(These are draft comments on Romans 4. Feel free to comment!)
The question may remain in some
minds regarding the applicability of Abraham’s life to a Gentile of the first
century or to anyone living in the 21st. Yet, Paul specifically
describes these words of faith righteousness as written, not merely in
testimony to Abraham, but as an example for those Roman Christians seeking God.
The faith of Abraham is the type of faith necessary for those who hear the
proclamation of the resurrected Jesus; one must believe God can give life to
the dead!
What
does this imply for those of us in the 21st century? Simply stated,
faith righteousness means that we, you and I, recognize that God the Father who
gave life to the dead and infertile body of Abraham as well as to the dead and
buried body of Jesus our Lord is able to bring life to any situation in our
existence in need of life. God is the only source of life in this world and he breathes
life into our lifeless existence through this seeming mystery of faith. These
lifeless moments occur within our daily existence: broken relationships,
meaningless jobs, or dysfunctional family situations. But the question may be
asked, if our faith is in God, what role does Jesus play in this faith
righteousness?
Paul
concludes Romans 4 and begins Romans 5 with a description of the critical role
of Jesus that includes our transgressions, our justification and finally our
new peace with God. This peace we have is covered in Chapter Five, our transgressions
in Chapter Eight, so that leaves only the idea of our justification for
discussion at this point. This idea of justification, or the verbal element of
righteousness as with Abraham, is directly tied to the resurrection of Jesus.
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is crucial to this faith
righteousness, indeed it is the only ingredient that can bring it about. Just
as law righteousness could not succeed according to Paul, law righteousness
fails in our lifetime as well. Faith righteousness comes in our decision to
trust the promise of God to bring his special type of life to our lifeless
existence.
To
use a different analogy entirely, in Jesus’ resurrection the first fruit of
this righteous character of God, of this covenantal faithfulness, of this
steadfast love or, as it is often translated in the Psalms, this lovingkindness
blooms into visible sight. Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate expression of
Paul’s main idea from Romans 1:16-17, “I
am not ashamed of this good news, for it is the power of God for the
preservation of everyone believing, Jewish first and then Greek. The righteous
nature of God is revealed by faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous
one will live by faith.” Just as Abraham serves as the validating example
that both Jew and Greek, circumcised and uncircumcised, have access to God
through faith in the life giving power of God so, too, Jesus serves as the
example that everyone subject to the death penalty of sin has access to the
life giving power of God through this same type of faith.
Yet, this faith is
not simply a mental tip of the hat to the existence of God. This faith is not
merely the voicing of a specific phrase or prayer in response to another’s
leading. The faith Paul describes is an all-encompassing recognition that
reshapes and reforms our patterns of living in this world so that our physical
existence is filled with the blessings of God’s provision because we trust God
to provide them everywhere life is needed and a faith that provides us with the
hope that this physical existence and its ensuing physical demise and death is
not the sum total of all God ever intended for humanity. The faith Paul
proclaims is a pattern of living allowing God the Father through the
resurrection of Jesus the Son and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to systematically
replace the dead cells of our existence with living, breathing cells that
transform us into life proclaiming followers of Jesus.
