ISSL Reflections July 18, 2021, Romans 4:1-12 Post 1

I.
This week we will take some time to notice some of the things that Paul learned by watching Abraham and living with Abraham’s walk with God.

As you read this passage what themes do you notice? What words stand out to you that you sense speak to the core of Abraham’s journey with God and speak to the essence of what Paul is learning from Abraham?

II.

Romans 4:1-12

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say?

“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”

Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised?
We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.” How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

III.
What word or words move you through this passage?

Take a word (or words) and follow them, noticing how its repetition draws you forward and into what Paul wants to communicate.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}


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