4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
We are saved by works so then it is God’s obligation to give us what is ours, Heaven. Does that seem right? If we can earn Heaven, then why are we called redeemed or saved? If we earn it, no one saved us, we saved ourselves. If we earned it, there is no “gift” involved; there is no “grace” involved.
6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 "Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
What did you do to get your sins forgiven? What part of the forgiveness process were you responsible for producing? None. You may think that immersion is a work but even before you committed to God through immersion, all things had been made ready for “anyone that would submit to Jesus’ allegiance or leadership”. He had done all the prep work, all the cooking, all the setting, and you just had to partake. Immersion is not an active process performed BY you. You “allow” yourself to be immersed as part of the process Jesus mandates for forgiveness. Immersion is a passive process performed UPON you. You are yielding to Him. Physically were are submerged by someone else and do not submerge ourselves.
10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
Receiving righteousness before circumcision was a sign to the Jews that exclusivity to salvation would not exist. It was also a sign that the Jewish law would not be the ultimate source of God’s desires; the source would be Jesus and the words left for us by his appointed followers.
12 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.
“Walk in the footsteps of the faith” – Having faith is not just believing in something. It is believing in something that motivates you to act a certain way that adheres to the belief/idea.
13 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. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
If you were a Jew that lived by the law, you would think salvation would be a right, just as an heir has rights to his father’s possessions. If so, then God’s promise is not really a promise or gift, it’s an obligation.
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring
Our “walking in the footsteps of the faith” has been blessed by God to give us something we did not deserve. As long as our faith is one that is “walking”, the promise (which is conditional on us finding & keeping faith) is guaranteed to be applicable to us.
25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Our sins brought forth the need for Jesus’ death. Our faith in the resurrection of the true Messiah & Christ brings forth our gift of justification before God. A divine plan the devil would have never expected.
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3 comments:
That's what I meant, you just explain it so much better.
I definitely knew that you got it, Jennifer. I sometimes explain better but you summarize in a way that I have trouble doing. I did try to cut myself off some this time.
I like the long-windedness...you pick up on things I overlook most of the time! Thanks!
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