What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3 (Romans 1-4)
The Roman Empire of Paul’s day stretched from Britain to Arabia. It was wealthy and cosmopolitan. Their engineering feats made travel safer and swifter than ever before and all those new roads lead to Rome. On the Day of Pentecost many of Rome’s citizens were in Jerusalem, heard the message of salvation and believed. They returned home and continued meeting together and growing in faith despite horrid persecution. Paul was passionate to go see and minister to these people who lived in the cesspool of man’s sin and depravity, but first he had to deliver the benevolence offering to those suffering in Jerusalem and he wasn’t sure he would escape alive. A woman named Phoebe was traveling to Rome and could deliver correspondence, so before he left Corinth he penned this letter, a complete explanation of the nature of Christ, so the churches in Rome would not be led astray or waver and could continue to grow in grace.
All men are sinners. We know this through the Law of Moses, but it is not this Law that makes us righteous. The Law is for knowing the will of God and recognizing we fall far short in our endeavors of self authority and power. Through God’s Son we are given Grace that justifies us in the perfect judgement of God. Instead of a death sentence for our transgressions, we are given Mercy and on the day when our heart and life’s practices are laid bare for all to see, God will find us righteous if we have believed and lived accordingly.
Paul reminds those who cannot reconcile the Law with Mercy and Grace and instead, look to works for their security, that Abraham was first found righteous and then chosen by God, and finally, circumcised as a means of setting apart. We are not called to change our bodies, but to live differently than the pagan world around us. There is only one way to the Kingdom of God and it is through a faith that changes us for Heaven’s glory.
Zigging When the World’s Zagging,
Gretchen