1. Did Abraham believe really in God?
We are continuing the lecture on Epistle to the Romans and today’s session is the fourth sequence. The last part of the passage is the core of today’s lecture. ; - but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.(Romans 4:24-25)
It might be difficult to understand that we will receive the forgiveness of God through the Resurrection, thanks to the Cross. The notion of a new life is also hard to grasp in rational way of thinking. Paul tried to explain the issues in Romans 4 by talking about the story of Abraham. He pointed there to the relation between faith and salvation.
As I did the last Sunday, I will lecture on the passage by referring to “Commentary on Epistle to the Romans*1” written by Dr. Kazou Kitamori. Dr. Kitamori leads readers’ attention to Romans 4:18 ; - Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Humans’ hope is very often based on the expectation of feasibility. We had a hope when our wish seems possible to realize. But Abraham believed in what seemed to him impossible. That is the meaning of “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.” In other words, he had a hope even though he felt hopeless. We could call it “the hope in faith.” Abraham became the father of many nations because of the belief in the hopeless hope.
Now let’s see what happened to Abraham in detail. The story begins in Genesis 12 which describes how he received the call from the Lord. Abraham was then 75 years old and his name was Abram. ; - The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.(Genesis 12:1)
The land offered by God was Canaan in which God promised him a life of prosperity. ; - All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.(Genesis 13:15-16)
Abraham was childless but he had a hope in God’s words. However, after giving the promise, God didn’t accord him child for longtime. When he and his wife Sara, originally Sarai, became very old, ; - the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. “ But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”(Genesis 15:1-2)
He thought that he and Sara were too old to have a baby. Therefore he had chosen a man, “Eliezer of Damascus” as his legitimate heir. Nonetheless God programmed another future for them. ; - Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”(Genesis 15:4)
After that, several decades passed again. Abraham and Sarai remained still childless. So much so, Sarai proposed to her husband a concessional plan. ; - so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.(Genesis 16:2)
She was sure of being too old to get pregnant. Besides she had never conceived after the marriage. Therefore Abraham accepted the proposition of Sarai. Thus he arrived to have a baby with Hagar, Sarai’s maidservants. The child was named Ishmael. (see Genesis 16) But Ishmael was not the heir of Abraham chosen by God.
Then years passed again. God’s voice came to Abraham when he was 100 years old. ; - I(God) will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”(Genesis 17:16-17)
Abraham laughed secretly because it was incredible that a man and a women of such high ages could have a baby. The laugh revealed unbelief of Abraham in the promise of God. For that reason, God declared ; - Is anything too hard for the Lord ?(Genesis 18:14 )
*1 In Japanese alone ISBN-10：4764264218 / ISBN-13：9784764264212
Lectures by Dr. Kitamori http://www.gogetpapers.com/Lectures/Kazo_Kitamori
2. Unfaithful faith was credited as righteousness
The passage above is referred to in Romans 4:19-21 ; - Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.(Romans 4:19-21)
Paul didn’t dare to tell explicitly about unfaithfulness of Abraham. It seems that he overlooked the fact that Abraham had had Ishmael with Hagar and laughed when God promised him a baby with and Sara. Those acts were the result of his unbelief in God. Was Paul’s ignorance intentional? We will read further the Genesis to understand Paul’s stance.
Regardless of unbelief of Abraham and Sara, the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham. Abraham named him Isaac which meant “he laughs.” Because Abraham thought that God gave him a laughter. Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.(see Genesis 21:1-5)
The Bible didn’t concealed the unbelief of Abraham. And God blessed him instead of blaming. That generous blessing opened the path to the authentic faith before Abraham. The following part tells us how it was proved. When Isaac had grown up God tested Abraham. ; - He(God) said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take … your only son, Isaac, … and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains….”(see Genesis 22:1-2)
Abraham must be upset. God, who had given him Isaac, then commanded him to sacrifice the very son. Normally Abraham couldn’t understand for which reason God gave him such a command. Nonetheless he obeyed God. He brought Isaac to the region of Moriah. And, by the way to a mountain, ; - Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:7-8)
At that time, Abraham’s faith was already stable. He knew that God would make the impossible possible. He thought that any command given by God must be meaningful, even though it seemed absurd. He was totally ready to follow whatever God would order. We find there the real faith of Abraham. ; - After bounding Isaac and laid him on the altar Abraham took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out…”Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your only son."Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram… He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.(see Genesis 22:9-13)
We arrived now to follow Paul’s thinking ; - As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.(Romans 4:17)
Abraham witnessed that God made the impossible possible by giving him a baby with Sara who was sterile and very old. He recognized thus that every thing was possible for God. Therefore he could be ready to sacrifice Isaac as an offering. The point of Paul’s teaching is that the faith of Abraham was credited as righteousness thanks to the Grace of God, not due to his own efforts. Paul says to us that we should be saved because of the belief in the Cross and the Resurrection. Because that is the promise of God. God resurrected Abraham who had been dead in faith. God resurrected Jesus who had been dead physically. Thus we must trust in God who will make us alive by according an eternal life.
3. The belief in God who turns the unfaithful into the faithful
Today’s invocation verses are Romans 4:4-5 ; - Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Il says that the faith is not like a labor which can require wages. If we claim the salvation as a reward in exchange of faith presented through our efforts, the act is not the question of faith but of trading. Paul continues, ; - If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.(Romans 4:2)
Abraham could not trust in God perfectly at first, as we saw previously. Paul taught that the real faith must be accorded by God through the Grace, which would change the unfaithful into the faithful. Because we can’t reach at the real faith by doing efforts.
If we receive baptism and observance of the law merely to obtain the salvation, the stance cannot be considered to be the faith. Paul says that if we think that practice of circumcision or observance of the law are sufficient conditions to be saved, the nature of faith should be eroded. The words were addressed to the Jewish-Christians in the church of Rome, who insisted on the respect of Jewish tradition by Gentile-Christians. However we should understand them in contexts of the modern church. Certain Christians think that humans cannot go to heaven without being baptized. But baptizement is not a criteria for the salvation. We must deny such a formalism which distorts the faith which must be backed by the Gospels, ; - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.(Romans 3:23-24)
The only thing we can do is to give thanks to God who will save all sinners. However we shouldn’t forget the most important and indispensable thing for that, the repentance. There will be no salvation without repentance. Abraham was made righteous because he admitted his unbelief and repented. So much so, Paul emphasized in the Epistle unceasingly the importance of recognition of the nature of sin.
Dr. Yamagata Kenji, a Japanese christian physician wrote this in his work “Gazing the life.” :
The Bible is magnificent because it didn’t conceal protagonists’ sinful conducts throughout the Jewish history. It reveals then their acts of repentance after committing sins. Therefore they were forgiven by God and saved. Then they lived a new life as newborn humans. In the biblical world, the most shameful act is to deny falsely our sinful behavior. Even though if a human commits sin, he or she can be saved through the act of repentance. —
It is said that Japanese conscience is based on “shame,” not “ sin.” And not only one’s sinful conduct but also its recognition and repentance considered to be shameful. For that reason, the ministry in Japanese is extremely difficult for preachers. But we, Japanese Christians recognized our sinful existence and repented despite that mental background. The baptism was given us as a response by God of mercy. At the moment of baptizement, we felt fully love and the Grace of God.
* ISBN-10: 4873955696 ISBN-13: 978-4873955698 ed. Christian Journal (in Japanese alone)
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