Monday, July 24, 2023  

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Today’s Scripture Reading 
Romans 4:13–25

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. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 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, 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. 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.” 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. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. (NRSV)

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Reflection
Abraham is lifted up as a perfect model of faith. Abraham was called righteous because of his great faith. And this scripture tells us that a similar faith will also make us righteous. But what is the nature of this thing called “faith”?

Many times and in many Christian circles, this “faith” has been understood as a kind of intellectual agreement with ideas about who Jesus is and how he saves us, or how God saves us through Jesus. Another word for this kind of faith is “belief,” or even better, faith as “assent” or “agreement”: I agree with these ideas. I assent to them with my thinking mind. I have faith in them. The Greek word that is translated as “faith” repeatedly throughout this scripture is also translated as “believing” in verse 24.

Yet, in ancient Greek understanding, faith more often meant faithfulness, or fidelity, or trust. Many Bible translations footnote the word as meaning “trust.” Earlier in Romans there is a reference to Jesus’ faith. “God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction” (Romans 3:22, Common English Bible). This is sometimes translated as “through faith in Jesus Christ” (instead of the faith of Jesus Christ) as in the New International Version. But even there the translation is footnoted as also meaning “the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.”

How does our faith change if we think of it as faithfulness? The faithfulness of Jesus is something we can strive to understand and copy, as we trust Jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Fidelity to God means that we act in faithful ways. Faith in Jesus Christ means that we are faithful in the way that Jesus is faithful. Trust in God is about the quality of our relationship and a commitment to turn and return to God time after time, to lean on God when we need God’s strength. That is different than believing “the right” ideas about God.

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Prayer
God of all holiness, let my faith in you be faithfulness and fidelity and trust. Help me to receive your love, your healing, your grace, and exhibit that grace in all that I do. In and through Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

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Written by Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Small Group Ministry

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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