30 September 2012
Geoff Hohneck
Romans 4
As people who live in a world ruled by the mighty dollar, we understand the idea of credit and credit-worthiness, and how that affects our ability to live from day to day. Of course, Paul isn’t speaking in financial terms in this passage, but his point is just as pertinent: what right do we have to credit ourselves with the righteousness of God? The question was asked thousands of years earlier by Job - how can a man be righteous before God? After all, religion has made a business out of selling righteousness.
But Paul goes the opposite way from religion and teaches that God’s righteousness can never be earned. And by tracing the idea of imputed righteousness right back to Abraham, Paul gives us a model of salvation that dates back to the father of faith.
Geoff examines the chapter in great detail, going over the ideas of faith, righteousness, justification and salvation, and showing how God’s accreditation of righteousness to our account isn’t just about wiping our slate clean. Rather it’s about accrediting us with all the righteousness we’ll ever need. No wonder Paul speaks of us having great riches in Christ. Talk about a credit rating that never goes bad!