Romans 4:13-16 - Law vs. Grace, Not Law And Grace (Justification Series, Part VII)

 Part III: Our Justification, Confirmed

For not through law is the promise to Abraham, or to his Seed, for him to be enjoyer of the allotment of the world, but through faith’s righteousness.

I love it when Paul just… just gets obvious, you know? Really helpful. Here’s the explicit statement – a hinge statement that Paul can use to contextualize everything he’s said in the chapter so far, as well as propel his next thoughts. Law was not the requirement for Abraham! It was a promise, and unlike man, God follows through on His words. The promise, in fact, was explained and displayed before Abraham even had faith! Look at the text, Gen. 12:1-3:

“Yahweh said to Abram: Go by yourself from your land, from your kindred and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I shall make you into a great nation, And I shall bless you; I shall indeed make your name great, and you will indeed be a blessing; I shall indeed bless those blessing you, And I shall curse the one maledicting you. In you all the families of the ground will be blessed.

There’s no real contingency, here. God knows when, where and how things are going to go down. The fact that Abraham has faith is reckoning him, but who provides this faith? Some magical spring of perfection within Abraham? I’ll let Rom. 3:11 answer that question. The fact that this is the beginning of Abraham’s story is to display that law wasn’t the focus. If it had been, God would have said, “I will show you – if you follow the divine commandments I’m revealing to your ancestors 400+ years from now.” Please, by all means, show me that verse!

Paul adds “or to his seed” here, which adds another layer of context to what’s being stated. This promise, not solely to Abraham, is not a condition of the law, nor to his predecessors. Yes, those same predecessors wandering the wilderness with Moses and managed to break literally every commandment in fifteen minutes. Those that were faithful during this period were able to partake of Abraham’s promise, not those that tried following all of God’s ‘righteousness’ rules.

If you double check the Genesis passage again (which, honestly, is only the beginning of Abraham’s promise, but nonetheless,) you’ll see “all the families of the ground.” This ties perfectly with Paul’s “enjoyer of the allotment of the world” phrase. The promise made to Abraham involves “a great nation.” This is not an idea that talks about a heavenly status, but an earthly glory. The entire context of faithful Israel’s promise (specifically Israel,) is thus revealed as a terrestrial glory, in this statement – yet it is a grace-driven glory, still through faith, not of law.

While we’re on this subject, let’s zoom out from Israel and skip ahead here, to Galatians 3:8-9, to draw a contrast:

“Now the scripture, perceiving before that God is justifying the nations by faith, brings before an evangel to Abraham, that ‘in you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So that those of faith are being blessed together with believing Abraham.”

Did you catch it? The phrase from Genesis 12 is interpreted by Paul to be a national justification by faith, irrespective of Israel’s particular blessings. The nations being blessed with faith is, well, exactly what Paul is fulfilling here! Must be weird, seeing himself get hinted at throughout the Old Testament. What an honor it must have been realizing his severance for such a task.

The gentile faith is revealed, as well, as also receiving this inheritance of the world. Not the millennial kingdom – that privilege and gift belongs to faithful Israel alone, as the law of this kingdom was addressed to them. But the promise made to Abraham does apply to them – that they are receiving the world. As such, we, the faithful apart from Israel’s kingdom evangel (Matt. 4:23) are called “joint” heirs to this promise (Rom. 8:17.) We don’t have a say in this millennial kingdom, but we do await, in expectation, this promise. Members in Christ will, by Jesus’ faith, be given the world (as a part of many other gifts – 1 Cor. 3:21-23.)

The notion of faith is revealed by Paul here as one that encompasses the law and Israel’s place – Israel’s allotment, in the bigger picture, is a (parenthetical) movement, not God’s final goal.

For if those of the law are enjoyers of the allotment, faith has been made void and the promise has been nullified, for the law is producing indignation.

Well, this makes sense, given the context. If is an operative word, here: contingency for the win. If the law keepers were the ones enjoying the allotment (which no one can keep the law, as we’ve read,) faith is pointless.

“Void” is a fantastic English equivalent. I work as a server in a restaurant, so I’m very familiar with this term. When a customer tries something they ordered and hates it, or a drink is spilled or something, said customer will call me over and say, “Hey, can I order something else?” followed by “You can take this off the check, right?” The process of ‘removing something from the check’ is called “voiding” a meal. The manager doesn’t literally remove the item from existence – it’s still there, and you will likely see it on the check. But it now “costs nothing.” It’s a transaction that, in retrospect, looks useless. Translate this idea to faith in Abraham – faith would still exist, of course, as the Old Testament doesn’t magically change. But it would be a pointless read, knowing there are elements that display nothing of or for God. It has been emptied of its purpose.

The same goes for “nullified,” connected to “promise.” It means, literally, that the promise, which at the time was simply made to some random guy, not an Israelite or even circumcised, it’s been (as the Greek says) “UN-ACTED.” It would make God a liar.

The reasoning, for both of these ideas, is that “the law produces indignation.” The law’s stipulation is that God’s indignation will be manifested. Law-keepers, would be sinners, thus being penalized, thus suffering that indignation. The word “enjoyers” becomes a little ironic, then! The whole line of reasoning presented falls apart when law is put in its place – the faith ceases to matter and the promise falls through, because the law keepers don’t exist. It would just be Jesus chilling on the planet!

Now where no law is, neither is there transgression.

A-ha! Again, the silver lining reveals itself. With no law, there’s no penalty, is there? Ya can’t do wrong if there’s no standard to pit yourself against! You’d think that this would create more lawlessness, but a lack of law, interestingly, isn’t designed to beget anarchy, but is replaced by faith’s law: love.

Therefore…

As a result of no transgression in law, because law produces indignation,

…it is of faith that it may accord with grace, for the promise to be confirmed to the entire seed, not to those of the law only, but to those also of the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all…

Once again, we come back to faith. Law has “sin” and “indignation” attached to it – the unattainable standard. Yet “faith” has “grace” and “promise” attached to it. “Faith” accepts the gift God gives, but doesn’t ruin it by forcing your works as the defining feature of your salvation, but put’s God’s promise at the forefront. The gift of faith, through grace from God, is dedicated to the entirety of Abraham’s seed – not the Israelites specifically, because that’s just not found in Scripture.

Paul brings it back to “those of the faith of Abraham,” and fully defines Abraham as “father of us all,” that is, the father of faith. Trace Jesus’ lineage. Actually, don’t trace Jesus’ lineage. Matthew does it for us. Abraham is in Matt.1:1-2. Jesus is first defined as the “Son of David” and “Son of Abraham.” The lineage is traced, from Matt.1:2-16, starting with Abraham. Physically speaking, from the ‘faith’ in that which we cannot see, from man’s perspective, Abraham is the father of this faith. We can be of Christ’s faith because, again, we can trace our lineage back to Abraham as well.

- GerudoKing