Romans Chapter 4
Originally posted Monday, June 23, 2008
General Comment: In the previous
passage Paul ends a series of rhetorical debates regarding the complete
absence of righteousness in the world of humanity. First the Gentiles
(including all pre-Law and post Law non-Israelite people) had rejected the
obvious graciousness of God as exhibited in creation. Second the Jewish
decedents of ancient Israel who make up Paul's Judaism are without
righteousness even though they have the Law and are circumcised, because they
have been unable to perfectly keep the Law. We might think this second
conclusion is far from just since keeping the Law would be impossible for any
human being. We would be correct, It isn't possible. Even in the case of
people without the Law following a perceived natural law from creation,
they would be incapable of perfect obedience. In Judaism and Christianity
the story of Adam and Eve is one of humanity's Fall into sinfulness. Thus
Paul's conclusion in 3:9 "There
is no one who is righteous, not even one."
The
problem is that the bar is set so high. The righteousness we are to attain
is the righteousness of God, perfection and holiness - to be as "good as
God" because, according to Paul, this is what God demands. God is, of
course, sympathetic to God's human creation, fortunately so. In 3:21 a remedy is provided. While
we cannot become righteous through Law of any kind, we can "gain"
righteousness through faith, specifically through faith in Christ. This
faith brings the gift of our "justification," the forgiving grace of
God. For Paul, this is his Gospel of the Cross wherein Christ's acceptance
of death on a cross (his complete and utter obedience to God), stated
in the opening of the letter in 1:16-17. Paul's
next step will to demonstrate the origins of faith as the agency of
receiving God's forgiving grace.
Romans Chapter 4:1-25 The
Example of Abraham
Paul
uses Abraham as the paradigm of faith/justification/righteousness.
For Paul he is not only the father of all Israel, he is the
father of all nations with regards to the appropriate and saving
relationship between humanity and God. It is what Abraham gained through faith
instead of through works that sets the standard. Paul uses Gen. 15:1-6 in which God
promises Abraham he will have a son as the "heir of [his]
house" and it will not go to Eliezer of Damascus. Abraham's belief that
this will be so is his act of faith. Paul does not consider the act of faith as
a work. The key is in Gen. 15:6in
which Abraham's belief in God's promise is "reckoned to him as
[God's] righteousness." Having faith that God will fulfill the promise
(covenant) brings God's justification (justifying grace of forgiveness) and so
Abraham is considered to be in a state of forgiven righteousness.
Abraham's Faith and God's justification by forgiveness creates a
state of righteousness. The three parts are not to be understood as individual
steps. They are one and the same in time.
In vs. 5 Paul supports his
interpretation of Genesis with an analogy. One who works deserves the
wages he earns. Wages are not a gift. But God's forgiving/justifying grace
is given to everyone who has faith as a gift. He also quotes scripture for
support, citing Ps. 32:1-2
(LXX) attributing it to David as a source of authority.
To
further his point Paul makes certain the reader understands that God's
justification of Abraham was through his faith alone and that
no "work" of the Law was involved. There was no prerequisite
apart from faith. Paul establishes from Genesis that Abraham's faith came before his
circumcision. Circumcision was a work by which he was set apart as one
chosen by God, a seal of identity as one who had faith and the righteousness
received through that faith - an argument wholly rejected by Judaism. For
Paul this sequence of faith before circumcision was important. It makes Abraham
the ancestor of the Gentiles, all who have faith without being circumcised, while he is also the ancestor
of the circumcised who follow Abraham's example of faith. Note here that there
is no mention of those who were circumcised but who did not follow the example of faith. Paul would understand
circumcision without faith as futile since he concludes that the Law
cannot be the agency of justification. Paul calls upon a previous argument
that the Law, far from bringing justification brings wrath for in its appearing
it brought the recognition of sin. This is rooted in the act of Adam
and Eve who ate of the Tree of Life and then recognized their state
of nakedness, a sign of their sin.
Paul
must define his understanding of the faith he proposes as the agency of
justification. Again referring to Abraham, he describes his faith as believing
in God's ability to fulfill the promise of a son when all the facts of reality
were against such a possibility. Abraham was old, "already as good as
dead," and Sarah, also advanced in age, was barren. Abraham's trust did
not waver. His faith was reckoned to him - deemed to be, as righteousness.
Against all good sense and logical thinking he acted to the contrary of
conventional wisdom. He had faith. He was, as Paul writes, "Fully
convinced that God was able to do what [God] had promised." This is Paul's
understanding of the "saving faith" of anyone "who believe[s] in
[the God] who raised Jesus from the dead."
Note
here that Paul calls for belief in God, not just as God but as the God who
raised Jesus. This is close to what John understands when he writes that what
is necessary as a content of one's faith is a belief in the God who sends Jesus
into the world, In both cases we are to remember that all of this is the work
of God through Christ. Faith is to believe against all reason that God can and
will act toward us through the mystery of the cross.
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