Meditations Upon Faith - Romans 4:16-24 - Part Five

 

Meditations Upon Faith – Romans 4:16-24 – Part Five

 

 

Abraham’s belief earns him a divine commendation; the distinction, “credited to him as righteousness.”  This description indicates legal language. Centuries after Abraham lived, members of the Sanhedrin, the predominant council of religious leaders in Israel including Pharisees and Sadducees, appealed to the black letters of the Law to establish righteousness. To justify themselves before God and the people, they split hairs and divide atomic particles. Incredulously, they construct a hedge around the Law to ensure that they would not violate it. If the Law allowed forty lashes in delving out punishment, they ordered disciplinarians to stop at thirty-nine licks. Technically, they remained righteous as they did not violate the Law. This pretentious righteousness offends God’s holy and gracious character. The affirmative characterization of righteousness belongs to disciples whose relationship with God yields honor and glory through obedience to His holy character from which the Law emerges. Disciples respect God’s holiness by making daily choices that reflect their belief in Him. They rebuff  idols and false gods. They forsake self-centered lifestyles. They discard self-seeking motives. The highest honor and act of worship that disciples can demonstrate to God is to have unwavering faith in Him.

 

Paul discourses upon  Abraham’s incomparable example to encourage Christians in Rome. Like “the father of faith,” they face a daily existential crisis. Will they unconditionally trust the Lord Jesus Christ and devote their lives to Him? How will they remain faithful amid the legal threats of emperor worship which demanded allegiance to Rome from everyone? Will they resist myriad temptations of Roman society including paganism, brothels, bath houses, temple prostitutes, tax extortion, military subjugation, slavery and compulsory service and loyalty to the Roman government? Consider the frightening nature of being a committed Christian disciple within those daily life-threatening challenges. The Lord deems those disciples whose strength of belief and dedication empowers them to remain committed notwithstanding those adversities to be faithful. He accordingly credits them as being righteousness.

 

It is important to note that righteousness does not equate with self-aggrandizing adherence to religious creeds, rites, rituals and rules. As mentioned above, the Pharisees and Sadducees engaged that fallacy with their interpretation and alleged obedience to the Law. They devised schemes to quantify their righteousness. Rather than studying the Law to learn about Almighty God’s holy character, they utilize it to justify themselves before Him. Their obedience should honor and glorify Him. Instead, they employ their self-righteousness to extort their fellow Israelites. They seek good grades in their religiosity. Their pretentious observance of traditions, codes and creeds impedes their knowledge of God. They are lost in a self-serving theological maze which prevents them from rightly relating themselves to God. Adherence to God’s dictates emerges from a relationship with Him. Disciples align their lifestyles with the Lord’s Gospel and teachings as an act of lifelong worship and devotion to Him. Disciples freely commit to a lifetime of studying the Word of God to better understand God and ways in which to serve Him. Christian discipleship is most evident in lifestyle choices borne of unequivocal faith in Christ than in mere intellectual and theoretical assent to the Lord’s teachings.

 

The Fourth Evangelist recalls the Lord’s teachings on righteousness. “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15) Love, commitment and devotion to the Lord compels obedience to Hs commands not a fallacious attempt to appear religious and upstanding in the eyes of fellow congregants and community residents. Worship and righteousness are most apparent in a Christian’s lifestyle. Moreover, Abraham’s example reflects the seminal role of faith in being in right relationship with Almighty God. His obedience and faith interchangeably compel each other. Christians in the Roman Empire dismissed the intimidation of emperor worship and prevalent licentiousness because they wholeheartedly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. They, like Abraham who believes God’s covenantal promises, fervently trust Christ’s promises in establishing the new covenant. Their faith in Christ is credited to them as righteousness.

 

Parenthetically, righteousness is more than strict adherence to petty moral dictates like rules about clothing, drinking, smoking, gambling, sex, sexuality and observance of religious traditions. I do not underestimate the potential of any of these activities to cause considerable damage to disciples and their families. Anyone who is not persuaded of the existence of evil obviously has not experienced the human destruction of addiction. Illicit and illegal drugs fuel considerable crime in American society. Arguably, we cannot compute the costs of alcoholism in damage to property, legal proceedings, adverse effects upon families and communities and loss of life. Beyond the financial losses, there are intangible and incalculable costs. Myriad other addictions ruin families and result in early deaths. Nevertheless, were disciples to approach these activities with Pauline discretion, their self-discipline and moderation would prevent them from lapsing into addictive behaviors. It is farcical to believe demanding abstinence and restraint in all recreational activities are primary determinants of discipleship. Church goers who subscribe to this fallacious thinking fail to see the incongruence between their emphasis upon how someone dresses to attend Sunday morning worship services and their indifference to human pain and suffering in their local community.