“How do I deal with the debt I owe to God?
Deny it? My conscience won’t let me. Find worse sins in others? God won’t fall for that …. Try to pay it off? I could, but that takes us back to the problem. We don’t know the cost of sin. We don’t even know how much we owe.”
1. In your own words, describe the debt you owe to God.
Simply put: The cost of your sins is more than you can pay. The gift of your God is more than you can imagine. “A person is made right with God through faith,” Paul explains, “not through obeying the law” (Romans 3:28).
This may very well be the most difficult spiritual truth for us to embrace. For some reason, people accept Jesus as Lord before they accept him as Savior. It’s easier to comprehend his power than his mercy. We’ll celebrate the empty tomb long before we’ll kneel at the cross. We, like Thomas, could die for Christ before we’d let Christ die for us.
We aren’t alone. We aren’t the first to struggle with Paul’s presentation of grace. Apparently, the first ones to doubt the epistle to the Romans were the first to read it. In fact, you get the impression Paul can hear their questions. The apostle lifts his pen from the page and imagines his readers: some squirming, some doubting, some denying. Anticipating their thoughts, he deals with their objections.
2. Why must it be easier to comprehend God’s power than his mercy?
3. How do you feel about the fact that you cannot be “good enough” in your own power to remain right with God?
A Message from the Word
27 So do we have a reason to brag about ourselves? No! And why not? It is the way of faith that stops all bragging, not the way of trying to obey the law. 28 A person is made right with God through faith, not through obeying the law. 29 Is God only the God of the Jews? Is he not also the God of those who are not Jews? 30 Of course he is, because there is only one God. He will make Jews right with him by their faith, and he will also make those who are not Jews right with him through their faith. 31 So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants.
1 So what can we say that Abraham, the father of our people, learned about faith? 2 If Abraham was made right by the things he did, he had a reason to brag. But this is not God’s view, 3 because the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”
4 When people work, their pay is not given as a gift, but as something earned. 5 But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him, who makes even evil people right in his sight. Then God accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him. 6 David said the same thing. He said that people are truly blessed when God, without paying attention to good deeds, makes people right with himself.
7
“Happy are they
whose sins are forgiven,
whose wrongs are pardoned.
8
Happy is the person
whom the Lord does not consider guilty.”
Romans 3:27–4:8
4. Describe Abraham’s faith.
5. Why is it difficult for some people to believe that they can be justified through faith alone?
6. If our faith is credited to us as righteousness, why do we obey God’s laws?
More from the Word
18 There was no hope that Abraham would have children. But Abraham believed God and continued hoping, and so he became the father of many nations. As God told him, “Your descendants also will be too many to count.” 19 Abraham was almost a hundred years old, much past the age for having children, and Sarah could not have children. Abraham thought about all this, but his faith in God did not become weak. 20 He never doubted that God would keep his promise, and he never stopped believing. He grew stronger in his faith and gave praise to God. 21 Abraham felt sure that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 So, “God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.” 23 Those words (“God accepted Abraham’s faith”) were written not only for Abraham 24 but also for us. God will accept us also because we believe in the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 Jesus was given to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.
Romans 4:18–25
7. What is the role of faith in salvation?
8. What experiences in your life have strengthened your faith?
9. Is faith or obedience more important to God? Why?
My Reflections
“There’s not a one of us who must remain in debt. The same God who gave a child to Abraham has promised grace to us.
“What’s more incredible, Sarah telling Abraham that he was a daddy, or God calling you and me righteous? Both are absurd. Both are too good to be true. But both are from God.”
Journal
In what area of my life do I need to accept God’s grace through faith?
For Further Study
To study more about faith in God, read Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 9:17–27; Galatians 5:4–6; Colossians 2:9–12.
Additional Questions
10. Describe a time when you, like Abraham, were asked to believe something that seemed impossible.
11. How does God test our faith? Why?
12. In what practical ways can we prepare ourselves for times of testing?
BE Blessed
Deny it? My conscience won’t let me. Find worse sins in others? God won’t fall for that …. Try to pay it off? I could, but that takes us back to the problem. We don’t know the cost of sin. We don’t even know how much we owe.”
1. In your own words, describe the debt you owe to God.
Simply put: The cost of your sins is more than you can pay. The gift of your God is more than you can imagine. “A person is made right with God through faith,” Paul explains, “not through obeying the law” (Romans 3:28).
This may very well be the most difficult spiritual truth for us to embrace. For some reason, people accept Jesus as Lord before they accept him as Savior. It’s easier to comprehend his power than his mercy. We’ll celebrate the empty tomb long before we’ll kneel at the cross. We, like Thomas, could die for Christ before we’d let Christ die for us.
We aren’t alone. We aren’t the first to struggle with Paul’s presentation of grace. Apparently, the first ones to doubt the epistle to the Romans were the first to read it. In fact, you get the impression Paul can hear their questions. The apostle lifts his pen from the page and imagines his readers: some squirming, some doubting, some denying. Anticipating their thoughts, he deals with their objections.
2. Why must it be easier to comprehend God’s power than his mercy?
3. How do you feel about the fact that you cannot be “good enough” in your own power to remain right with God?
A Message from the Word
27 So do we have a reason to brag about ourselves? No! And why not? It is the way of faith that stops all bragging, not the way of trying to obey the law. 28 A person is made right with God through faith, not through obeying the law. 29 Is God only the God of the Jews? Is he not also the God of those who are not Jews? 30 Of course he is, because there is only one God. He will make Jews right with him by their faith, and he will also make those who are not Jews right with him through their faith. 31 So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants.
1 So what can we say that Abraham, the father of our people, learned about faith? 2 If Abraham was made right by the things he did, he had a reason to brag. But this is not God’s view, 3 because the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”
4 When people work, their pay is not given as a gift, but as something earned. 5 But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him, who makes even evil people right in his sight. Then God accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him. 6 David said the same thing. He said that people are truly blessed when God, without paying attention to good deeds, makes people right with himself.
7
“Happy are they
whose sins are forgiven,
whose wrongs are pardoned.
8
Happy is the person
whom the Lord does not consider guilty.”
Romans 3:27–4:8
4. Describe Abraham’s faith.
5. Why is it difficult for some people to believe that they can be justified through faith alone?
6. If our faith is credited to us as righteousness, why do we obey God’s laws?
More from the Word
18 There was no hope that Abraham would have children. But Abraham believed God and continued hoping, and so he became the father of many nations. As God told him, “Your descendants also will be too many to count.” 19 Abraham was almost a hundred years old, much past the age for having children, and Sarah could not have children. Abraham thought about all this, but his faith in God did not become weak. 20 He never doubted that God would keep his promise, and he never stopped believing. He grew stronger in his faith and gave praise to God. 21 Abraham felt sure that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 So, “God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.” 23 Those words (“God accepted Abraham’s faith”) were written not only for Abraham 24 but also for us. God will accept us also because we believe in the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 Jesus was given to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.
Romans 4:18–25
7. What is the role of faith in salvation?
8. What experiences in your life have strengthened your faith?
9. Is faith or obedience more important to God? Why?
My Reflections
“There’s not a one of us who must remain in debt. The same God who gave a child to Abraham has promised grace to us.
“What’s more incredible, Sarah telling Abraham that he was a daddy, or God calling you and me righteous? Both are absurd. Both are too good to be true. But both are from God.”
Journal
In what area of my life do I need to accept God’s grace through faith?
For Further Study
To study more about faith in God, read Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 9:17–27; Galatians 5:4–6; Colossians 2:9–12.
Additional Questions
10. Describe a time when you, like Abraham, were asked to believe something that seemed impossible.
11. How does God test our faith? Why?
12. In what practical ways can we prepare ourselves for times of testing?
BE Blessed
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