OUR FATHER WHO CALLS THOSE THINGS THAT DO NOT EXIST AS THOUGH THEY DID

Romans chapter 4 verses 13 - 25 says this;

13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

The apostle Paul explains that Abraham and his descendants were given the inheritance of the world not by following the law but by having faith that God was able to fulfill the promises He made even though situations they were facing appeared hopless when viewed at face value.

Paul delves into the mechanics of this reality by stating that if the followers of the law inherited the world by doing so, then faith was nullified and as a result, the promises of God were nullified as well because it was believing those promises in faith that made inheriting them a reality.  The promises of God and the faith to believe them were a self-contained function that did not require the law to execute.

The establishment of the law and its adherence availed nothing like an inheritance because the law yielded wrath rather than promises due to the resulting transgressions of the law which is the automatic human response to the law because of our fallen nature. 

Faith is the condition that God chose to use to make the inheritance of God available to all human beings, both Abrahamˋs natural decendants and those from the gentiles.

Abraham, in the face of the deadness of his own body and the deadness of Sarahˋs womb, steadfastly believed in Godˋs ability to perform His promise of an heir and a countless procession of decendants and in doing so, he gave glory to God. Resolute belief in Godˋs power to fulfill a promise and bringing glory to God as a result, is what makes faith be accounted to him for righteousness.

16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. 

As Abrahamˋs faith in Godˋs promise resulted in righteousness being imputed to him, so too for us does our faith in the raising of the Lord Jesus from the dead having been sacrificed for our sins and raised up for us to be justified .

Jesusˋ ressurrection proved the worthiness and perfection of the sacrifice and we, who are in Christ, were raised up justified with Him.

Amen.

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