Romans 5

Chapter 5. The Law of FaithWhere, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. (Romans 3:27)There are natural laws and there are spiritual laws, and the natural are often types of the spiritual. The whole material universe is governed by one great principle which holds everything in harmony—the law of gravitation. Through the operation of this law, the stars and planets fulfill their orbits, and the particles of matter are kept from flying to pieces and are held in cohesion—in the mountain, the atmosphere and even the human body. God needs no elaborate machinery to operate His mighty universe, but with infinite wisdom and power He has just breathed this great force into nature, and the wheels revolve and the planets roll in obedience to this mighty law. Again, in the social world, God has arranged a corresponding law, as simple yet as far-reaching and effectual. We might call it the law of social gravitation. It is the principle of mutual confidence. Stand in some great thoroughfare and look at the multitudes as they ceaselessly hurry by and you often wonder where they all live and how the world holds so many people without their getting into confusion and anarchy. And yet these multitudes, like the bees in yonder busy hive, all go to their own place. They are bound together by social ties, business ties and political ties that keep them in perfect adjustment. God has put into the heart of that mother the instinct that makes her take care of her children, into the hearts of those businessmen the common interests that bind them together, into the hearts of the multitude the instincts of patriotism that unite them in states and countries; and so, all of earth’s mighty millions are governed by one great vow between man and man, as perfect as the law that governs the movements of the spheres. It is the law of faith. Now in the spiritual world God rules by the same great principle. He is the natural Center and Sun of the whole moral and spiritual system. It is His will that all beings should be bound to Him, as the planets to their suns, by the law of confidence, trust and love that will make them true to Him and righteous toward each other. This is the law of faith. As long as His creatures trust Him and obey Him, they are happy and holy; but when this bond is broken, they break away into disorder and destruction, just as surely as our earth would become a wandering star if she drifted from the sun, and would be wrecked amid the wastes of immensity. The fall of man in Eden came through the breaking of this law of spiritual gravitation. The wily tempter succeeded in destroying man’s trust, and two things immediately followed. First, man began to hide from God; then next, he began to accuse his fellow. Adam lost his love for God and his love for Eve at the same moment, and since that day the human family has been continually getting farther from God and more separated from one another. Therefore when Jesus came the first thing He did was to reestablish the law of faith. For this reason the very condition of eternal life is to believe God. The very first thing men are called to do is to learn to trust, and the condition of blessing under the gospel is faith in God, so that the very law of Christianity is faith. In the previous paragraph, in the third chapter of Romans, the apostle has unfolded the plan of redemption and the ground of God’s righteousness for sinful men. He then takes up the means by which His righteousness is to become available. This is faith. “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference” (Romans 3:22). This is the one condition through which we receive the divine righteousness and the salvation of Jesus Christ. But a condition so important requires to be made very plain, and therefore the entire fourth chapter is devoted to the exposition of faith and the illustration of this important law. He shows them that it has always been the condition of God’s blessing, even under the Old Testament; and in order to prove this, he cites the examples of Abraham and David, the two most prominent saints of the old dispensation. Abraham represented the patriarchal and David the kingly period, and both of these, he shows, were saved and dealt with by the Lord under the law of faith. Abraham was the Columbus of faith, the great discoverer of this promised land; and David was the Joshua of faith, the great conqueror of this new world of holy possibilities. Abraham, however, was justified by faith: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). David also expressed the same truth when he said in Psalms 32:1-2, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered, Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” This is evidently the righteousness which is not intrinsic, but comes to the person receiving it by a divine reckoning, and not by a personal right. Then he unfolds four great features of this principle of faith, as illustrated especially in the story of Abraham. It Is Faith Without Works If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 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. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Romans 4:2-8) It was not in any sense connected with Abraham’s own personal acts of righteousness, but was an act of God’s free grace bestowed upon Abraham just as it is now bestowed upon any sinful man. The peculiarity of faith is that it gives up our works, and takes God’s works instead. The man who works for a thing expects to do it himself; the man who believes for a thing expects God to do it. “Now we who have believed enter that rest… for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:3, Hebrews 4:10). It Is Faith Without Distinction Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. (Romans 4:9-13) It does not rest upon the fact that Abraham belonged to the privileged class, because Abraham was justified before he was circumcised, and thus recognized as a Jew. In fact, it was because he was already justified by faith that he was circumcised. He had the reality first, and then he was entitled to the outward sign and seal. So Abraham represents the Gentile world and the provision of the gospel for them as fully as for the Jew, and teaches us that believers of every age inherit the promises, whether they be Jew or Gentile. The gospel of faith is not the birthright of the few, but the inheritance of a sinful world, on the simple condition of believing God and accepting the promises through Jesus Christ. It Is Faith Without Sight 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. 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.” (Romans 4:17-18) This is a very wonderful passage. It lays the deep foundations of faith, and unfolds its profound principles in such a manner as to distinguish it forever from all its counterfeits. It teaches us that Abram believed God, to the extent of counting the things that are not as though they were. This is illustrated in his life, in the fact that he accepted the promise of Isaac as a certainty long before it occurred and so fully counted upon it that he even took the new name, Abraham, which was the outward confession of this faith. Before a criticizing and scorning world he calls himself the father of a multitude of nations, when the one from whom they were to come was as yet unborn and, according to all natural possibilities, never could be born—as his child, at least. In the account of God’s covenant with Abraham in the 17th chapter of Genesis we have a very wonderful unfolding of the principle of faith, in counting the things that are not as though they were. God comes to Abraham as El Shaddai, the Almighty God, revealing Himself in the form that seemed to challenge Abraham’s highest trust, and He then proceeds to give him His covenant in three very wonderful revelations. The first of these is in the future tense—the promise, “I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers” (Genesis 17:2, italics added). Abraham accepts this as faith ever does in its first stages, in the future tense, and believed that God would do as He had said. But now he comes nearer and gets upon his face before God, and God begins to talk with him more intimately, giving him a second message. But this is in the present tense. God never repeats Himself. When He speaks to us He has always something more to say. So now it is: “As for me, this is my covenant with you” (Genesis 17:4, italics added). The thing has now become a present fact, and so Abraham receives it and takes a step further, from the future into the present. This is the faith that takes God’s gift and counts it real. But this is not all. Once more God speaks, and now it is another step further on. He moves from the present into the perfect tense, and His next word is, “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5, italics added). Henceforth it must be thought of, spoken of, acknowledged as something completed and past. In the eyes of men it is not yet a fact, nor even a probability; but in the sight of God it is done, and faith counts the things that are not as though they were. Now in all this Abraham was just imitating God. The true reading of this passage (Romans 4:17) is, “Like Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” In acting in this way, Abraham simply acted like God. This is the way God acts. He speaks of “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Now, Christ was not slain actually before the creation of the world, but in the purpose of God. He was to be offered on Calvary, and God acted as if this were really done. It was so certain that God counted it as if it were already accomplished, and on the ground of this He saved the Old Testament saints and acted toward them on the understanding that the price was already paid and the redemption already consummated. So we find God acting continually in His dealings with His people. God came to Gideon and said, as He met him on his threshing floor where he was hiding from the Midianites, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Now, Gideon was anything but a mighty warrior; indeed, he was as frightened as he could be, and at that very time was hiding from his enemies. The message must have astonished him. But God immediately added, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel” (Judges 6:14). But the strength was not Gideons, but God’s. God constituted that strength, and from that moment Gideon could count it as though it was, and so he went and delivered Israel. The things that were not, he counted as though they were. The power of God became his power, and the unseen crystallized into the real. So Jesus said to the man that lay at His feet helpless, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5). That word made the forgiveness real, and as the man accepted it and rose up to meet it, it was actually fulfilled in him. In this same way the sinner is saved. Tonight, some poor, reeking drunkard in yonder mission may kneel at the altar of penitence, and a voice will say to him, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” and that which an instant before was not true, will become true by his claiming it. Abraham’s faith will again be fulfilled, and that man will go forth into a new life and a happy future by counting the things that are not as though they were. So Jesus said to His disciples, speaking of the future, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). A moment before they were not clean, but they became clean the moment they accepted it and counted it real. And so we must take our sanctification by faith, counting it real before it is real. Just as simply speaking the marriage vow constitutes that girl a wife, puts out of existence her former single life and puts before her a new future, so that simple act of faith constitutes a new life in Christ, and brings us into union with Him as our Sanctifier and Keeper. So, again, that simple word of healing constituted that which it proclaimed. “You may go. Your son will live” (John 4:50) brought about a state of things which did not exist a moment before. God called the thing that was not as though it were, which answering to the word, came to pass as He had spoken. So, again, in the promise He has given in connection with prayer, when we ask, we must believe that we do receive the things that we ask, and we shall have them. The very element of faith is the unseen. It is not correct to say, I have seen, therefore I believe. The true formula is “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). For the faith that brings us into contact with the gospel is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). It not only believes in the thing that does not exist, but it acknowledges it, proclaims it, steps out upon it, puts its weight upon it, and acts as if it were really so. This was true of Abraham. When the promise of Isaac came to him, it seemed impossible that he could have a son through Sarah, his own wife, for she was aged and infirm. For a while Abraham, like other people, went to work to try to help God in the difficulty. With the consent of Sarah, he took unto himself a handmaiden, and Hagar became the mother of Ishmael, through no purpose of evil, or no gross or earthly motive, but simply from an honest desire to bring about God’s promise. The only effect of this expedient was to bring sorrow to all concerned, most of all to Sarah and Abraham themselves. And when they got through trying, God asked Abram to believe that this thing would come to pass through Sarah; and He not only made him believe but confess it to all his neighbors before it happened by taking the name Abraham; and it is probable that he had to explain why he took it, so as to make it very clear and explicit. When they got through criticizing him God began to act, and before long the thing was fulfilled. Isaac was born, and the thing that seemed impossible came to pass. God quickened the dead; He supernaturally revived the power of Sarah and the child was born as one out of the grave. This is the way God always loves to work. He can do a great deal more with a dead man than with a living man. In fact, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29) It Is Faith Without Doubt 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) This is the last phase of Abraham’s faith. “He staggered not,” (Romans 4:20)—literally, he wavered not. There is a great difference between staggering and wavering. To stagger indicates that one is about to fall, but wavering implies a much milder form of weakness. Abraham did not even manifest the flutter of a doubt; not a fiber of his being shrank; not for a moment did he hesitate. When the command came to sacrifice his son, “early the next morning Abraham got up” (Genesis 22:3) and instantly obeyed. It is not great doubts that hurt us, but little ones. Moths are mightier foes than fierce conflagrations and midnight robbers. The man that never wavers will never be tempted to stagger. The time to meet the doubt is at its beginning, in the faintest form of questioning. The only safe place for faith is in absolute, unfaltering confidence, every moment, in the love of God. If we once begin to question, we are inevitably lost. If we believe God we must believe Him utterly. The closer our relationship to people is, the more perfectly will be our confidence. A man must have absolute trust in the one that lies nearest his heart. The faintest question or doubt is fatal to happiness or peace. If we believe God, we must believe Him entirely. Wavering always springs from unbelief. We may call it by all the gentle names we like, but it literally means I do not quite believe my God. Again, we are told that he did not look at the obstacles. “He considered not his own body” (Romans 4:19). If we look at outward things we will never have unfaltering faith. If we trust because we feel happy, we will soon cease to feel happy, or trust either. If we feel confidence in our healing because we see improvement, we will soon cease to improve. If we believe God is answering our prayers because we see something happening, we will soon cease to see anything. The revised version of this passage, however, is better. He did look at the difficulties without being discouraged by them. “He considered his own body without being weakened in faith.” It is a great thing to be able to look at the adverse side without being weakened in faith, to take in the full situation, to let Satan make out his inventory completely, to admit all his resources, and then to say, “Yes, this is all true—but God—God is equal to it, notwithstanding all.” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35). Then he names them all, one by one: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword; and rising above them all, he cries: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39) Again, it is added, “Being fully persuaded that God had power [was able] to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:21). The word “able” here is literally “mighty.” It means that God is not only able to do it, but that it is easy for Him to do it; it required no struggle, effort or sacrifice. All Abraham wanted to know was that God said it—then it would surely come to pass. No matter about the source from which it was to come. God had infinite resources, and it was nothing for Him to accomplish His purpose or fulfill His mightiest word. We see here the very essence of faith. It is not merely an intellectual process. Abraham’s faith reposed on God Himself. He knew the God he was dealing with. It was a personal confidence in One whom he could utterly trust. The real secret of Abraham’s whole life was that he was the friend of God, and knew God to be his great, good and faithful Friend, and, taking Him at His word, he had stepped out from all that he knew and loved and gone forth upon an unknown pathway with none but God; and all the way along he leaned upon Him as upon a true and trusted Friend. Beloved, are we trusting not only in the Word of God, but have we learned to lean our whole weight upon Himself, the God of infinite love and power, our covenant God and everlasting Friend? Now we are told that Abraham glorified God by this life of faith. The true way to glorify God is to let the world see what He is and what He can do. God does not want us so much to do things as to let people see what He can do. God is not looking for extraordinary characters as His instruments, of whom people will say, “Why yes, it is nothing for him to do it,” but He is looking for humble instruments through whom He can be honored throughout the ages; and the man who trusts his God is really doing higher service than the greatest workers and the most brilliant men whose lives may be but a reflection of their own radiance and a monument to their own glory. The apostle closes this chapter by telling us that God expects substantially the same faith from us under the gospel, and we shall inherit the same blessings as Abraham if we follow in the footsteps of his faith, for The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 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 4:23-25) Surely if Abraham, in the dawn of revelation with but a few scattered rays of heavenly light, could so fully trust in God, how much more should we, after centuries of gospel light and in the full meridian blaze of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, be able to trust Him too, with a strength and steadfastness that even Abraham never knew. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40).