04.11. LESSON 11

LESSON 11

Inasmuch as Abraham does not appear again in Romans, let us take another look at him to encourage the modeling of our lives after him instead of after Aristotle or Caesar. We are loath to part with an extraordinary man, who, the better he is known, grows in solitary grandeur. When he was about 75 years of age, his faith in God’s call tore him from settled life in Ur of Chaldees to become a stranger and pilgrim in Canaan, where the Hittites called him "a prince of God" (Genesis 23:6). For 100 years he pitched his tent and built his altar in various places, refusing riches from the king of Sodom (Genesis 14:21-24) and even a grave for Sarah from Ephron (Genesis 23:3-16) as gifts lest he dishonor God by distrusting his promise to give him the whole land in his own time and manner. He never betrayed the sign (circumcision) of his separation unto God, nor ever centered his mind on self in anything, any more than he did in the matter of Isaac’s birth. The fidelity of such men as Melchizedek (Genesis 14:1-24), Abraham, and Jethro (Exodus 18:1-27), living in the midst of heathenism, teaches us that heathen peoples are not guiltless. They could do better. The truth that the power which was able to give Isaac an existence was also able to raise "Jesus from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and raised for our justification," closes Romans 4:1-25. The death and the resurrection of Jesus are the two hinges upon which the door of salvation turns. The two prime articles of the gospel— man’s sin that slew Jesus and God’s power that raised him —focus in the cross and the empty tomb. Christ pays the full debt at the crucifixion, and God, fully satisfied, receipts in full at the resurrection. The blood removes the penalty of sin, and the resurrection opens up the power of the risen Christ for the enabling of his people. Moreover Christ’s resurrection, since he has "been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are asleep," is the certificate of the resurrection of all who sleep in him. A paragraph about the way Paul and James use Abraham. As we have seen, Paul uses him to show that "the ungodly are justified, apart from religious works and rites, by faith in the propitiatory blood of Christ." Characteristic of Paul, he digs down to the deepest roots of Christianity to show that it is grounded ’in Christ, and that meritorious works apart from faith in Christ are dead and powerless to justify sinners. James does not have this matter in mind at all. His chief purpose is to show especially Jewish Christians, who have brought Jewish legalism, ritualism, and traditionalism over into the church, that faith in Christ is dead and powerless to justify Christians unless it is perfected in Christian work. Paul and James are writing about the opposite ends of Christianity, and use the words, "justify" and "faith" and "work" in different senses. In his argument Paul sets Christian faith over against all other faiths and works, whereas James contrasts dead and live Christian faith. Paul teaches that works apart from faith in Christ are dead, and James adds, with Paul’s full approval, that even Christian "faith apart from (Christian) works is dead." James expects Christians who begin in Paul’s faith to continue and finish in his works.

Christian Assurance

Romans 1:1-32, Romans 2:1-29, Romans 3:1-31, Romans 4:1-25 establish the truth that, though all men are hopelessly condemned by law, they may be justified by grace through faith. If some legalist fears that Christianity may not endure and succeed because it asks so little of men themselves, and is too easy to challenge men of mettle, in a passage (Romans 5:1-11) that revolves around peace and hope, Paul drowns all his fears in a veritable flood of joy and assurance. There is scarcely another Scripture so brimful of the infinite resources of Christianity to make men strong, courageous, steadfast, fruitful, joyous, and invulnerable. This passage pertains to Christians of course, and with respect to time covers past, present, and future. The past (a look backward): Christians are justified. Their initial justification is always past, never to be repeated. It settles the sin and condemnation question forever. Hostilities are over; the peace treaty is signed. Christians do not come into judgment with Christ-less men (John 5:24), but answer to God for only their lives and labors (1 Corinthians 3:8; Revelation 22:12). The present (a look around): Christians stand squarely on the ground of grace, reconciled to God, crying "Abba, Father," being indwelt by the Holy Spirit who sheds the love of God abroad ’in their hearts. The future (a look forward): "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." This is anticipating the risen, glorified bodies in which we shall enjoy "An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away... ready to be revealed in the last time." To be taught reliably that peace with God gives both hope of future glory and ability to "Rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope; and hope putteth not to shame" is solid ground for assurance. Then, when we go into the furnace and come through the fire more steadfast, confident, and hopeful, the experience increases our assurance and courage. To learn experimentally that Christianity is actually so marvelously adapted to our deepest spiritual needs that somehow when the chastening hand of our Father lies heavy upon us we, though bruised and broken, creep, trusting and hoping, a little nearer to his side all the while is the sunlit summit of assurance, approvedness, and hope. Tribulation may be a bitter, but not a barren, tree; it produces; behold its fruit! As human love at its highest, rarely someone may be ready to die for a strong, good man. In strongest contrast, God commended his love to the world by giving his beloved Son to die for weak men who were all ungodly sinners, and enemies. The love that lays a foundation like that may be trusted to the very end with uttermost assurance. The passage begins and ends with the phrase, "Our Lord Jesus Christ." "For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." It is no more true that Christ died to "redeem us from all iniquity" than it is true that in his risen, glorified body, he ever lives to plead for us at heaven’s court. Furthermore, through the Holy Spirit, he at the same time lives "Bound in the bundle of life" with us, the life and light of our lives. "Because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19).

Questions