Romans 4:13-15

Passage

For the promise to Abraham and his descendants for him to be an heir of the world is not through the Law but through the righteousness of faithfulness.  For if the heirs are out of the Law, then faithfulness has been emptied of its power and the promise has been abolished.  For the Law causes wrath to be.  But where there is no law there is no transgression.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul reminds us that it is out of the Law that wrath comes.  This makes sense.  First of all, the Law is God’s standard that we as humans cannot attain.  If we cannot attain it, then the Law demonstrates the fact that we fall short.  Additionally, it is the Law that points out specifically how we fall short.  The Law demonstrates not only how we as a human race fall short but specifically where each of us as individuals falls short.  The Law demonstrates why each of us is guilty of sin.  This is what Paul means when he says that the Law brings wrath.  The Law shows us how we have fallen short of God.

Do you believe that you are guilty of sin?  Do you understand how it is the Law that demonstrates how we fall short?  Does it make sense to you that it is out of the Law – and how we fall short of it – that God’s wrath comes and God’s wrath is justified?

Second Thought:

Paul also tells us that if there are heirs through the Law, then faithfulness is emptied of its power and God’s promise of love is no more.  The logic behind this thought goes like this.  If it is possible to earn salvation by upholding the Law, then Christ’s death on the cross becomes some cheap shortcut to true strength of character.  If it is possible to attain the standard of the Law, the Jesus is no longer grace but something that enables us to remain in our weakness.  In other words, if we can earn salvation through the Law then grace is emptied of its power because it has no positive benefit.  It is no longer grace, but something oppressive that enables us to remain weak.  Let this not be so!

Can you think of an example of a person or an object that enables us to remain in our weakness?  What is the ultimate effect of such things on our life?  Do you think God would give us something that allows us to remain weak if we actually had the ability to succeed through another way?

Third Thought:

Instead, Paul knows that we cannot follow the Law.  We cannot work ourselves into perfection.  No matter how hard we try, we cannot attain the Law.  God didn’t give us Christ because the high road is difficult; God gave us Christ because the high road is impossible!  We cannot obey the Law.  If salvation comes only through the Law, we are all condemned.  God had to give us Christ for any of us to be saved.  Christ is not some cheap shortcut, He is the only way.  It begins with us humbling ourselves and admitting that the way of the Law is more than hard, it is impossible.  It begins with us humbling ourselves and acknowledging that we cannot do it.  Only through that humbleness can we remove ourselves from the picture and it no longer becomes about us.  Through our humbleness, it all becomes about Christ.  Since we cannot earn God’s love by attaining it, we must humbly receive it through His grace and His desire for us to have it anyway.

Why is it difficult to realize that we cannot earn God’s love?  Why is it difficult to humble ourselves?  How great is God for providing the only way to salvation?

Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 4:16-17