Faith Plus Nothing
(Romans 4: 13-25)
It was a while back when I was here at the church on a Saturday morning during our busy time of ministering to those in need. I was outside pulling some weeds when I was approached by one of our visitors who engaged me in a conversation. He knew who I was and was extremely proud to show off his newest acquisition. He said: “I just got this Orvis fishing vest. This is the nicest fishing vest I’ve ever had.” Not being a fisherman, I took his word for it and complimented him on his “new-to-him” vest which really was quite nice. He went on to tell me that he had been homeless, living outdoors, for quite some time and was now living in one of our tiny homes and grateful for it. He told me that he knew where all of the homeless camps were in the area and that he had been telling them that they need to come to our church on Saturday morning and get what they needed. He said that a few of them would suspiciously ask what the catch was and he told me that his response was that he didn’t know and that he hadn’t figured it out yet. I told him that yes, we are here to serve no questions asked and no strings attached. We do what we do with joy in our hearts because it is what Jesus would have us do, not because we have to.
And that’s what the Apostle Paul has figured out and is conveying to the Christian church in Rome. There are no strings attached to our salvation, no questions asked before we are granted the gift of salvation by grace. We are adopted into the family of God by our faith and faith alone. Not faith plus love or faith plus good deeds, or faith plus regular church attendance, not faith plus how much we give, or faith plus how many committees we have served on. We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting him to forgive our sins. That’s it, faith plus nothing else. Our inheritance comes through faith, not because of who we are or might have been. There is no quid pro quo.
According to my study Bible, the Roman church was made up of mostly Jewish converts, but it also contained a great number of Gentiles so you can see there might be a natural tension between the chosen people of Abraham and these newcomers who hadn’t put the work in. This, I think, is why Paul was chosen to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. He knew the backstory and how to bridge that divide. These new Gentile believers were drawn to the message of the cross and the teachings of Jesus, this Jewish messiah come to save the world which, they were promised, included them. Over the centuries the Jewish religion built and based itself upon what they believed God wanted through what was revealed to the prophets and out of that came over 600 faith-based laws, rituals, sacrifices of atonement, and traditions. The Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and experts in the law had really ingrained these beliefs into the people to the point it was a part of their DNA which is why many of the Jewish converts had a difficult time accepting the simple message of Christ. They couldn’t figure out what the catch was. There must be more to it.
And that’s where we find ourselves this morning. Paul is trying to clear up this confusion and not make coming to Christ difficult, mysterious, or intimidating. He starts out by stating that: The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith. Abraham predated the birth of Judaism. It was Abraham’s faith that God would do what he promised that God credited to him his righteousness. Paul reasons that if the inheritance comes from adherence to the Law, then faith has no effect and the promise has been canceled. He says: The Law brings about wrath. But when there isn’t any law, there isn’t any violation of the law. That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. Paul is pointing out that this promise from God is secure for all of Abrahams’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law, Jewish, but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, you and me, who is the father of all of us. This really is a leap of faith for Paul who, in his former life, was a Jew’s Jew, an up-and-comer in the order of the Pharisees. Paul refers them back to what God said to Abraham in the 17th chapter of Genesis where God tells Abraham, formerly Abram, that he would be appointed to be the father of many nations. Paul says: So, Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence. He reminds them of the story of Abraham who was nearly 100 years old and his wife Sarah who was well past child-bearing age. God promised him that if he had faith that he would be the father of many children. Abraham, Paul tells us, didn’t hesitate with a lack of faith in God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God as he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised. Therefore, Paul says, it was credited to him as righteousness.
Paul explains that the scripture that says it was credited to him wasn’t written only for Abraham’s sake but also for our sake because it is going to be credited to us too. Paul explains that: It will be credited to those of us who have faith in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over because of our mistakes, and he was raised to meet the requirements of righteousness for us. That’s it. It’s just that simple. Faith plus nothing else. No strings attached.
Yes, God’s promise that Abraham would be the ancestor of many nations refers to all who walk in the path of his faith. It’s not by being born Jewish or converting to Judaism and following all the laws. It’s by having the faith of Abraham that God would do as he said that he will keep his promises. Our being credited as made righteous depends not just on Jesus’ death but also on God’s vindicating resurrection of him.
The Jews were proud to be called children of Abraham which is why Paul uses the story of Abraham as a good example of someone who was saved by faith. By emphasizing faith, Paul is not saying that God’s laws are unimportant but that it is impossible to be saved by simply obeying them. Paul is pointing out to them that Abraham had pleased God through his faith alone, long before he had even heard about the subsequent rituals that would become so important to the Jewish people.
It’s through this new interpretive lens shaped by Christ that Paul now sees this promise presaging the adoption, rather than the procreation, of nations, otherwise translated “Gentiles” into the family of Abraham. An adoption that takes place through the righteousness of faith rather than by adherence to God’s Law. Because of this we too are saved by faith plus nothing. Our salvation is not by loving God and doing good that we are saved; neither is it by faith plus love or by faith plus good deeds. We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting him to forgive our sins.
Abraham never doubted that God would fulfill his promise. Abraham’s life was marked by mistakes, sins, and failures as well as by wisdom and goodness, but he consistently trusted God. His faith was strengthened by the obstacles he faced, and his life was an example of faith in action, and so can ours.
When we believe, when we come to accept God’s unmerited grace, an exchange takes place. We give Christ our sins, and he gives us his righteousness and forgiveness and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can do to earn this.
Let us pray.
Gracious and all-forgiving God, how grateful we are for the unmerited gift of salvation and the fact that all you require of us is that we seek your forgiveness for our sins. We just pray that we can keep your unfailing love deep in our hearts as we go on about our lives as your children and that the faith we have in your promise of a life in eternity with you will be evident to those who observe the lives we live in your service. We are grateful for the opportunities we have already had, the ones we are engaged in now, and look forward to serving you in the days to come in any way we can. Provide us with those opportunities to tell others about your free gift, free to anyone who desires it regardless of what they may have done in their past lives. Use us to the best of our abilities to bring the lost and searching into your family. This we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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6/07/26
Faith Plus Nothing
There are no strings attached to our salvation, no questions asked before we are granted the gift of salvation by grace.