Today in God’s Word

April 2, Romans 4

Do you ever watch those television programs about how things are made? I remember one I saw as a kid that showed how peanut butter was made. It explained the entire process, from harvesting the peanuts all the way to the jars of peanutty goodness leaving the factory. I was fascinated to see the process that produced something as mundane as the peanut butter on my daily sandwich.

If you like to take things apart to see how they work, or peer into a microscope to examine life processes on the cellular level, today’s portion should interest you. Paul explains the process by which God makes us righteous. By emphasizing the chronological order of the facts of Abraham’s life, Paul shows how guilty sinners are made righteous by grace through faith, and not by works.

To those who have violated it (and that’s all of us), the law can only bring wrath, never righteousness. Our effort to attain righteousness by law-keeping is as impotent as childless old Abraham’s body was when God promised he would be the father of many nations. Abraham believed God could give life to the dead (his aged body, Sarah’s barren womb) and call into existence things that did not exist (nations of descendants). Because Abraham believed God and trusted his promise, God counted him righteous and gave him a son.

Paul said those things happened before Abraham received the sign of circumcision, long before the law was given. Abraham was declared righteous because of what he believed, not because of what he did. Paul said that made him the father of the uncircumcised believers as well as the father of those who are not merely circumcised, but who walk in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith.

The promise came before circumcision and the law so it could be by grace through faith. This arrangement makes righteousness a gift instead of a wage, and gives all the glory for it to God. It focuses our trust, our hope and our boasting on the right person—God, not us, and on the right reason—grace, not works.

Do you see why Paul was so upset by the Jews who insisted that Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses? Not only were they adding to the gospel, they were betraying their own misplaced trust. They were “merely circumcised.” They had the external mark of the covenant, and were the physical descendants of Abraham. But they weren’t walking in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith.

Let’s not make the same mistake. Jesus calls us to obedience, to hear his words and put them into practice. How can we claim to trust him if we don’t obey him? But we must never believe our righteousness comes by our works of obedience. When our works, our understanding, our knowledge or our obedience becomes the basis of our confidence, then trust is misplaced, hope is hollow and God is robbed of the glory he is due.

From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly

Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament,

Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Today in God's Word—April 2024

East Tallassee Church of Christ