to assume that Paul is aware of this kind of literature. Now, it’s not to say that every Jew thought this way, but I give you those four examples to say this was a common theme among Jewish interpreters in this intertestamental period – how to understand the Old Testament and, in particular, how to understand Abraham. Sometimes Philo and these others, they even quote Genesis 15:6, the same text that Paul does, but they reach an opposite conclusion. They say that’s about Paul – he faced temptation, and he was found faithful, and he proved to be a law keeper, and you too can be a keeper of the law.

So, now look with some fresh eyes at what Paul is doing in chapter 4. And it’s not that Abraham is not an example of faithfulness – he is, or obedience – he is in many ways, but Abraham was also a sinner. He lied about Sarah before Pharaoh. He lied again about Sarah before Abimelech. He slept with Hagar. The story Paul wants to tell is not Abraham the righteous man who did not sin, kept the law, and was perfect in his deeds. That was the story that many of the Jews believed. Paul’s story is let me tell you about Father Abraham, the man who was counted righteous by faith. (Just a little parenthesis here. It’s worth considering what your story is. What do you think the story ought to be of your life? Now hopefully die and people have nice things to say about us. I think – you know, if you have a birthday, if you have a retirement, if you have an anniversary, if you have some opportunity to tell people good things about them before they’re dead, do that. And you’ll have hopefully lots of things. But what is the story? What’s the story about your life? You grew, and you did, and you served, and you accomplished. Or is it the story, like Abraham – here was a man, here was a woman who was righteous by faith?)

So here’s what Paul is doing. Now look again at the text. Verse 1, “What shall we say?” He’s asking a question that all of his kinsmen according to the flesh were familiar with. Yeah, good question, Paul. What should we say about our forefather Abraham? I’m interested. And so, he raises it (verse 2) – he comes back to this theme of boasting, which he had introduced at the end of chapter 3. He says, “If Abraham was justified by works,” – so, you just heard in some of that intertestamental period the very explicit contention that what Abraham was was an example of works. Paul says, well if he was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Now I don’t think that means, well he has something to boast about before other people, though it could mean that. I think it’s Paul raising the question: Abraham, if he was justified by works, he had something to boast about, and we know that he couldn’t boast before God, so I think it’s that second part of the verse that is meant to counteract the first part of the verse. We know. Now why do we know that Abraham could not boast before God? That’s what he comes to. Here’s the proof in verse 3. Why could Abraham not boast before God? Because the Scripture teaches that Abraham believed God and that was counted to him as righteousness. Next week, we’ll look at that word “counted” and see how important that is, but here I want us to think about Abraham’s belief itself. That’s the story of Abraham – Abraham the man not of works, but of faith.

We need to remember Abraham’s story from the very beginning. When Abraham first hears from God, you remember his family is living in Mesopotamia. The famous actor David Garrick said about George Whitefield, he would have given a hundred guineas if he could just say the word Mesopotamia like George Whitefield did. I’m sure I’m not saying it like Whitefield did, because you’re not crying. That’s how we raise funds for the capital campaign. Pastor just said Mesopotamia. But remember, he’s in Ur of the Chaldeans. Where’s that today? That’s in southern Iraq, not too far from Kuwait. That’s where his family is living, beyond the river. And we read in Joshua 24:2 that Abraham’s family lived beyond the river, and they served other gods. Presumably, Abraham did too. It says about Terah and Nahor. This was his family of origin, living beyond the river, serving other gods. They were a family like every other family in that part of the world. Now in the west we don’t often bow down to statues of silver and gold. We do bow to dollars and cents sometimes. But try to imagine what would a normal “pagan” family – just a what a normal, you’re not religious (well, they were very religious), you’re not Christian, what would a normal family look like? Pick a family. He’s in Ur of the Chaldees. Let’s pick New York City. Abraham’s family, they watch the same movies and TV shows as everyone else. They don’t care if it says MA and if there’s some sex scenes. They use the same bad words everyone uses from time to time. Maybe they got some guys in the family on their gambling apps all the time. Maybe some of the women like to have a good time on the weekend, a la Desperate Housewives style. Never seen it. The kids sneak out and do things that they don’t want their parents to know, or they spend countless hours in front of their screens doing God knows what. That’s sort of – that’s Abraham’s family. It’s not a special family. They’re beyond the river, Ur of the Chaldees, like everybody else, serving other gods, and God of his own good pleasure chooses Abraham.

Now notice – we’ll come to it next week – but Paul does something so sneaky and shocking in verse 5. “Now to those who work, his wages are not counted as a gift but what is due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly” – now, why is that so sneaky of Paul? Because they are thinking, who’s Abraham? Our father according to the flesh. Abraham is the story about the man who kept the law even before the law. That’s what Abraham is. He’s a story about the quintessential law keeper. Paul considers Abraham to be an example of the quintessential ungodly person who is justified by faith. No one is righteous. No one seeks after God, not even Abraham. So, you have to remember who Abraham was, where he was. And from this family, no reason except God’s sovereign choice, he says to Abraham, “Go. Leave your country. Leave your people, your father’s household. Go to the place I will show you.” He lists everything he will leave behind, and he lists it there in Genesis in increasing intimacy. You’re going to leave your homeland. That’s hard to leave the place you’re from. You’re going to leave your relatives. And you’re going to leave your immediate family. I want you to go and leave those things that are precious to you. And there are no explicit instructions. He does. Alright, Sarai, can I just call you Sarah from now on? Sarai, I got a message from the god, I think, and you’re going to want to fire up Zillow right now. We’re gonna want to see what’s available in Canaan. He doesn’t get that. He isn’t told anything about the land, good or bad. He’s simply told “to the land” – remember what it says – “that I will show you.” You don’t get to see it. No app. You’re going to go, and you’ll see it later. No details. No description. I just want you to go. Do you trust me? Calvin says it is better with closed eyes to follow God as our guide than by relying on our own providence to wander through circuitous paths which it devises for us. In other words, better to have your eyes closed and God lead you than to have all of your maps out and your eyes open and go where you think you need to go.

And you remember in Genesis 12, God makes a bundle of promises to Abraham. Seven. I’ll make you a great nation. I’ll bless you. I’ll make your name great. You’ll be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you. Seven promises. That’s Genesis 12. Now, Paul quotes from Genesis 15. By the time we get to 15, Abraham has seen some amazing stuff. The promise, after receiving it in Genesis 12, is immediately threatened with three consecutive stories in Genesis 12, 13 and 14. First, the promise is threatened in Genesis 12 by Abraham’s lying, by the famine that sends them down to Egypt. Then in chapter 13, it’s threatened by Lot. And then in chapter 14, it’s threatened by the eastern kings. And yet, every time Abraham comes out on top. That’s what the story is about – the invincibility of the promise, and God keeps blessing him. And yet, if you remember, he comes to Genesis 15, and the thing that he no doubt wanted more than anything else had not yet come to pass. With every passing week and every month and every year, there was one promise that seemed destined to fail. And so, he says in Genesis 15, “O Lord God, but I still don’t have a child.” It’s the first time we have record of Abraham speaking to God. And he tells God, he laments to God, I don’t have what you’ve promised me. So, the Lord says to Abraham – doesn’t rebuke him, says to Abraham – you’re right. Your descendant’s not going to come from Eleazar, your servant. He says, Abram, I want you to come outside, and you’ve been wondering about this promise of a child that I’ve made to you. I want you to look in the sky. I want you to see the stars. Tell me if you can count them. Can you count all the stars? You can’t. You can’t count all the stars. So shall your offspring be. He didn’t give him a pregnancy test. All he gave him were his words and a visual. Look at the stars. So shall your offspring be. And it’s at that precise moment – and this is what Paul quotes from Genesis 15:6, why this verse meant everything to Paul. Genesis 15:6 is the first time in the Bible that the verb “believe” is used. Abraham says, “Everything’s turning up roses for me except the one promise I care about most. I don’t have a child.” And God says, “I hear you. Look at the stars. You’ll have more kids descended from you than those stars in the sky.” And Genesis 15:6, Abraham believed God, and he counted it to him as righteousness. So Paul says, “You want to know the most important lesson about Abraham? Not how he grew in virtue and how he learned things, and he kept the law, though he didn’t know the law. That’s not the lesson. The lesson is that Abraham took God at his word.”

I saw a headline this week on ESPN. I think the headline writer must have known what he was doing. The headline said, “Ronaldo” – you know, the soccer player, football player – “Ronaldo says Jesus broke his word; apologizes to Portugal teammates.” Really, Ronaldo? Well, it’s about his coach, Jorge Jesus. Ah, he must have shown that to his editor and said, “Send this one out.” Ronaldo says Jesus broke his word. It’s only funny because it’s impossible. It will never be a true headline that reads, “Jesus broke his word.” If you met someone for the first time and you wanted to know what really made them tick, you really wanted to understand them. You wanted to know what they’re about, what they’re going to be, who they are – what would you want to figure out? Maybe you’d ask, “What do you do for a living? Where are you from? What school did you go to? Who do you root for? Tell me about your parents. What hobbies do you have? I think the Apostle Paul would say, “Tell me about your faith.” Now, that sounds cliché, because we hear faith, and we think, “Well, tell me about your statement of faith, or tell me about your religion.” Well, that that’s part of it, but I don’t mean Paul would say tell me what doctrines you affirm or what your worldview is, as important as those are. But I think Paul would want to know, if I really am going to know what makes you tick, I want to know in what or in whom do you trust? That will shape a person more than anything else. Where is your absolute unwavering confidence? If you put your absolute confidence in your sports team, heart’s broken more often than not. Do you put your trust in your financial statement, in your kids, in your job? The most important thing about you is in what or in whom you trust.

What got someone into the hall of fame in Hebrews 11? There are, have you ever noticed, some rascally characters in there. You got Samson with an affinity for prostitutes. Rahab was a prostitute. Jephthah, that one seems bonkers. He just made a foolish vow his daughter paid for. He gets in there somehow. They get a green jacket. They get a trophy. They get enshrined. Why? Faith. And then when the writer of Hebrews emphasizes the heavy hitters – Joseph, Moses – what does he want to talk about? Faith. What about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? They’re not offered up as examples of perfection or how they kept the law or their enlightenment that led to virtue. They are all given as examples of faith, that they received the promise of God, and they trusted God even before they had the thing promised. That’s what Paul says is the story of Abraham.

Suppose you were given a sealed envelope, and the messenger told you, “In this envelope is a piece of paper, and written on it are some of the most important instructions, commands, and promises that you could ever hear, sealed in this envelope.” And the messenger wants to know, before you open the envelope, what you will do with what is written in that message. How would you know whether you could trust what was written and sealed in that envelope? Well, we would all want to read it first. We’d say, “Can I see it? Can’t just say I’m basing my life on it. I don’t – I need to read it first.” And then you’d want to read it, and you’d want to test it against some experiments or some survey data. You’d want to talk to your friends and say, “Can I have a few days to think about this? I want to ask my friends how they assess this.” But if that messenger gave you that document sealed in an envelope, you only need to know one thing. Who is it from? If it’s from God, say, “I still want to know what it says, but I already know it’s true, and I’ll do what it says, and I’ll trust in whatever it promises me.”

Like our earthly fathers, what God wants from his children is that they trust him. Yes, we want we want our kids to obey us, but prior to the obedience – when you have rules about how late you can stay out or what you can do or not – prior to all of that. That’s just an act of the will, and you do it begrudgingly. Prior to that is the level of trust. You want your young kids to really believe mom and dad love me. They know what’s best for me. They won’t let me down. And their word is true. And if that’s what we want our children to believe, as imperfect fathers and mothers, how much more for God? He looks out upon each of you. You ask, “What does God want from me this morning? I don’t know. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know what’s happening in my life.” Here’s what God wants, you can be sure of it: for you to trust him. If the story of your life is about what you do, you will have reason to boast. But if the story of your life and my life is about the one who did and does everything for you, Jesus Christ the righteous, then that faith will be counted to you as your righteousness. Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, would you give us this gift of faith? We often pray like the man in Mark’s gospel before the Lord Jesus: I believe; help thou mine unbelief. So, give us the confidence to take you at your word. Just as you took Abraham out of the tent, showed him the stars, and gave him your promise, we trust in you, O Lord. We do not look to ourselves, our plans, our accomplishments, our devices, our works, but only to you. And in that we rest and receive all that Christ has for us as our righteousness and all of the promises that are yes and amen in him, in whose name we pray. Amen.