Introduction
In this section Paul is still talking about the promise but he emphasizes the nature of saving faith as opposed to the works of the law. He shows that the promise is to everyone who believes and not just to Israel which possessed the law of God. The Bible is all about promises. A testament is a promise. A covenant is a promise. However, promises that are kept are becoming rarer and rarer, and that has to do with our loss of our Christian heritage. Our legislators promise to support and defend the constitution but more and more they dismantle and disrespect it. Ministers promise to uphold the doctrinal integrity of the Church, but many are just waiting for the chance to undermine it. Marriages are made with promises but these are often ignored. They all remind me of a story about a young soldier who deeply loved his fiancee and was faithful to his word. The men of his company knew this and admired him. One day he got a Dear John letter from home. She was tired of waiting and was marrying a man unfit for the military draft. And she said would he please return her picture. He was crushed at her hard heart. The soldier’s friends were so outraged that they collected every picture, every photograph, every snapshot of every girl they could find. They packed them in a big box and sent it to the fickle girl with this note, “Please pick out your picture and return the rest to me. This is a little embarrassing, but I don’t remember which one is yours.” It’s a sinful broken world and you can’t always trust people, but you can always trust God’s promises, and Abraham did.
I Life for the Uninvited
In verses 16 and 17 Paul focuses on who the children of Abraham really are, 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 are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 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 things that are not as though they were. The Hebrew people were exceedingly proud of being Abraham’s descendants. In John 8 they are told by Jesus that the truth will make them free. They are offended and we read in verses 33-40, They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin…I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.” “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. Israel was set aside because they rejected Jesus and others who had been uninvited were now invited into the kingdom. Jesus taught them this in parables. For example there was a wedding feast and the guests made excuses saying they couldn’t come. Servants are sent out into the highways and byways to bring in the poor and maimed and blind . These are the Gentiles who through faith become children of Abraham rather than through physical descent. So Paul says in Galatians 3:6-9, Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Isaiah had predicted this would occur with the coming of Messiah in 9:1 and 2, In the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. So all are now invited to the life faithfully promised by God in the covenant of grace.
II Life for the Unexpectant
The experience of Abraham is set forth in verses 18-22, 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.” 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. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness. God had promised a seed to Abraham; more children than he could count and a seed that would be the source of blessing the whole world. But he was childless. So unexpected was the fulfillment of this promise of God that Sarah and Abraham went about trying to fulfill the promise themselves. At Sarah’s suggestion her handmaid Hagar was given to Abraham and their union produced Ishmael. But he was not the child of promise and his presence was a source of tension from the beginning. Now Abraham was probably wrong in acquiescing to Sarah’s desires for an heir. In fact the child would have been hers because he was born to a slave, but the result was that Hagar despised Sarah, and we read later in Genesis 16:5, Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” The word wrong is a very strong word in the Hebrew; it means oppression, wickedness and unrighteousness. Unexpectedly in the very next chapter God deals with the situation by blessing Abraham and Sarah with Isaac in their old age. What we must realize is that Abraham was already a justified man for according to Genesis 15:4-6, Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham had already believed the promise of numerous seed even when he was growing old and he was already righteous through faith. Thus, although he slipped, he never gave up hope that God’s promise would be fulfilled. He hoped against hope. His faith accepted the improbable and the invisible because it was grounded in the true nature of God. Nothing was too hard for his God. Justifying faith in us is no different. It comes when we believe the promises of God, and particularly the promise that Jesus saves.
III Life for the Ungodly
This promise of life for sinners such as Abraham and us is in verses 23-25, The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Paul is telling us that there is hope for all. The gospel declares that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. What Abraham looked forward to we have now seen come to pass. Abraham was credited with God’s righteousness because he believed God’s power and promise. We do the same thing when we place our faith in the crucified Son of God. In Genesis 22 you can read the story of Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. You will notice that when Isaac asked where the sacrifice is, Abraham answered that God would provide the sacrifice. Abraham is doing exactly what he has done before. He is trusting God and believing God’s word. Hebrews 11 makes this clear in verses 17-19, By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. And here in Romans we are told that we shall be credited with righteousness when we believe that Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. People are justified because they rely on God’s promise. This pleases God and he places His righteousness as displayed in Jesus to their account. Such people have nothing else and do nothing else but believe, as did Abraham. This is life for the ungodly.
Dr. John P. Clark's Sermons & Writings 