We Are a Global Family

Based on Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
First delivered Mar. 8, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Do you know the process to become a citizen of the United States? It is a long process. It begins by receiving a green card, which marks you as a permanent resident. You have to live with that green card for at least three to five years. You have to be able to read, write and speak basic English and be a person of good moral character. After all of that, you must go through a ten step process that includes determining your eligibility to become a citizen, preparing and submitting an application for naturalization, taking the naturalization test and having a personal interview.

            For us, however, we didn’t have a say in becoming citizens. We were born here. For us, there was no path to citizenship. It was automatic.

            In 2018, 756,800 people became naturalized citizens, the highest number since 2013. Three quarters of one million people. Think of so many people who are willing to go through such a long process so that they can become citizens of the United States, many of which who chose to give up the citizenship of their home countries. Yet, for us, it was automatic. It is something that we should appreciate. We automatically received citizenship to a nation that millions of people around the world yearn, and indeed struggle mightily, to become citizens. For those who work through the process we should have respect because it is not easy.

            Why do people want to become American citizens? It could be so that they can bring their families into the United States. Or so their future children will automatically become citizens. Or they want a U.S. passport so they can more freely travel and get back in to the United States. Or they want to have the ability to vote, or run for office themselves, or receive government benefits. Or they see the United States as a land of greater opportunity, or appreciate our form of government. There are many reasons, but they all have to do with a desire to belong, to be able to say, “I am a citizen of the United States.”

            In the days of Jesus, there were people who wanted to become Jews. As then, so it is now, most people are Jews because they are born Jews. Judaism is not just a religion, it is an ethnic group. People are Jewish, whether they practice the faith or not. People don’t even have to believe in God and they are still Jews because of their family line. But there have always been people who were attracted to Jewish religion and culture. Gentiles, those who are not born Jews, who wish to become Jews, could go through a process of a sort of naturalization. They could never be fully Jewish. But they could be proselytes. They could conform their lives to the Torah. They could be circumcised and practice a kosher diet. They could attend the religious festivals. They could even go to the Temple, taking up space in a specific area for proselytes. It was, and is, a long and challenging process, to convert to Judaism. If you stick with it, you can be included as one who belongs to Israel, God’s chosen people. It’s a much easier path, in fact, no path, if you are simply born a Jew. By birth, you belong to the people Israel.

            I have been talking about citizenship either by birth or by choice in order to give some context as we now turn to what Paul is getting at in this passage from Romans that we heard this morning. This passage from Romans 4 is commonly interpreted as an argument for justification based on faith and not works, one of the big dividing lines between Catholics and Protestants in the age of the Reformation some 500 years ago. But, in fact, Paul is not really talking about justification by faith, or arguing that we are saved only by believing in Jesus and that we can’t earn our salvation by works. Paul is actually arguing another point. I am going to ask you to bear with me this morning. I’m going to try my hardest to help us better understand what Paul is saying. If you stick with me, my hope is that you will see the importance of what Paul is arguing and its continuing relevance in our day.

            In those days, one of the big issues that the first Christians were dealing with was how to incorporate Gentiles into the church. Jesus, being a Jew, was understood to be a Jewish messiah, the one to fulfill the promise of Abraham, that Israel would be a light to the nations. But all these Gentiles were being drawn to Jesus. They were receiving the Holy Spirit, just like the Jewish believers. These Gentiles wanted to be counted as believers in Jesus, to be included in the way. How should these Gentiles be incorporated into the community of believers?

            Well, there was a real push to insist that they go the path of those who have wanted to convert to Judaism. That meant the path of the proselyte. They would need to spend time studying the Torah. They would need to renounce their pagan idolatry. The men would need to be circumcised. They would have to commit to a kosher diet. It took a lot more effort than simply believing in Jesus. Since that’s the way it had always been done, how else could these Gentiles be incorporated as children of Abraham, heirs of the promise as God’s chosen people?

            Paul had a problem with that. Paul argued that Gentiles did not have to become proselytes to be included as sons and daughters of Abraham, children of the covenant, heirs of the promise. Such a long and arduous process was not necessary. In fact, Paul argued that if anything the Gentiles were more naturally like Abraham than his fellow Jews.

            If we go back to Genesis 12, this is where we read of when God chose Abraham to be the one who would be the father of God’s chosen people. He would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the beach. And this chosen people would be given a land that would be their land for as long as the sun shines. God would be their God and they would be God’s chosen people, meant to be a light to the nations, blessed to be a blessing. But who was Abraham when God first came to him with such an incredible promise? At the time, his name was Abram. He was born in a land called Ur, which was among the peoples from Chaldea. They were pagans, who worshipped any number of gods. In other words, when God spoke to Abram the promise that God would make of him a great nation, Abram was an ungodly pagan, just like those Gentiles that have come to believe in Jesus.

            What do we read in Rom. 4:5? Paul writes that God justifies the ungodly. How can he claim this? What is his evidence? Look no further than Abraham, who was an ungodly pagan when God chose him to be the progenitor of God’s chosen people, a new nation, a nation spoken into existence by God’s own action. Abram did not have to convert to God first. He did not have to forsake his gods first. He did not have to leave his religion first. He did not have to do anything before God chose him, called him, to be the one through whom God would establish Israel. Does God justify the ungodly? Yes. Look at Abraham.

            One of the most prized possessions of Israel is the Torah, the law of God. First given to Moses on the mountaintop in the form of two stone tablets upon which was written by God’s own hand the Ten Commandments, what made Israel distinctive from all other nations was their possession of God’s Law. God had chosen this people to be God’s own people. They wanted to know how they might worship and serve the God who chose them. So, God gave them the Torah so that they would know how they are to worship and serve God. It is their adherence to this law that marks Israel as God’s chosen people. Obedience to the Torah is what makes Israel distinct from all other nations. Just as our Constitution is unique to us as citizens of the United States, so the Torah is unique to those who are citizens of God’s chosen people, Israel. We have a lot of pride in our Constitution. Some have even argued that it is the greatest form of government the world has ever known. Is it any stretch that there were those in the days of Jesus and Paul who would argue that there is no greater possession than the Law that was given directly by God mediated through Moses? Would we be surprised that there were those who held the view that Israel, being God’s chosen people, is the greatest nation in the world, a city set on a hill?

            I think we can appreciate those in the days of Jesus and Paul who had a good deal of pride in their status as children of Abraham, citizens of God’s chosen people, Israel. Yes, Israel was currently under Roman occupation. And Rome was just the latest of a series of empires that occupied Israel and imposed heavy taxation. Yes, people longed for a messiah to come to restore Israel to its rightful place, like it was in the days of David and Solomon. We can understand that longing.

            But, what does Paul say? When God chose Abraham, did Abraham yet possess the Torah? Actually, no. The Torah would not be given for many hundreds of years. The chosen people of God got along fine without the Torah for several generations. That doesn’t mean they were morally pure and upright. It’s just that there was no Torah for them to possess. And all that time that Israel did not have the Torah, they were still God’s chosen people. Israel existed before there was a Torah for them to possess. That’s what Paul is pointing out.

            And what good is the Torah anyway, Paul asks. All the Torah does is make it clear how the Israelites deserve God’s wrath. It explicates how woefully they all fall short of maintaining strict obedience to God’s laws. What does he say in 4:15? The law brings about wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That’s technically true. You can’t transgress a law that doesn’t exist. Since the law didn’t exist for Abraham, he didn’t transgress God’s law. Again, that doesn’t mean that Abraham was morally perfect. The point is that of all the things he had to deal with as he heard and responded to God’s call on his life, he didn’t have to stress over following all the points of God’s law.

            This is the point that Paul is making: if all the Torah does is make the case for God’s wrath as a response to disobedience to God’s law, and Abraham got along fine without the Torah, why should Gentiles desire or be compelled to adhere to the Torah? If God could call a pagan who did not possess or adhere to the Torah, which is who Abraham was, then why can’t God also call pagans who do not possess or adhere to the Torah, like these Gentiles who are responding to the gospel of Jesus? Of course, God was calling pagans, including them also as children of Abraham. They don’t need to be proselytes. They don’t need to convert to the Jewish faith. They don’t need to be circumcised or maintain a kosher diet. All they have to do is what Abraham did. They have to believe in the promises of God. Their faith in God through Jesus Christ will be credited to them as righteousness, just as Abraham’s faith in God was credited to him as righteousness. Indeed, if there are any people more like Abraham than not, it is the Gentiles who are responding to God’s call on their life.

            Thanks for being patient with me as we slog through this argument Paul is making. I hope I have made myself clear and haven’t confused you. To summarize what Paul is arguing in Romans 4: rather than become proselytes and adhere to the Torah in order to be included as heirs of the covenant of Abraham, all the Gentiles had to do was have faith in God, believing that because of Jesus Gentiles are also included in the covenant. Because of their belief in God through Jesus, Gentiles are also sons and daughters of Abraham.

            So…why does this matter to us? Why am I taking all this time to try to make clear what Paul is arguing? I’m taking the time to do this, not only to try to interpret faithfully the scriptures, but also because what Paul was arguing to address a specific issue of his time still has implications for us 2,000 years later. I have four quick points I want to make about the implications of Paul’s argument and I’m going to go through this quickly.

            First, we see that God made it very easy to be included as a child of Abraham. There was no need to enter a long process with lots of steps. Granted, there was the need to forsake pagan gods and affirm only one God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. They needed to avoid sexual immorality and were not to consume the blood of animals. But that’s it. God determined to make it as easy as possible to be included as one of God’s chosen people, heirs of the covenant promise. This tells us that God is determined to place the bar low so that as many people as possible, all who would respond to the call to place their faith in Jesus, have a place among the people of God.

            Second, being a child of Abraham has nothing to do with blood relation. You may recall the time when Jesus was arguing with Pharisees. The Pharisees were bragging about how they are sons of Abraham. Jesus scoffed at them by saying, “From these stones God can call forth children of Abraham.” The point that Jesus and Paul were making is that being included in God’s covenant promise is not tied to blood. Instead it is tied to responding to the call, saying “yes” to God. Inclusion as children of Abraham is not based on blood but on faith.

            Third, as I said at the beginning of this talk, you and I have the privilege of being born as citizens of the United States. We are Americans. This is our ethnicity. We comprise the American people. But we are not just Americans. There is another ethnic group we belong to based on our faithful response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also belong to the ethnic group of Abraham. We belong to the people of God. And this people transcends all ethnic boundaries. It transcends all nations. Yes, we are Americans. But we are also Abrahamites. We are American people. But we are also God’s people. And this people includes all the nations of the world. We belong to a trans-national people, a people that transcends ethnicity.

            This leads to my last point. Every person on earth who has faith in God through Jesus Christ is a brother and a sister. Whether that person is an American, a Russian, a Syrian, a German, a Brazilian, or a stateless refugee, if they have responded to the gospel of Jesus they are our brothers and sisters. If this is true, how does that impact how you view people who are not Americans? When you see Christians stuck at the southern border escaping violence in their homelands and longing for asylum here in the United States, do you see these asylum seekers as brothers and sisters? Let’s bring it even closer to home. When you see Christians attending rallies for Donald Trump, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, do you see your brothers and sisters? I would hope that all of us who see our brothers and sisters under duress would feel some empathy and at least desire to help in any way possible. I would hope that when we see our brothers and sisters who hold political views opposite of our own, that we would not forget they are brothers and sisters and not people we are to turn our back on and discard, disown or shun. Of course, you can’t always tell who is a Christian just by looking at them. You can’t tell the faith of a person, whether that person has faith in God, just by looking at them. So, the safe bet is to assume that every person you come in contact with is a brother or a sister of Abraham: your brother and your sister. From that position, act accordingly. And if you end up showing empathy toward someone who doesn’t believe in God or has rejected Jesus, what does it hurt? No one needs to show their Christian papers or prove their citizenship among the people of God before we can offer our concern and support. Let’s assume that every person is a brother or a sister. I am convinced that if we approach each person as a brother or sister it would go a long way toward transforming this world into the kind of world that God has desired all along.