Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 4-7.

I really like the first three chapters of Romans, but starting with chapter four I often find it difficult to follow Paul’s logic.  I am not saying that it is not logical, just that the case he is making is convoluted enough that I struggle to follow it.  And for all the difficulty I have following the logic arguments which Paul makes, I am pretty sure I understand the conclusion which his logic is designed to support.  Part of the reason it is so hard to follow the argument which Paul is making here is because we, as humans with finite minds, are trying to wrap our heads around God’s infinite wisdom.  Which brings me to what I want to write about from today’s passage.  At the end of chapter three Paul had made the claim that our righteousness, our reconciliation with God, comes through faith, not through any action of which we may boast.  Here in chapter four he begins to make the case supporting this claim starting with Abraham.  Paul argues that the Old Testament told us that Abraham was considered righteous, not because of anything he had done, but because of his faith.  In the same way, we have righteousness solely because of our faith, not because of anything we have done.  As part of the case he is making, Paul illustrates Abraham’s faith by telling us that Abraham’s faith did not weaken when God made the promise even though he was already almost one hundred years old, and Sarah was already past her childbearing years.  Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith did not weaken and was sufficient to be counted as righteousness, even though Abraham had taken Hagar to his bed in order to have a child with her, despite the fact that God had told him the promise would be fulfilled through a child he would have with Sarah.  And earlier, Abraham had, on two separate occasions, told people that Sarah was his sister because he was afraid that if they knew she was his wife they would kill him in order to take her for their own.  Despite these things, Paul tells us that he did not waver in his faith.  Which puts in perspective what it means to have faith in God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.