April 15

4 – Abraham is the illustration employed here. All to whom Paul is addressing here have top regard for Abraham. The old school Jewish crew that Paul is addressing specifically need to understand God’s role in salvation by remembering that Abraham was justified by faith and completely so.  He believed and was justified. Done. Circumcision was a ritual done later by Abraham and his son Isaac. Yes, it was the first next thing Abraham was required to do, but it was done after Abraham was justified. To become “children of Abraham”, if that is how they were to perceive it, then one needed to simply believe God – like Abraham did. And believing God (like Abraham did) was to now follow Jesus v.s. follow Abraham in circumcision. Abraham’s faith in God is what guided him, not his circumcision – that was only incidental.  This is vital to put it lightly. New Believers needed to be welcomed by the older believers and welcomed in faith like Abraham was. The issue is not that God made the Jews and the Devil made the Gentiles. This two-leveled stigmatism could become so severe that it would morph into a mental template of Jews circumcised and Gentiles uncircumcised (thus the Gentiles don’t really even deserve to be here) that it would become a problem that would hobble the church forever.  Paul needed to explain what we find in ch. 4.

5 – is a “wow” chapter.  It is loaded with the verses we memorized in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. It’s one of those ‘gold mine’ chapters with no many good finds and discoveries that it needs to be gone over slowly and repeatedly. The theological backdrop is that we find ourselves enswirled in a world of sin living a life of sin. We didn’t ask to be born. We simply realize that we are here and it was not our choice. Invariably we opt to sin somewhere along the way and then cannot undo what we have chosen. Adam, much the same way, had to have a horribly sobering moments (perhaps many) during his centuries of life when he slumped onto a rock or chair and groaned, “I just ate a piece of fruit … I didn’t know it would lead to all this mess. I didn’t know it would ruin everything for everyone. Is there no remedy? Will it be this way forever?!”  Adam’s choice cements our choice to disobey.  Now, since Christ’s righteousness is offered on behalf of all, choosing Him remedies the fact that Adam’s choice brought death. Adam chose death and it extends to us. We can choose Christ for His righteousness also extends to us to cancel death.

6 – Life and grace and gratitude and Christ’s covering for us are to be our motives in living. To think, “hey, I’m eternally forgiven, no matter what. I’m free, therefore, to keep living in sin for God will redeem me” is wrong thinking. It is desperately immature and a smack in the face who gave His Son for us at a costly price.  Someone who is thinking this way, [and there have been many] is oriented completely wrong.  It’s s reckless to think this way. It’s as wrong headed as a rich brat continuing to meddle in crime and saying, “it’s fine, my old man will keep paying bail and the attorney fees. I can get out of any mess. No need for me to reform my ways.” … really?  A net under a high elevation work site is there in case we fall. It’s not installed to be moronically played on all day like a trampoline.  Sin has wages that must be paid. Yet greater than death is God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and He must be received by us.  We didn’t choose to be born. We didn’t realize that our sin would lead to such a death. But it’s all true and it engulfs us. We do have the ability to choose Christ, and we must do so to cancel our eternal death.

The Thread through the Streams for this week – “Take it to God”