Month: January 2026

You are mighty, You are strong, yet You hold me like a song, in Your arms I become poetry – not forced into a mould but free to find my full potential, yet held firmly in your mighty arms.

”You are completely safe in your relationship with Me. I will never force you to do or be anything. Yet the power of My love for you is ultimately irresistible as I move you forward to discover new heights in our relationship and in My plans for you. While you hold Me in awe, nevertheless understand I want your freedom from being bound by the law, to develop into the person I created you to be. This gives Me great pleasure as I see you mature and discover more and more of Me and My ways.”

In today’s reading Paul continues and completes the argument from ch 3, where he showed how Jesus’ death imputed righteousness to all who have faith in that action. Then taking up the theme that this action was equally effective for Jew and Gentile, He has shown in ch 4 how faith alone is necessary to receive God’s promise and that neither circumcision nor the law give any person or group an advantage over others who have likewise simply believed.

In today’s reading, he rounds off and completes this argument. The key vs here is vs 17: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He (ie Abraham) 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 are.’ What Paul is saying is that we (ie all believers) are all equally, children of Abraham who believed God’s promises and who had righteousness credited to him and thus there is no advantage to any person or group.

However there is a subtle twist, which is revealed in vs 17. In that vs Paul shows that Abraham is actually not ultimately our father – God is. It is God who gives life cf vs 19 (Abraham’s) body was as good as dead,…..and Sarah’s womb was dead” and calls things that are not as though they were. What does this mean? Simply, God is telling Abraham stuff that has not yet happened in a way as if it has actually already happened. Here he is referring to the promise, once again, mentioned in vs 20.

It is only God who can give life to the dead. Commentators reckon that the birth of Isaac was actually more a work of creation than of fertility. God deliberately delayed the birth of Isaac so that when it did happen there could be no doubt that it was a supernatural act, almost like the conception of Jesus. Furthermore His promise to Abraham is so sure that, although we cannot see it completed yet, it is as if it has already happened. Compare that to Hebrew’s 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”.

So while Abraham is a vital figure in God’s plan, and claimed by the Jews as the father that gives them their identity, God accepts all believers equally as children of Abraham, by faith. But Abraham still is only the figure through whom God launched His rescue plan. Ultimately it is God who is our real Father and who equally accepts all those who believe in Jesus’ atoning death.

Don’t miss vs 22 where he again emphasises the concept of righteousness being a free gift to all those who believe. Also making a point in reminding the readers that this promise is universal and applies to all of us who read this letter.

Paul then rounds off his argument at the end of the chapter vv 23-25 with a succinct summary of the gospel as he has explained it and discussed it up to now. It is worth noting these vv as they are an ideal description of the gospel, if one wishes to share that with someone else.

Being satisfied that he has dealt with this subject Paul will go on in ch 5 to show the implications of being justified (being given a righteousness from God) that he has been describing up to now. That is for next time. God bless you all till next week.

I am walking in a beautiful garden, flowers, trees, all shapes and textures, fragrant aromas, all the colours of the rainbow. Then the shadow of one tree falls on the path – it is shaped like a cross. The cross which has made this walk possible as I meet my Saviour in His garden.

” I created you for this. This experience of being able to walk with Me and talk with Me. To be My close friend and companion, seeking to worship Me with your whole life. I created you for that continual experience and sadly the only way I could execute it was by substituting one of the trees for a cross. That cross which represents the ultimate joining point between you and I. So, indeed I am meeting you in the light of the cross and what it means so, that you can walk in the garden with Me today.”

Small steps at a time we are unpacking Paul’s argument, with the unseen adversary, in Romans. Read Romans 4:13-15.

We are still following the application of the amazing work of Jesus on the cross, described in ch 3. Paul wants the reader to understand the full implications of this act described in 3:25-26 and how it should correctly be understood and implemented by the reader, to receive the full benefi that is intended from it.

Prominent in His mind is the difference in his audience between the Gentile reader and the Jew. So in 3:29 he asks the searching question: “Is God the God of the Jew only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes of the Gentiles too since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by this same faith” So Chap 4 serves two purposes, it shows how Christ’s work on the cross applies to the reader and at the same time proves there is no difference between Jew and Gentile in receiving the benefit.

We have already seen how he emphasises that the benefit of the sacrifice ofJesus on the cross comes through faith and is free. Believing God’s promises is all that is needed for the reader to be credited with and to receive righteousness. He has ruled out the possibility that circumcision could put some people in a better position to receive the promised righteousness.

In today’s reading he picks up the role of the law, briefly. He will expand on it later in the letter. He has already introduced the law in his argument in 3:31. “Do we then nullify the law by this faith? No we uphold the law”.

He opens today’s reading with a reiteration of this statement: “It is not through the law that Abraham and His offspring received the promise that he would be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.” This statement parallels the argument on circumcision, in a way. But the law had huge implications for the Israelites (Jews). They literally identified their very nationhood of Israel by the law. Having the law set them apart from all other nations. In a similar way many, many people would link their Christianity today to obedience to the law. Perhaps not so formally, but believing that their efforts, linked to their understanding of the law in some way or another, sometimes simply expressed as living according to the “Golden rule”, will gain them sufficient approval to reach heaven.

Paul does not have a detailed discussion here of the role of the law in salvation but simply makes two profound statements:

First: vs 14. if salvation could be achieved through obedience to the law, then the whole sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was worthless – a waste of time! A shocking thought, which every person should consider when they think they are achieving salvation or some special approval which contributes to that, by their own efforts.

Second: vs 15: “The law brings wrath”. What does he mean? Well to believe you can achieve righteousness by obeying the law, you must be able to do it perfectly 24/7. If you can’t, you are immediately exposed to God’s wrath. So the aim of the law is to remind the reader of our lack of ability to keep the law and should therefore cause us to throw ourselves onto the mercy of God, so that we can benefit from Jesus’ ability to keep the law perfectly on our behalf so that we do not have to face the wrath of God. The law awakes the realisation of the seriousness of our sin and our deep need of rescue.

There is much more to the discussion on the law which will come later in the letter, but these are the points Paul raises here, which are relevent to his argument at this time concerning Jesus’ work on the cross and the fact that the Jew has no advantage over the Gentile.

May you all have a blessed week as you let the Spirit drive home the reality that salvation is by grace alone – a veritable free gift. No law required.

”Heaven’s peace and justice, kissed a guilty world in love – love no heart could ever measure”

”Comparisons and measurements cannot hold in the heavenly realms. My Ways, My Love, My Mercy, My Grace are so far above what the human mind and heart can measure or understand, yet they are there as a giant backdrop to the universe I have created. And I have given you and anyone else who may want it, access to all this and more. Access to the very Creator of everything and that, all because of the incredible sacrifice of the Son on your behalf. You can only really appreciate it as I reveal it to you, as I open your mind and heart to receive it. So be grateful and seek it – seek more of Me and I will give Myself to you.”

Paul continues to flesh out his argument, in Romans, using an imaginary man he is debating with. Having revealed the means that every person has access to, to become righteous, (ie be justified) which is the key thought in ch 3. He is addressing the problem of the wide difference in the way the potential Jewish Christian and the Gentile would be thinking. So in 3:29 he asks the question “Is God the God of the Jews only? “Is he not the God of the Gentiles too?” And then he answers: “Yes, of the Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith”

Please read Romans 4:9-12. Paul now uses Abraham the “founder” of the Jewish faith as an example to explain his argument in ch 4. Last week we saw how his first emphasis was on the fact the Abraham had responded to God’s call and promise in Gen 12:1-3 by leaving his country, because he believed that God’s promise was true and valid. This was a response of faith and in Romans 4:3 Paul says that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Which comes from Genesis 15:6). So the emphasis in 4:1-8, is on the fact that Abraham received righteousness as a free gift, simply because he believed God’s promise. That is basic to the whole gospel and underlines everything else.

However there are questions which are outstanding. In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant (promise or agreement) with Abraham in response to his faith Gen 15:6. And in Gen 17 God seals that covenant agreement with a whole ceremony and Abraham is instructed to circumcise every male as an outward sign of the acceptance of the covenant agreement.

Was this act of circumcision taken into account in giving Abraham righteousness? Paul makes a strong point that the righteousness Abraham received, came before the sign of circumcision is given. The rite of circumcision was to act as a seal and reminder to the men of Israel that they were part of God’s covenant agreement. Over the years, however the sign of circumcision was often wrongly taken as sufficient to guarantee salvation. It was never meant like that. Circumcision without faith was meaningless hence the reminder that the people’s hearts had to be circumcised if they were to be saved.

And because of the hardness of the people’s hearts over the years as they demonstrated their lack of faith by their disobedience, God instituted a “new covenant” in which He promised to give the people a “new heart, a heart of flesh not stone,” Ezekiel 32:26. So the point Paul is making here is that, as important as circumcision was as an outward seal and reminder of God’s covenant with the Israelites, it was never meant to be part of the salvation plan. Hence Gentiles were at no disadvantage because they were not circumcised and Jews had no advantage.

Where does that leave us? In some denominations baptism is regarded as the new covenant equivalent of circumcision. As important as baptism is, it was never intended to be a sign of the New Covenant. The sign of the New Covenant which, was given to the disciples and passed on to us, is the sign of the communion meal. Luke 22:20: “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” Just as with the act of circumcision however, the value of the celebration of Holy Communion is for those who have already received righteousness by their faith in the very One whose death is celebrated at the meal. The aim of the sign, ie the communion meal, was to remind each person of the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus a their behalf. Once again, taking communion has no value of its own in contributing to one’s salvation.

While salvation is a free gift through grace by faith, its genuiness is always demonstrated by obedience. God bless you all as we move into the new year, till next week.

My reading today in Genesis shows God’s continued guidance of Abraham to complete His purposes – along the way He tests Abraham many times but especially with Isaac. So even while he is following God’s way there are tests to confirm his faithfulness and obedience.

”My aim from the beginning has been to have a people who would want to follow Me and relate to Me as the Supreme Being. I have given a free will to everyone so that, as I test My followers they always have the option of following their own way. This has consequences though. This process of growing in faith through difficulties and trials ensures that you grow to trust Me more and more and therefore come closer to Me. On your own though you would, like Adam, choose your own way, that is why I have set you free from following your own way through my death on the cross and have given you My Spirit to help you continually to make the right decisions. Ultimately the choice is always yours.”

The next few weeks we are going to spend with Paul and Abraham in Romans ch. 4. It would probably be helpful for you to read through Genesis to give you more background, while we cover chapter 4 in Romans. Read Romans 4:1-8 for this week.

Having described the magnificent work of Jesus in turning God’s wrath onto Himself on the cross in ch 3, Paul is immediately conscious of the different way Jews and Gentiles may perceive this act. Remember he is VERY Jewish himself and conscious of their way of thinking. So he asks this question in 3:29: Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles too? So he affirms the fact in vs 30 that there is only one way to righteousness for both the Jew and the Gentile and that is through faith. But the law and circumcision are still looming in the background.

So had turns to describe Abraham, the ultimate Jew, in the light of what he is teaching. Abraham is the forefather of the Jews. Every Jew would regard himself as a child of Abraham, so if Paul can illustrate this way of righteousness by faith in Abraham, then surely the Jews will understand it.

So what is the point Paul is making in these 8 vv? The point lies in the word, translated as “credited” and “count” in v 8, which is repeated 5 times. What is he saying then?

To be credited with something means it is given to you freely, without any cost. Abraham was justified (made righteous) not by all he did or in fact anything he did, but simply because he received a promise from God and believed Him sufficiently that he acted on it (v 5). The promise is shown in Gen 12:1-3 and repeated several times eg in Chaps 15 and 17. God promised that Abraham would, through his offspring, be the one who would the means God would return the blessing to a world, still under God’s curse on Adam. The promise was given long before Abraham had any opportunity to do something to earn it. Abraham demonstrated his trust in the promise by leaving his homeland in Ur and moving to where God had led him.

In fact, if we had to measure Abraham’s life in terms of obedience he would maybe get less than 50%. He continually messed up. Yet when it really mattered he was prepared to take Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice him, because he trusted that God would provide a sacrifice and His promise would be secure. That was, in fact huge since so many years and happenings had passed since the first promise by Yahweh to him.

So before the sign of circumcision, which we will come to and the giving of the law and what that meant, his initial reaction to God’s promise was to believe that God was giving him something which he did not deserve in any way and he received that promise by believing in God and His promise. This was ALL that he needed to do for him to be declared righteous.

Friends this teaching, which we can easily skim over, is so basic to our Christianity that we should really ponder over it at the beginning of this New Year. It goes for each one of us. How much of our Christian activity is based on believing God and His promises and instructions and following Him by responding to this love He has shown and how much is based on thinking that what we are doing is contributing to our salvation in some way?

We all tend to fall back into the mode of thinking that some or other act or “obedience” is making God see us in a better light and make our salvation more secure. Faith and faith alone is what makes us righteous and guarantees us a place in Heaven with God. May you all have a blessed week.