Faith, the reliance of your hearers in utter dependence on the promise delivered to them by the promise of Christ, is, indeed, a worthy goal of your preaching. But faith is never created by talking about faith!
Festival season links epistle readings with the other pericopes, and this Romans reading should be read with the Old Testament (OT) lesson in mind that your hearers will hear as well. Paul already does the summary work for us, quoting Genesis 15:6 as the salient lesson to draw from the Torah exemplum: Faith counted as righteousness. The centerpiece of the Romans 4 sermon should be exactly this, the faithful, biblical preacher will focus on the elogisthē, the reckoning, the declaration of righteousness that Abraham enjoyed (indeed, your own preparation should include study of the entire chapter; pay particular attention to Romans 4:23-24 in order to contextualize your preaching). This “it was counted to him,” the reckoning, has an agent, the God who called Abraham, the God who made promises to Abraham, the God who fulfills the multilayered promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12 by providing an heir, an Heir, and many heirs of that inheritance.
Delivering the promise of Abraham fulfilled in Christ is easiest if you can get your hearer to see the world the way God sees it in Christ. After all, the wonderful promise for your hearer in Romans 4 is that the promise came to Abraham not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith (Romans 4:13). This means the promise comes to your hearer that way too, because the Law brings wrath... that is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring – not only the adherent of the Law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:15-16). God sees the world through His promise, extended to His seed, through His seed, to His seed still, seed defined as those who share the faith of Abraham.
Getting your hearer to see through the grace-lens, the perspective on the world God sees, the very thing faith receives, may be easiest to do if you set up the simple contrast of how people see the world versus how God sees the world. This is, essentially, the same as the black-and-white contrast between running with the lie that works justify versus justification by faith, the contrast between striving for righteousness through works of the Law versus relying on the grace of God, the contrast between Law and Gospel. The one lauds, encourages, demands, rewards, and hangs on human activity. The other rests only on what God has done and does.
I would mention what I fear is a sneaky (but major) pitfall a preacher risks when presented with a text so rich in the basics of gospel promise. This Romans 4 reading is a tour-de-force of justification by faith. The cognate vocabulary of “faith” and “believe” peppers the pericope all over the place, as well as the rest of the chapter; in Romans 4 alone, Paul repeats it with variations at verse 3, 5(x2), 9, 11(x2), 12, 13, 14, 16(x2), 17, 18, 19, 20(x2), and 24. Imagine, for a moment, a sermon simply centered on talking about “faith.” Then do not imagine it ever again. Do not do it!
Wait a second, you will say, Paul does it! But that does not mean you should, at least in the way of trying to define faith for your listeners and doing a doctrine lesson from the pulpit. That is not what it is for. Faith, the reliance of your hearers in utter dependence on the promise delivered to them by the promise of Christ, is, indeed, a worthy goal of your preaching. But faith is never created by talking about faith! Faith is only created by the Word of promise, the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
Faith is only created by the Word of promise, the Word of Christ
As a dear, sainted professor of mine was fond of saying, faith never talks about itself, it only talks about Jesus. Faith never waves its own flag. It only waves the Jesus flag. How I miss Dr. Nagel! Writing this down prompted a fond memory. I once heard him being interviewed on the radio, and the interviewer was trying to dig in on this very subject, asking him to wax on about faith. He never took the bait and just kept talking about Jesus this and Jesus that. To do otherwise actually works against what faith is.
Faith only confesses its object, what it relies on, what it grips. The gift given. Give the gift, and it will create the faith the gift demands, faith that receives God, for your hearer, on behalf of your hearer, in the promise of Christ. To do otherwise is to reify faith, encouraging its function in your hearers’ lives like a muscle to be exercised, like a work to accomplish. Faith is not the first of many good works, it is not even a something. Rather, it is the nothing, the void, the emptiness, the reliance, the dead hand into which God delivers His promise, fulfilling what a dead man cannot.
The object of faith is the heir, the promise Abraham was given, fulfilled initially when Abraham was as good as dead (Romans 4:19!), and fulfilled forever in the singular seed of Christ (Galatians 3:16). But the fulfilling goes on and on. To all who received this Christ, to all who believed on His name, He gave the right to become children of God, born of God (John 1:13), or as Paul says, you have all become sons of God as well by faith. It is the same faith as Abraham (Galatians 3:25-28), who has become the father of the circumcised and those who walk the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had before he was circumcised (Romans 4:12), who share the faith of Abraham, the father of us all (Romans 4:16).
I would encourage an extended illustration for this sermon, one on family resemblance. Who do you look like? Do you look more like your mom or your dad? Live with your spouse long enough, and you will start to look like each other. Live with your pet long enough, and you will start to look like your pet too! What if you are adopted? Who do you look like then? Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had father Abraham. I remember this being a terribly confusing song for me as a fourth grader in Vacation Bible School, and it was not because we were dancing till we were dizzy. It has to do with how I can really be family with him. Do we resemble Abraham? How and how not? This is an important consideration as we think about seed and promise from Genesis 3, John 1, the John 3 gospel pericope assigned for the same day, John 12, Galatians 3, and some ringers at Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18, and Colossians 3:10. Ultimately, the family resemblance with Abraham rests on reliance, trusting in the promise of God which He fulfills in Christ (and not trusting in our own works, in law which renders faith void, in law which brings wrath, but, instead, trusting the promise which rests on grace; Romans 4:15-16).
Here is a brief sermon outline to tie some of these points together for Lent 2!
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The Dangerous Question of Religious Accounting
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Paul opens Romans 4 by asking what Abraham “gained,” exposing our oldest reflex: The desire to justify ourselves before God. Abraham becomes the test case for whether righteousness is achieved or received.
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Scripture’s Verdict: Righteousness Is Counted, Not Paid
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Genesis declares that Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Paul emphasizes the passive verb: Righteousness is credited as a gift, not earned as a wage. God speaks first; the promise precedes obedience.
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The Promise that Interrupts and Creates Faith
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God’s call in Genesis 12 interrupts Abram’s manageable life with a word and a promise (a place to connect the OT reading to the epistle). Faith is not understanding or heroism, but the nothing, absolute dependence. In Abraham, it is being addressed by God and having nothing else to cling to.
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God’s Ledger: Forgiveness Before Repentance
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Paul expands the circle to include “the ungodly,” supported by David’s witness: Sin is not counted, righteousness is. God’s mercy wipes the ledger clean. His kindness creates repentance, not the reverse (this is where the cross must be preached, particularly as fulfillment of the promise of mercy and forgiveness; a good place to connect the John 3 pericope).--
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Christ as the Content of the Promise
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The promise to Abraham finds its fulfillment and substance in Christ. Where Abraham’s faith wavers, Christ’s obedience holds. Where initial fulfillment was given to Abraham in time, eternal fulfillment was given to him, us, and all generations in Christ, and continues to distribute. Through the Word, water, and supper, Christ continues to create inheritors, by creating faith and giving Himself freely; counted righteousness, for you.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Romans 4:1-8, 13-17.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching Romans 4:1-8, 13-17.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
