"ABRAHAM OUR FATHER" Romans 4v1-5
Abraham, a household name, the people of Israel want to keep him to themselves "Abraham is our father" John 8v39 "we are Abraham's seed" John 8v33 Paul asserts here two thing about Abraham, firstly that Abraham is father to much more than ethnic Israel, and secondly that he was justified by faith , not works.
"Our father Abraham" 4v1; "the father of all them that believe" 4v11; "the father of us all" 4v16; "the father of many nations" 4v17-18. True he is the father of Israel but much, much more, he is father to all believers right down to the present day and beyond.
Says Paul "what did he find as pertaining to the flesh? " This rather strange statement does not refer to Israel as his physical descendants, but to Abraham's personal accomplishments. Paul uses a similar phrase in Philippians 3v4-5, "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh; if any man think that he has whereof to trust in the flesh I more". He then proceeds to enumerate his personal achievements in life, which, although impressive by human standards, brought him no merits in the sight of God. He goes on to say in the same context that all his life achievements, he counted as dung, refuse, something to be thrown away, compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. He says the same thing here of Abraham, sure he was a great man, sure he did many great things, and he now has a huge world profile, but all this gained him nothing with God, and this applies to all of us. Abraham was not justified by works. How then was he justified? Paul answers by referring to scripture, and not just any scripture, but one specific reference, one of the greatest texts in the whole of the Bible "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness." Genesis 15v6. This scripture is quoted many times and readers should study it carefully and take in exactly what it is saying. Abraham, one of the greatest men who ever lived, was justified in the sight of God by faith, simply taking God at His word, and on that basis God gave to Him a standing of righteousness. This is the only way any of us can be right with God. It was not by anything he had done, it was not by any status that he had achieved, it was simply by faith in God. Later on in the chapter we shall consider the staggering details of this faith but for now it is enough to observe that Abraham though a good man as compared to others was an ungodly man in the sight of God and only his faith brought God's blessing upon him.
Paul goes on to take up an every day example that all of us know about, that is the "works system" . We do work for someone , the person for whom we work is in our debt, they pay us a reward. That is life as we know it, we receive the reward of our works but this is not the way to God, we cannot work to please God. There is nothing we can do to merit God's favour, so we must abandon the "works system" and substitute it for the "faith system", "But to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
It is either our way or God's way, it is work leading to reward, (and that reward is spiritual death), or it is faith leading to grace, the grace of God towards all who believe (leading to spiritual life).
Abraham is the standard for all who will be blessed of God and he was blessed not on the basis of works but by faith.
Tomorrow d.v. we look at the example of David.
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