THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 35, SEPTEMBER 30, 2001

"AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD…"

Recently I heard a fellow call the gospel of John, "the gospel proclaimed"; and the letter to the Romans, "the gospel explained". I thought that was an interesting way of looking at it and was prepared to hear more until I heard the fellow's approach to Romans 4 - a pivotal chapter in the book. The gentleman focused on Rom. 4:3, and completely missed the point. Rom. 4:3, says, "For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." The fellow attempted to use Abraham to prove that salvation comes at the point of belief - he even added the word "alone" in his explanation of the verse.

The quotation found in Romans 4:3 is from Genesis 15:6. It was made concerning Abram believing that God would give him an heir, a son of his old age. This statement was made even as Abram was in the land of Canaan, and that is a vital point.

As I think about the letter to the Romans, referring to it as "the gospel explained" is a pretty good way of looking at it. It is, at least in my opinion, the most profound and in-depth presentation of salvation by grace through faith in scripture. It is also one of the most profoundly misunderstood and misused.

Romans is about faith. It is about salvation through faith. It also makes it clear that the faith that saves is not simply belief, and Abraham, the father of the faithful, is a classic example of that truth.
We are first introduced to Abraham, called Abram at the time, in Genesis 11. He was residing in Ur of the Chaldees, a city located in the lower southeastern portion of Mesopotamia on the Euphrates River. Stephen, in Acts 7:2 - 4, makes it clear that while he was living in Ur of the Chaldees, Abraham received his first call from God. That passage says, "And he said, Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, Depart from your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you. Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God removed him into this country in which you are now living."

God called Abraham. He told him to leave the land that he knew and journey to a land that he did not know. The Hebrew writer tells us, "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going." (Heb. 11:8) Abraham journeyed through Mesopotamia to Haran, a city located in the northwest portion of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. At the death of his father, God called him again. This is the call recorded in Genesis 12:1 - 3, that contains the land, nation, and seed promises. Do you know what Abraham did when he received this call? He obeyed. Genesis 12:4 tells us, "So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran."

The pertinent question, and the key to understanding Abraham's place as the father of the faithful, is this - Would the statement found in Genesis 15:6 and quoted in Romans 4:3, ever have been made if Abraham had remained in Ur of the Chaldees? For that matter, would it have been made if Abraham had remained in Haran when the second call came? The obvious and undeniable answer to those questions is NO! If Abraham had simply believed God alone, and had not obeyed Him, then there would have been no saving faith, only belief. Belief alone has NEVER been good enough!

The gentleman who prompted this article continued in his misuse of Romans 4, by looking at verses 4 & 5, among others. Those verses say, "Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." His assertion was that if Abraham had to do anything, than he wasn't justified by faith. The problem he has, among many, is that he equates saving faith with belief alone and they are not the same. Abraham was justified without the works of the Law of Moses, or the works of any man-made law, but he was most definitely justified by works. Whose works? The works that God told him to do.

In James 2, Abraham is used to demonstrate the exact opposite of what that false teacher I was listening to was attempting to convince people to believe. In James 2:21 - 24, we find, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." What kind of works was James writing about? Was he writing concerning works of the Law of Moses? No! Was he writing about works that man comes up with in an attempt to earn his salvation? No! He was writing about works of obedience to the commands of God. He was writing about doing what God says, not just believing God, but obeying Him as well.

Now let's get back to the letter to the Romans. That wonderfully profound letter practically begins and ends with a phrase that is the key to understanding the letter itself. The phrase acts as "bookends" to the wonderful library of magnificent truths taught within the pages of the letter. It is found in Romans 1:5 and in Romans 16:26. Rom. 1:5 reads as follows, "through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake". Romans 16: 26 says, "but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith". Without obedience, there is no saving faith!

In Romans 6:3 - 7, we have that wonderful teaching about baptism being a burial into the death of Christ as well as a resurrection when we come out of the water to walk in newness of life. In verses 16 - 18, we read, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." When were the Romans "freed from sin"? When they "became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching".

The emphasis on obedience in Romans is all- encompassing. In 2:6 - 8, we find, "Who will render to every man according to his deeds; to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation."
In Romans 15:18, we read, "For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed."

Brethren and friends, WITHOUT OBEDIENCE, THERE IS NO SAVING FAITH. Faith without obedience is simply belief, and belief alone is not good enough.

"You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." (James 2:19)

Greg Litmer