My sincere apologies for not being able to prepare the Sunday exegesis on Saturday.

The Second Sunday in Lent is February 25, 2024.

Readings for Year B can be found here.

The exegesis for the Gospel, Mark 8:31-38, can be found here.

The Epistle is as follows (emphases mine):

Romans 4:13-25

4:13 For the Promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of Faith.

4:14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

4:15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

4:16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,

4:17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) –in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

4:18 Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.”

4:19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.

4:20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

4:21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

4:22 Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

4:23 Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone,

4:24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

4:25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

Last week’s readings focused on Noah, including the Epistle.

It should be noted that Abraham and Noah were Gentiles.

Abraham is the spiritual father in faith to both Gentiles and Jews. He had the first and the true blind faith. He did whatever God asked him and he trusted that God would keep up His side of the bargain.

You can read the preface to today’s verses in Romans 4:6-12. Paul points out that there was no circumcision when God called Abraham. Furthermore, there was no law. Therefore, God imputed righteousness to Abraham based on his unswerving faith (verse 13).

Matthew Henry says (emphases mine):

Abraham was the father of believers, because to him particularly the magna charta was renewed. (1.) The father of believing Gentiles, though they be not circumcised. Zaccheus, a publican, if he believe, is reckoned a son of Abraham, Luke 19 9. Abraham being himself uncircumcised when he was justified by faith, uncircumcision can never be a bar. Thus were the doubts and fears of the poor Gentiles anticipated and no room left to question but that righteousness might be imputed to them also, Col 3 11; Gal 5 6. (2.) The father of believing Jews, not merely as circumcised, and of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, but because believers, because they are not of the circumcision only (that is, are not only circumcised), but walk in the steps of that faith—have not only the sign, but the thing signified—not only are of Abraham’s family, but follow the example of Abraham’s faith. See here who are the genuine children and lawful successors of those that were the church’s fathers: not those that sit in their chairs, and bear their names, but those that tread in their steps; this is the line of succession, which holds, notwithstanding interruptions. It seems, then, those were most loud and forward to call Abraham father that had least title to the honours and privileges of his children. Thus those have most reason to call Christ Father, not that bear his name in being Christians in profession, but that tread in his steps.

Paul then condemns the notion that the law saves. It cannot save us, because we can never live up to it. Paul says that, if the adherents of the law are the saved ones, faith such as Abraham’s is null and void, as is God’s promise of justification by faith (verse 14).

Paul says that the law brings wrath — God’s anger against sinners — but where there is no law, such as in Abraham’s case, neither can there be any violation of it (verse 15).

For this reason, justification — and salvation — rest on faith, so that God’s promise rests on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham’s descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also those who share his faith, for he is the father of all of us (verse 16).

John MacArthur recaps Paul’s exposition thus far:

… this is the heart and soul of the Christian faith. We must understand salvation, right? This is the blueprint. Now, Paul approaches Abraham from three perspectives. First of all he says Abraham was justified by faith not works; that’s verses 1 to 8. Then he says he was justified by grace not law; that’s verses 9 to 17. Then he says he was justified by divine power not human effort; that’s verses 18 to 25. And they overlap and they crisscross, but those are the basic threads or themes in each section. He was justified by faith not works, by grace not law, by divine power not human effort.

Now we already looked at verses 1 to 8 and we saw that Abraham was justified by faith not works. There are no works involved. Verse 3 is the sum of it, “Abraham believed God and righteousness was put to his account,” because he believed. And that’s the essence of it.

Now we’re looking at the second section, verses 9 to 17. And the key to this section is found in verse 16. The first section, it was by faith not works, and here it was by grace not law. And verse 16 says, “Therefore it is of faith (as we saw in the first eight verses) in order that it might be by grace.” You see, if salvation is a matter of simply believing and you can’t do anything then it has to be a gift from God, doesn’t it? It has to be by grace. Salvation is not earned. If you can’t earn it, if it has to be by faith, then it has to be a gift of God’s grace. What is grace? It is God’s absolutely free favor to an undeserving sinner. God’s absolutely free favor to an undeserving sinner. Abraham was justified, that is, made right with God. Abraham was brought into a right relationship with God because he believed, and that because God was gracious to him.

Paul calls to mind God’s promise that Abraham was the father of many nations, which he heard in God’s presence, the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist (verse 17).

MacArthur says that Paul is referring to Isaac:

God gives him this marvelous promise and he believes. He trusts in God. And he’s not limited because he believes in God’s ability to create out of nothing. So if he doesn’t have a son, that’s no problem for his God because his God can make one, right? And later on, isn’t it interesting? When Isaac was born that God asked him to do what with Isaac? Kill him, take him up on the mountain Moriah, put him on an altar, run a knife through him, take his life, burn him up as an offering. And you know something? He did that, he marched him up the mountain; in fact Isaac even carried on his back the sticks that would have kindled his own fire. He got up on top of the mountain, put him down, lifted up the knife and was about to plunge it into his heart.

You say, “Well, how can a man do that?” Well, it’s simple because, you see, he not only believed in the God who could make things out of nothing, who gave him the son from no possible son, but he also believes in the God who can do what? Raise him from the dead. And you see, he was without question, he was confident that if Isaac were to die, then Isaac would be raised from the dead. Because in Hebrews 11 it says: “By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.” Why? “Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.” So, you see, the man’s faith was based upon the character of God, who could bring something out of nothing and bring back into existence what had ceased to exist. So he was not weak in faith.

Henry explains how extensive this covenant was:

God would contrive the promise in such a way as might make it most extensive, to comprehend all true believers, that circumcision and uncircumcision might break no squares; and for this (v. 17) he refers us to Gen 17 5, where the reason of the change of his name from Abram—a high father, to Abraham—the high father of a multitude, is thus rendered: For a father of many nations have I made thee; that is, all believers, both before and since the coming of Christ in the flesh, should take Abraham for their pattern, and call him father.

When God made that promise, Abraham didn’t have anything at that point, so he hoped against hope that God would make it happen, that he would become the father of many nations, so numerous shall your descendants be (verse 18).

Abraham did not weaken in faith when he considered his own ageing body, nearly 100 years old and close to death, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb (verse 19).

Keep in mind that, after the Flood, God shortened mankind’s lifespan considerably from 900 years to a little over 100.

MacArthur tells us more about the Abrahamic Covenant:

It was given to Abraham in chapter 12. It was repeated in chapter 15, it’s repeated in chapter 18, it’s repeated in chapter 22. And God said to Abraham, I want you to go out of this land of Ur of the Chaldeans and I want you to go to a land that I’ve planned to give you and I’m going to make of you a great nation and whoever blesses you will be blessed and whoever curses you will be cursed. And He said to him, I’m going to give you a seed like the sand of the sea and they’ll number like the stars of the heaven. And you see, at that time he and Sarah didn’t have any children at all, in fact she was barren. And they were already approaching 100 years old. And God gave a promise.

But Abraham saw beyond the physical posterity. He saw beyond having a son, Isaac, and Isaac having a son and Isaac’s sons having sons and multiplications of nations. He saw beyond being a father of many nations. He knew that there was in that promise a spiritual reality because he had heard the promise, “In thee shall all be blessed.” And so, he knew that God was talking about a spiritual promise and that’s why Hebrews 11:10 says he “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” You see, he saw a spiritual reality. Oh, he saw a physical seed, he saw a physical element, but he knew out of that physical seed would come a spiritual fulfillment.

Now, the promise is described in a marvelous way in verse 13. It says the promise to him was that he would be the heir of the world. I mean, that’s a pretty…that’s a pretty magnanimous promise, isn’t it? To be the heir of the whole world. What an incredible statement. “Abraham, I promise you’ll inherit the world.” Now what is He saying? Well, what is in this massive kind of statement? Well, first of all, if we look at the promise back in Genesis we find the first element of the promise was that he would inherit the land of Canaan. Genesis 15:18 to 21 talks about that, that there was the promise of God that there would be this unique land given to him, that it would be his land, that it was the land of God’s covenant and God’s promise, and he would inherit that land. “The Lord made a covenant with Abram,” Genesis 15:18, “unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaims, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” It’s all yours. And, by the way, the book of Joshua tells us the story of him taking possession of that promise. Abraham’s descendants took the land under the direction of Joshua.

And then the promise also incorporated a nation, or a people. Not just a land but a people, a physical nation. In fact, nations, for out of Abraham came not only Israel but the Arab nations as well. In Genesis 13:16 it says, “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth then shall thy seed also be numbered.” He gave him a seed. And Exodus shows us the realization of the seed, the birth of the Semitic peoples and their history.

And then thirdly, inherent in the promise was the blessing of the world. Not just the land and not just a people, even nations of people, but there would be spiritual blessing. Genesis 12:3 says: “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Now, here we come to a very important point. You’ve got a land, the land of Canaan. You’ve got a people, really the people of Israel, the covenant people. And then this huge statement about the whole world getting blessed. And he is even called, and if you look down in verse 17 of Romans 4, “the father of many nations.”

How is this? How could he be the father of many nations? How can he be the heir of the world? How can one man be so significantly related to so many? The answer comes in what I think is the fourth element of the covenant; the land, the nations, the blessing of the world, and fourthly, the Redeemer. I’m convinced without a shadow of doubt that in the promise given to Abraham, he saw beyond Isaac to a Redeemer. And the reason I’m convinced of that is because that is in fact what our Lord Jesus said verbatim in John 8:56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day and he saw it and was glad.” Now I do not know how much he knew of it, but he saw the day of the Redeemer, he saw it. Maybe he saw it in the typology of the ram provided in the thicket when he would have needed to take the life of Isaac. I don’t know where all he saw it but he saw the Redeemer. And the reason, listen carefully, that Abraham could bless the world, as it were, and be the father of a world of people and inherit the world, as it were, is because there would come out of his loins a Redeemer who would redeem from all the nations and tongues and tribes and people by faith. And all those sons of faith would be the sons of Abraham.

And this, I think, is stated by Paul in Galatians 3:16. Look at it, a very important statement. And we’re going to be looking back at this third chapter, so you can stick something in there to find it readily in a moment. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” Now listen to this. “And when He said this,” when God made the promise, “He said not ‘and to seeds,’ (plural) as of many, but as of one and that seed is (Whom?) Christ.” Now when God made the promise to Abraham, He said the ultimate promised seed is not seeds, but Christ. So, the real seed of Abraham was Christ and it is in Christ that all the people are blessed.

Look at verse 29 of the chapter, Galatians. “If you be Christ’s then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the Abrahamic promise.” Now the promise said that all the world will be blessed in you, Abraham. That could only be true because out of the loins of Abraham came the seed who is Christ and all who put their faith in Christ become one with Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:17: “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” So we are one with the seed and thus by faith we become the spiritual seed of Abraham.

Now listen, that wasn’t written for simple-minded folks. Paul tells us some very profound things. If you’re still in Galatians 3 you might notice verses 8 and 9 while we’re there. “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham saying, ‘In thee shall all nations be blessed.’ So then they who are of faith are blessed with the man of faith, Abraham.”

In other words, when it says “in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” what does that mean? There’s the commentary. It means that when you put your faith in Christ, who is the seed of Abraham, in fact that’s what it says in the genealogy in Matthew 1, son of David, son of Abraham. If you put your faith in the son of Abraham, in the seed of Abraham, then you become a child of faith, and in that sense spiritually a son of Abraham, who is the model of faith for all the world.

Now listen, when you put your faith in Christ and are identified with the seed and you become an element of that seed joined to Jesus Christ, it’s one seed because we’re one in Christ. We then, along with Abraham (back to verse 13) inherit the world. We are the heirs of the world. I mean, it’s marvelous. All of us who are in Christ are one with Christ. We are therefore the seed of Abraham by faith, the true spiritual seed. And we are part of the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham which was to inherit the world and therefore we inherit the world. Now if you have trouble with that, remember Romans chapter 8, where the Lord says that you are heirs of God and joint heirs with whom? Jesus Christ. So, as heirs of God we inherit what God grants. As joint heirs with Christ, we inherit what God grants to Christ. And what does God grant to Christ? “I will give Him the kingdoms (Of what?) of the world.” So, in Christ we inherit the world.

No distrust made Abraham waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God (verse 20).

Abraham was fully convinced that God was able to do what He promised (verse 21).

Therefore, his faith was reckoned to him — by God — as righteousness (verse 22).

Henry tells us:

Though weak faith shall not be rejected, the bruised reed not broken, the smoking flax not quenched, yet strong faith shall be commended and honoured. The strength of his faith appeared in the victory it won over his fears. And hereby he gave glory to God; for, as unbelief dishonours God by making him a liar ( 1 John 5 10), so faith honours God by setting to its seal that he is true, John 3 33. Abraham’s faith gave God the glory of his wisdom, power, holiness, goodness, and especially of his faithfulness, resting upon the word that he had spoken. Among men we say, “He that trusts another, gives him credit, and honours him by taking his word;” thus Abraham gave glory to God by trusting him. We never hear our Lord Jesus commending any thing so much as great faith (Matt 8 10 and 15 28): therefore God gives honour to faith, great faith, because faith, great faith, gives honour to God. 5. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform, plerophoretheis—was carried on with the greatest confidence and assurance; it is a metaphor taken from ships that come into the harbour with full sail. Abraham saw the storms of doubts, and fears, and temptations likely to rise against the promise, upon which many a one would have shrunk back, and lain by for fairer days, and waited a smiling gale of sense and reason. But Abraham, having taken God for his pilot, and the promise for his card and compass, resolves to weather his point, and like a bold adventurer sets up all his sails, breaks through all the difficulties, regards neither winds nor clouds, but trusts to the strength of his bottom and the wisdom and faithfulness of his pilot, and bravely makes to the harbour, and comes home an unspeakable gainer. Such was his full persuasion, and it was built on the omnipotence of God: He was able. Our waverings rise mainly from our distrust of the divine power; and therefore to fix us it is requisite we believe not only that he is faithful, but that he is able, that hath promised. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness, v. 22. Because with such a confidence he ventured his all in the divine promise, God graciously accepted him, and not only answered, but out-did, his expectation. This way of glorifying God by a firm reliance on his bare promise was so very agreeable to God’s design, and so very conducive to his honour, that he graciously accepted it as a righteousness, and justified him, though there was not that in the thing itself which could merit such an acceptance. This shows why faith is chosen to be the prime condition of our justification, because it is a grace that of all others gives glory to God.

God’s reckoning of righteousness to Abraham holds true for us as well.

Paul says that the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’ were not meant for Abraham alone (verse 23) but for our sakes also; it will be reckoned to us who believe in Him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead (verse 24), who was handed over to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification (verse 25).

Henry explains:

… this particularly concerning Abraham was written for us also, to assure us what that righteousness is which God requireth and accepteth to our salvation,—for us also, that are man and vile, that come so far short of Abraham in privileges and performances, us Gentiles as well as the Jews, for the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles through Christ,—for us on whom the ends of the world are come, as well as for the patriarchs; for the grace of God is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. His application of it is but short. Only we may observe,

I. Our common privilege; it shall be imputed to us, that is, righteousness shall. The gospel way of justification is by an imputed righteousness, mellei logizesthai—it shall be imputed; he uses a future verb, to signify the continuation of this mercy in the church, that as it is the same now so it will be while God has a church in the world, and there are any of the children of men to be justified; for there is a fountain opened that is inexhaustible.

II. Our common duty, the condition of this privilege, and that is believing. The proper object of this believing is a divine revelation. The revelation to Abraham was concerning a Christ to come; the revelation to us is concerning a Christ already come, which difference in the revelation does not alter the case. Abraham believed the power of God in raising up an Isaac from the dead womb of Sarah; we are to believe the same power exerted in a higher instance, the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Isaac was in a figure (Heb 11 19); the resurrection of Christ was real. Now we are to believe on him that raised up Christ; not only believe his power, that he could do it, but depend upon his grace in raising up Christ as our surety; so he explains it, v. 25, where we have a brief account of the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection, which are the two main hinges on which the door of salvation turns. 1. He was delivered for our offences. God the Father delivered him, he delivered up himself as a sacrifice for sin. He died indeed as a malefactor, because he died for sin; but it was not his own sin, but the sins of the people. He died to make atonement for our sins, to expiate our guilt, to satisfy divine justice. 2. He was raised again for our justification, for the perfecting and completing of our justification. By the merit of his death he paid our debt, in his resurrection he took out our acquittance. When he was buried he lay a prisoner in execution for our debt, which as a surety he had undertaken to pay; on the third day an angel was sent to roll away the stone, and so to discharge the prisoner, which was the greatest assurance possible that divine justice was satisfied, the debt paid, or else he would never have released the prisoner: and therefore the apostle puts a special emphasis on Christ’s resurrection; it is Christ that died, yea, rather that has risen again, ch. 8 34. So that upon the whole matter it is very evident that we are not justified by the merit of our own works, but by a fiducial obediential dependence upon Jesus Christ and his righteousness, as the condition on our part of our right to impunity and salvation, which was the truth that Paul in this and the foregoing chapter had been fixing as the great spring and foundation of all our comfort.

MacArthur concludes on our two earliest faith heroes, Abraham and Noah, beginning with Abraham who had every confidence God would give him and Sarah a son:

It says in verse 19 that he was not discouraged by his own natural weakness. I mean, he knew he could make no contribution. It says in verse 19, “And he considered,” I think the better manuscript way to look at this, and there are divergent ones, some have the word “not” in it, some have the word “not” out, basically comes out the same either way. “He considered his own body now dead.” He looked at his own body and he said, “I’m not going to be able to make a contribution to this. I am 99. I have died as to procreative power. And Sarah,” who is mentioned in the rest of the verse, “never has been any help. So, between the two of us we cannot do this.”

You see, but he was not discouraged by his own natural weakness. He considered, katanoeō means to fix your mind on it, thought about it, he thought about the fact that he was now dead. That’s a perfect participle in the Greek and it means that he was in a state of deadness, he was never able to function again, and so, he fixed his mind on the reality that he was never able to produce this son himself. He was impotent.

Now, he could have easily reasoned like a lot of other folks would have reasoned and said, well, that’s it. I mean, God blew it. I had my moments. I mean, there was a time and now I’m old and impotent, the promise can’t be fulfilled. But that was not a problem to Abraham because he knew he had a God who could make out of nothing. And you don’t need an Abraham to create something out of nothing.

You know, I always think about Noah when I think about, I think about faith, I think about Abraham and Noah. I mean, I can imagine Noah … He built a boat in the middle of the desert and it took him 120 years to do it. And he kept telling people that the reason he was doing it was because it was going to rain. And of course, there had never been rain in the history of the world. It had never rained. There had never been rain. The earth was watered specially by the canopy that covered it prior to the flood when those things were broken up and the clouds burst forth with the rain. But it had never rained. There never was such a thing as rain. And here is a man who believed God that it would rain, that water would fall out of the sky and it had never happened. And that it would be enough water to float a boat the size of the Queen Mary, which would be filled up with all the animals, two of every kind, who would wonderfully cooperate, showing up, marching in, in single, double file.

Now I personally can imagine someone ordering the lumber; I can’t imagine still hammering on the stuff 120 years later. I mean, maybe in the euphoria of the original announcement you could get turned on but the long siege of 120 years would tend to sort of run you out of gas as far as the possibility of this, espel…especially with the incessant harassment of people who laughed and mocked at the whole idea. Here’s Noah building a boat for something which he himself can’t provide, rain; totally dependent on God.

Abraham is in the same situation. He has no personal capacity to make the promise happen. He is utterly impotent but he is not weak in faith and he does not get discouraged by his own inability.

There’s a fourth phrase that helps us understand Abraham’s faith. It says: “Neither was he, of course, discouraged by the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” Genesis 18:11 says that Sarah’s womb was dead and she was unable to produce a child. He couldn’t produce the seed and she couldn’t carry it in a fertilized egg, no artificial insemination, no surrogate mothering, no nothing, no hope. But that didn’t bother Abraham to the extent that it robbed him of his confidence. His faith was fixed.

There’s a fifth element of his faith. Look at verse 20: “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith.” Fifth principle, he did not vacillate in doubt, he did not vacillate in doubt. No vacillating, the word means “to stagger, or waver,” or vacillate. It’s the word, and some of you who know Greek, it’s the word krinō, which means “to judge,” with dia at the front of it, which has to do with two — to judge between two things. He didn’t flip-flop back and forth unable to make an opinion, solidify an option. He was strong in faith. Like the psalmist in Psalm 57:7, he could say, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.” His eyes were filled with the vision of God and God could bring something out of nothing and God could raise the dead. And the deadness of Sarah’s womb was not a problem and his own impotence was not a problem. He believed God, strong in faith.

Now at this point, you begin to ask yourself, “Is this guy human? I mean, he’s not like us, is he? He doesn’t appear to be like us.” You see, we always consider all these human factors and we may be saying… I said this to myself honestly as I went through this: If this is the kind of faith that saves, who in the world can come up to this? I mean, who can say that he never wavers in faith against all human inability? Well, I certainly can’t say that. And neither can you. And I don’t think that’s what it intended to say here. Let me show you why. Go back to Genesis 17 and I want you to note something that’s very comforting, verse 15. “And God said unto Abraham, ‘As for Sarah, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai but Sarah shall be her name.” It means princess. “And I will bless her and give thee a son also of her.” Now here comes God and he’s giving him this promise at the age of 99, “I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations” …

Ultimately:

All faith works through the struggle, but the kind of faith that saves is the kind that lands on the confidence side. You see, the ultimate end of Abraham’s struggle was that he was confident. Oh, there was a time when he…which he had to deal with the options and the opinions and he had to land, and when he landed he landed firmly. In fact, it was the struggle, I think, that strengthened his faith.

… Oh it was battered around but in the end it did not waver. You see, James puts it this way. In chapter 1, he says; “The trial of your faith brings ultimately perfection.” And ultimately you stop wavering and being double-minded. And so, he worked through the struggles, he worked through the difficulties; he worked through the famine and the pharaoh and the fear and all the other elements. He worked through even the folly of the thought that they could bring a child into the world. And when it was all worked through and the struggle was over, he was unwavering, strong in faith.

That is the lesson of how to develop strong faith in God. May we be often reminded of the examples of Abraham and Noah and put them into practice.