14 for if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 for the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. [romans 4:14-15]
faith is greater than the law
one of my favorite things about our church is that we regularly reject any theology that is “Jesus +”. it is made clear that our salvation and growth in Christ does not involve accepting Jesus + morality, Jesus + behavior, Jesus + works, Jesus + …anything!
Jesus alone is more than enough to change our lives from the inside out, and Jesus alone will continue changing the world one life at a time.
any theology that pushes “Jesus +” is pushing legalism, or adherence to some kind of ‘law’. the idea that we need to fulfill some obligation other than believing in, trusting, and following Jesus as God is exactly what paul is preaching against here. if there were ever a group of people who had to be brought out of that mindset, it was the jewish people who were taught to know the law inside and out.
the law in and of itself is not bad – God gave us the law to teach us right and wrong, to show us what honors Him and what does not. but the law cannot save us. the law cannot heal sin. the law cannot make us right with God. the law cannot bring us peace, hope and joy. only Jesus can do that!
the fact is that no one can keep the law. it is impossible. Only Jesus, fully God and fully man, could fulfill the law. because He did, our hope is in Him!
paul is asking us to consider that God chose abraham, saved abraham, considered abraham righteous, and gave abraham the promise of a land and a great nation to bless the whole earth, before there was the law.
abraham had no church, no pulpit, no bible, no ten commandments, no prophets.
what he did have was faith!
he heard God’s promises, and he had faith in the one who made the promises. like abraham, it is our faith that continues to give us life and salvation today.
abraham believed. abraham trusted, and abraham obeyed.
like abraham, God invites us to believe in Him, to accept the promises that He alone can fulfill, and to walk in a life that we can only experience when trusting in Him, not anything we can do.
~ jason soroski