The Trial and the Triumph of Faith (Rom. 4:17-25)
Image from Pixabay Last time, we looked at the nature of gospel faith in terms of its object (the God of promise) and its basis (the promise of God). We noted the importance of the question, “What is faith?” because the apostle makes it clear in this epistle that God has linked justification and the forgiveness of sins to faith in Christ. What this means is that we cannot be saved apart from faith in Jesus, and if we cannot be saved apart from faith, then it behooves us to know what it is. What the apostle Paul is doing here in this section of his letter (4:17-25) to the Romans is to illustrate what saving faith is in terms of the life of Abraham. And that is significant because we are meant to walk in the footsteps of his faith. As Paul ends, what the Bible says about Abraham’s faith and the imputation of righteous to him was not written for his sake only, but for us also, “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rom. 4:24). ...
