211026 - Devotional - CC Romans Chapter 4
November 16, 2021•1,853 words
What are we saved from? The Wrath of God. As we learned in Romans 1
8 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Does God require perfection to enter Heaven? Yes!
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.11 For God shows no partiality.
From https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%202&version=ESV
Could someone please read Romans 3:9-10
OPENING REFLECTION QUESTIONS (LEADER’S EDITION ONLY)
Do you think Paul’s assessment of humanity is accurate or a bit harsh? Aren’t there lots of good people in the world?
What do you know about Abraham and the story Paul references here in Romans?
What does the word justification bring to mind for you?
What is the bad news?
Q 152: What doth every sin deserve at the hands of God?
Answer: Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty,1 goodness,2 and holiness of God,3 and against his righteous law,4 deserves his wrath and curse,5 both in this life,6 and that which is to come;7 and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ.8
'The law's one lesson is this "You are not righteous!"'
The world is not as awful as it could be and humans are not completely evil, but there is nothing we think, say, or do that is not polluted by our sinful hearts. That’s the lesson of the law. Try as we may to obey God and be righteous, we will never perfectly love God or our fellow human beings.
Michael Horton: “The more clearly we recognize God’s claims in the law, the more sinful we recognize ourselves to be.”
Have you ever read or heard the Beatitudes or the whole Sermon on the Mount as a list of things we should be doing? That's a really depressing way to read "you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." If I think I've nailed it, I need to look at the rich young ruler as an example for how well this goes.
Can you imagine the uproar this caused? The Pharisees transformed Judaism into a list of things to do so people would think you are good and here comes a man claiming the same authority as the Torah and He basically says that the church leaders who have put their faith in how well they're carrying out the law are going to hell, while murders, adulterers, thieves, gluttons, liars and those who disobey their parents but have faith in Christ will see Heaven?
If you've built a religion on good behavior for salvation, it's very disruptive when someone comes along and says that behavior can only condemn.
J. Gresham Machen, in Christianity and Liberalism
Clear-cut definition of terms in religious matters, bold facing of the
logical implications of religious views, is by many persons regarded as an
impious proceeding. May it not discourage contribution to mission
boards? May it not … produce a poor showing in columns of Church statistics? But with such persons we cannot possibly bring ourselves to agree. Light may seem at times to be
an impertinent intruder, but it is always beneficial in the end. The type of
religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases,
regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from "controversial" matters, will
never stand amid the shocks of life.
So far from being able to answer for my sins, I cannot answer even for my righteousness. --Bernard of Clairvaux
From https://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary/charles-spurgeon/psalm/143
If Paul ended his letter with Romans 3:20, we would have an overwhelmingly depressing message. But we know that there is good news, a gospel.
The Good News is actually not new news, but old news. Genesis 12:1–3
One notable aspect of this covenant is that God is the initiator. Abraham doesn’t find his way to God or somehow earn the blessing. God comes to him and bestows the promise on him: Through a descendant of Abraham, people from all nations of the earth will receive God’s blessing. This a promise for Abraham to believe, not a reward to be earned by obedience to God.
Could someone please read Romans 4:13-25
Unrighteous sinners, like Abraham and like us, have only one hope of salvation. Try as we may to obey God’s law and meet his holy standard, we will fail. Our only hope is that God would make another way for us to be righteous, because our works and good deeds will never be enough. The gospel proclaims that this precise need has been met. In the gospel, God promises eternal life with him, not through works of obedience, but through faith; the righteousness we need to stand before God without being destroyed can be received through faith.
Compare that with this statement:
23 For we labor diligently to write, to apersuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by bgrace that we are saved, after all we can cdo.
24 And, notwithstanding we believe in Christ, we akeep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled.
From https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/25?lang=eng
That's actually a quote from the Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi. It's a gentler sounding version of what the Pharisees taught, but it's still heresy and it's a common misunderstanding about Christianity. It's right up there with "God helps those who help themselves".
What is faith? - Knowledge, Assent, Trust
You have to know what Christ has accomplished and agree that it's true. That's easy. Christianity is based on a truth claim here and as we read in James 2:19 "Even the demons believe—and shudder!" - Trust is the final component. We rely on Christ's finished work and not on our ability to be righteous.
Q 21: What is true faith? - from the Heidelberg Catechism
Answer: True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word,a but also an assured confidence,b which the Holy Ghostc works by the gospel in my heart;d that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation,e are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits.f
Even the faith we have is a gift, not something we generate on our own, but it's given to us by God. It's not even the strength of our faith that saves. A weak faith in a strong God is enough to save.
God gives us the righteousness we need to stand before him without being consumed by his just wrath. Righteousness is not something any person can personally attain or possess. That was the whole lesson of the Mosaic Law.
On the basis of the righteousness of Christ, received by faith, we can go before God boldly without fear, because Christ died for our sins and was resurrected for our justification.
It's not even the amount of faith that we have, or how strongly we feel faithful at any moment. It's the one in whom we put our faith that
The Puritan Thomas Watson - "A weak faith may lay hold on a strong Christ"
A weak faith may lay hold on a strong Christ; as a weak hand can tie the knot in marriage as well as a strong one. She, in the gospel, who but touched Christ, fetched virtue from him. (3) The promises are not made to strong faith, but to true. The promise does not say, he who has a giant faith, who can believe God’s love through a frown, who can rejoice in affliction, who can work wonders, remove mountains, stop the mouth of lions, shall be saved, but whosoever believes, be his faith ever so small. A reed is but weak, especially when it is bruised; yet a promise is made to it. ‘A bruised reed shall he not break.’
God gives a righteousness that is not their own to sinners through faith. God credits righteousness to our account, as it were, when we believe his promise of salvation through the atoning death of Christ
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
From https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%203&version=ESV
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (LEADER’S EDITION ONLY)
What is God’s purpose in giving the Mosaic Law? How has God’s law impacted you personally?
What is justification?
Q 70: What is justification? From the Westminster
Answer: Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners,1 in which he pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in his sight;2 not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them,3 but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them,4 and received by faith alone.5
What is faith?
Is it fair for God to justify sinners when they aren’t truly righteous? Why or why not?
Is there any part of the gospel message you have questions about?
What is the Good News?
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
From https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15&version=ESV
God calls us to Him and gives us faith in Christ. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and judged on His merit, not our own.
The gospel is not how to live your best life now, or how to avoid distractions, or how to get your life together. It is news about what Christ has done for us.
Assumed Evangelicalism:
Assumed evangelicalism believes and signs up to the gospel. It certainly does not deny the gospel. But in terms of priorities, focus, and direction, assumed evangelicalism begins to give gradually increasing energy to concerns other than the gospel and key evangelical distinctives, to gradually elevate secondary issues to a primary level, to be increasingly worried about how it is perceived by others and to allow itself to be increasingly influenced both in content and method by the prevailing culture of the day.
From http://beginningwithmoses.org/oldsite/bigger/assumedevangelicalism.htm