Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness… (Romans 4:3).
The Apostle Paul was a genius. The more I study his writings, the more I am convinced that God had designed, created, and shaped Paul to be the vehicle through whom he would communicate his Truth. You will often hear critics say something like “Paul took the teachings of Jesus and twisted them to create Christianity.” This is usually expressed in a way that indicates Christianity was not what Jesus had in mind, and Paul distorted the truth. In the words of a former professor, those who say such things are “keen, but clueless”. I doubt that many who put forth such nonsense have either studied the teachings of Jesus or the epistles of Paul. They so perfectly compliment each other that to make this kind of statement is moronic.
Today’s text is a quote by Paul from the book of Genesis. It is found in Genesis chapter fifteen, verse six. Abraham was at a point in his life where it was virtually physically impossible for the promise of descendants to be fulfilled by him. And even if Abraham could perform (which he obviously does in Genesis sixteen!) Sarah was over ninety years old. Abraham was struggling with these facts when God spoke to him. God took him outside and had him look up at a sky full of stars. He told Abraham his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, and Abraham believed him. Because of his faith, God justified him. He declared him righteous on the basis of faith.
Of course the significance of Abraham is that he was the Father of the Jews. Every Jew in the world traces his descent back to Abraham. It was Abraham who was given the promise of God’s blessing and of a great nation that would come from his descendants and ultimately bring blessing to the whole world. Paul wants his audience to carefully examine the question, “How was the Father of the Jews justified (declared to be righteous in God’s sight).
Paul will go on to ask his detractors a few questions. Since the people at whom his polemic was directed were teaching that faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ was not adequate to be righteous, and that men needed to be circumcised and all needed to keep the Law of Moses, Paul’s first question was, “Was Abraham justified before or after he was circumcised?” Two chapters later in Genesis, circumcision was given as a “sign” of the covenant. Circumcision added nothing to what had already taken place when God “justified” Abraham.
His next observation was that Abraham’s justification preceded the giving of the Law. In Galatians Paul specifies that it took place 430 years before the Law was given. Again, Paul argues, the Law added nothing. And he builds his case, based on his years of study of the Torah, and his encounter with Christ, and the things personally revealed to him by Christ, and a mind that could take the entire Old Testament and show how it was all pointing to Jesus, that the true purpose of the Law was to drive people to Jesus through their honest recognition that no one can possibly keep the Law perfectly.
So what does Paul conclude about those who are preaching a “gospel” that is “no gospel at all”? He says they should be anathema…a Greek word that means eternally condemned. In other words, they should all go to Hell. Would you like to add something to the finished work of Christ? It can’t be done.