How Anyone Can Be Declared Righteous

Transcript

GR 2215
7/21/2019
How Anyone Can Be Declared Righteous
Romans 4:1-12
Gil Rugh

We’re in Romans chapter 4. We’re making progress through the book of Romans. We’re going to look a little bit into this chapter, then I’m going to take some time to answer some questions that I’ve received and open it up to you. That’ll be a bit of the plan of the evening.

Paul’s moving along, showing the righteousness of God provided for us in Christ, because of the tremendous need that we have. That was established in the first three chapters, chapters 1, verse 18 through chapter 3, verse 20. He is driving home the point that every single individual, Jew and Gentile alike, is found to be guilty and condemned because of sin. But God has provided righteousness through the death of His Son. That was from chapter 3, verse 21. We’ve looked down through the rest of chapter 3 there, perhaps the central section on developing the explanation on how God provided His righteousness for us in Jesus Christ. Amazing!

Throughout this section, from chapter 3, verse 21 down through chapter 4, into the first couple verses of chapter 5, the key word will be faith. I counted roughly 27-28, don’t hold me to that, uses of the word faith or believe. Faith the noun; believe the verb. So strong an emphasis, moving the attention particularly of the Judaizers and people with Jewish background who were trying to influence the Roman church into thinking that the Law was somehow necessary, in addition to the Gospel. And important for us to keep in mind what is often being dealt with here, is the confusion that comes when people who seem to agree with us on the Gospel; but the Gospel, in and of itself, is not enough. That’s where the Judaizers were. They had left Judaism in one sense, Acts 15. They were declaring their faith in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, even in His death and resurrection. But the issue is, is that enough? Or does the Old Testament Law carry over? And it’s the work of Christ added to the Law that is necessary for our salvation or our sanctification.

Paul has made clear the Law saved no one and the provision that God made in Christ is adequate for everyone. Verse 28 of chapter 3, “For we maintain that a man is justified [declared righteous] by faith apart from works of the Law.” That becomes crucial. He becomes brutally frank in his letter to the Galatians. If you teach that the Law is necessary, in addition to the work of Christ, you are anathema, cursed to Hell. He has no wiggle room on this subject. The question is important in verse 29 and verse 30, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” The point here is there is one God, indeed God is one. There can only be one way of being declared righteous by this God. This becomes crucial. People today believe an economical[RG1] view of things and we don’t want to be viewed as narrow and saying our way is the only way. And, people like to talk about, generally, all the different religions. But we’re all going to church and worshipping the same God. There is one God, and He is the God for all people. And any people, Jew or Gentile alike who are going to be saved, need to come the way this one God has provided. He talked about that in those verses, from verse 21 down. This becomes key, because we lose the perspective. We lose the focus as we come into chapter 4.

We’ve established there’s one God. And this whole provision of salvation is said in verse 31, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.” We’re going to get into the Law more in detail when we get into chapter 7 of Romans. Right now, the idea that Paul is talking about is being saved by faith. Well, in other words, you’re nullifying the Law. Things have changed because under the Law was salvation by works. No, it never was by works. We established the Law. The Law demonstrated man’s sinfulness, man’s guilt. Why did you have all the sacrifices involved in the Law? Provision for Israel, to deal with sin. The Law wasn’t a way of salvation, but the Law revealed and clarified the reality of sin. We’ll get more into that as we move further.

What he’s going to do now as we come into chapter 4, is to show the Law never was a way of salvation. Let’s find someone that God declared righteous and how He declared that person righteous. And since there’s only one God, there’s only one way of salvation, whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile. If we can find how God declared righteous one person, we’ll now know how He’ll declare righteous anyone He declares righteous. Chapter 4 opens, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?” You see this Jewish influence. This is a Gentile church in Rome. There’s a significant contingent of Jews in Rome. The initial church was comprised of Jews. So, we move along, the Samaritans in Acts 8, then the Gentiles finally in Acts 10. By God’s grace, many Jews the day of Pentecost, 3,000 from various places, had journeyed to Jerusalem for the holiday. These contingents there, they come in and their influence needs to be dealt with. Paul says, let’s talk about Abraham our forefather. He’s a Jew. You can see the Jews are an issue here. We’ll get to this several times as we move through Romans, this attempt to bring the Law in and find a place for the Law. The Law has served its purpose for Israel. He’ll make that clear, even before we’re done with chapter 4.

How did Abraham get saved? All the Jews’ ears perk up because Abraham, as Paul says, is our forefather. Obviously not for the Gentiles, but for the Jews. He is the father of the nation. He’s Father Abraham, because every Jew is a descendant of Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob. He’s our forefather according to the flesh. How did Abraham come to be declared righteous by God? For if Abraham was justified by works… And what he’s going to do is show that works weren’t the way Abraham was justified; circumcision wasn’t the way Abraham was justified. Neither was the Mosaic Law the way that Abraham was justified. We’ll cover those three areas in that order as we move through chapter 4. We’ll take it as it comes.

Was it by his good works? Was it by the good things he did? “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” In other words, Abraham would be able to boast about his accomplishments. What he accomplished was my works, my efforts, my accomplishments. People like to boast. It’s not anything unusual. We see people in our day boast about what they did, what they accomplished, and so on. “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” It’s boasting about what he did, his works, his efforts.

Verse 3, “For what does the Scripture say?” Let’s go back to Scripture; the simplicity of it. And what does the Scripture say? All the way back in Genesis chapter 15, the timeline becomes important. “…Abraham believed god,” and we had all those uses of faith starting in verse 22 of chapter 3 down. Now, here we are. “…Abraham believed god.” He placed his faith in what God said. “…and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now, Scripture picks this up; there were people saved before Abraham. Abraham himself may have been saved before that. The significant thing is, this is the first use of faith in the book of Genesis. So, this becomes the clear presentation of someone who is declared righteous by faith[RG2].

Come back to Genesis 15. The account of Abraham really begins in chapter 12. We get the genealogy building up to him there in the last part of chapter 11. Abraham journeys to the land God has directed him to, and all that goes on. Chapter 15, Abram, as he’s known, we’ll call him Abraham, but his name is Abram at this point. God appears to him, and talks to him, and says that He’s going to give him a great reward. And Abraham’s question, Well, I don’t have any children. What are You going to give me? What’s my blessing? Whatever I get, what will it be for? “And Abram said, ‘Since You have given no offspring to me…’” You see, Abraham is a man of faith already. Then we know from Hebrews 11 when he left his homeland to journey to the land God promised, He did it by faith. But he says, “‘Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.’” Since he didn’t have any physical child of his own, then the key servant in his house would become the natural heir. Somebody has to receive what you have when you die. So, let it be one of my servants; my key servants. “Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’” Abram’s not a young man, even at this point. His wife has not been able to bear children at this point. You get to a certain age; you’re not expecting this is going to change. And He says, No, one day you will produce, and he will be your heir.

“And He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” And you know how it is, when you’re in the city with all the lights. You don’t appreciate when you’re out as they would’ve been without any of the artificial lighting going on, the clarity of the heavens, and the wonder of the stars. How would you ever count them? And, God says, that’s what your descendants, your seed, will be like. They’ll be innumerable. Amazing! Verse 6, “Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” So that clear statement becomes foundational in the New Testament for making clear how God saved people 2,000 years before Christ? Even before that, even though it’s not stated with this clarity.

We pick up where this first clear statement of being declared righteous is made in Old Testament Scriptures. And when he believed God, it was reckoned to him as righteousness. He’s going to be declared righteous – how? By faith. The question comes with, what did Abraham believe? Some try to read back into the Old Testament. Well, he must have understood that God would send a Savior to die for him. I don’t think you have to read that back here. What does he believe? He believes what God said. He believes God and His word. And that demonstrates that salvation is by faith because his trust is completely in God and what He promises. And that becomes the way salvation occurs. Revelation continued to become clearer until the coming of Christ and His finished work on the cross. We have that clear explanation of how God could be a righteous God and declare unrighteous people righteous. He made the provision for them, to cover their sin; to rescue them from their sin, as we saw in that last part of chapter 3.

Abraham didn’t have to have the knowledge that we have about the Gospel, but he had to believe in God and what God said, and that’s what demonstrated here. What did God say? Go, count the stars, look. Obviously, Abraham doesn’t take the time to do that, but the point is that you can’t count them. They’ll be like the sand of the seashore. They’re innumerable. But in his heart and mind, as we talked about earlier today, Abraham believed God, what God had said, who God is, what He can accomplish, and what He promises. I could do it. Sarah and I haven’t been able to do it. God said it; I believe it. I am the Lord who brought you out of your homeland to bring you to this land.

And then a deep sleep falls upon Abraham, and God gives him promises about his descendants. You go down to the fourth generation in verse 16. After their bondage, they’ll be brought into the land and then you know what happens. The sun came down, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch that passed through the pieces that God had instructed him to cut. They were going to cut a covenant, which is what the word covenant means in the Old Testament. You cut a covenant. And probably based on these animals, they take the different animals specified here in verses 9 and following, and they split them in two. You’re aware we’ve talked about this. And then the two parties of the covenant pass between these divided animals, confirming the covenant. But Abraham goes to sleep. And God, in visible representation as a smoking oven, as burning light, passes through. God established His covenant. It’s not dependent on Abraham in any way. It’s solely dependent on God for its fulfillment; that becomes crucial as we move along. Understand God has made a commitment to Abraham, Abram as he’s known here, and his physical descendants and the land. It’s Israel’s land. It doesn’t matter what all the fuss and all the going on today. Israel’s under judgement, but they’re back in the land. But it’s not their possession in the way that it will be. There are some terrible things that are going to happen to Israel, even in the land, as we’ve studied in Revelation, but it ultimately is theirs. It is theirs! It’s theirs because God said it was theirs. And all creation is His, He can divide it as He wills. So that’s where we are; Genesis 15.

Come back to Romans 4. We’ll be coming back to Genesis to see how he develops this. Verse 4. What’s the point? “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.” If it was by works, it wouldn’t have been by faith. If you’ve worked for something, you’re getting a reward. We work for a paycheck, whether we think it’s enough or not, the fact is, we worked to be paid. That’s the point. So, when you’re given something for the work you did, that’s not somebody doing you a favor, they’re paying you what you earned, so to speak. “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.” And note this, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to Him as righteousness…”

Now understanding this, you’d had to have read the letter. Then you appreciate we have Bibles. Think about the church at Rome. This letter comes from Paul, and they’re sitting there listening, and they needed to grab onto this material. You know how blessed we are? We look down and we say, go back and look at this. Go back and look at this. See what it says up here. They didn’t have it! They had Paul’s letter being read to them. How blessed we are!

“…the one who does not work…” so anything we would contribute is not part of it, “…but believes in Him… (places their faith in Him) …who justifies the ungodly…” There’s the amazing thing. The ungodly, they haven’t cleaned themselves up. They haven’t made themselves better. They haven’t undone[RG3] something to have earned something from God. He’s going to declare righteous the ungodly. That’s why those verses from verse 21 to verse 30 of chapter 3 were so important to explain how God could maintain His justice and still declare the ungodly righteous. It took the finished work of Christ as the sacrifice on our behalf to satisfy what God’s holiness required. The wages of sin is death. Nothing else can pay the penalty. That’s what the Law did, it kept reminding Israel you need a substitute. Here, this animal reflects taking your place. It’s acting as a substitute, but the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. It would only be the work of Christ. It is in verse 5, a key verse, “…but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness…” Now again, you can’t take this out of context. It’s not, Well, everybody who has faith, then, will be declared righteous. You have to have faith in what God has said; what God said He would do.

Let’s back up to those verses at the end of chapter 3. It’s believing in Christ. It’s not just faith. Look at verse 25 of chapter 3, “…whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” The end of verse 26, “…the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” It’s what you are believing. Everybody believes something, and every religion in the world requires faith of one kind or another in something. And you have people say, Well, I have my faith. We have this nonsensical thing that evangelical Christians get caught in. We’re going to get people of faith together. I’ve been invited to those locally. I make fun of it, but it’s a serious misunderstanding. What are people of faith? We begin to weaken what the Scripture says. You have to understand it’s not faith that saves you. It’s faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work that enables God to declare you righteous. Faith in your church, faith in your baptism, faith in communion, faith in your good works, faith in your efforts to keep the Ten Commandments; none of that faith saves. It’s crucial that we understand what he is saying here. His faith is credited as righteousness. You have to believe in God, what He has said, and what He has promised, as Abraham did, as we do. Believing what God did in Jesus Christ.

Go to verse 6 of chapter 4. Verses 6 to 8. He’s going to use a quote from Psalm 32. “…just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.” And this just supports. David is a thousand years after Abraham, rounding things off. Abraham is about 2,000 years before Christ. Now we’re going to move down a thousand years before Christ; a thousand years after Abraham. We have David on the scene, and he writes in Psalm 32 and speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness. That word “credits” becomes a key word, used 10 times in 11 verses in chapter 4. It is an accounting kind of word[RG4], Logizomai. Let me read you what a couple of commentators say. They basically say the same thing. “The conception is that something is reckoned to a person that is not inherent to him.” So, something is applied to this person, but is not his by nature, inherent within him. We’re going to talk about faith repeatedly and it being credited, applied to his account. David speaks of the blessings to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.

What does he write? “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.” Now wait, we’re talking about how somehow their sins, that word translated sin here[RG5], harmartia, denotes a deliberate, open rebellion against God, a defiance of God. Their sins have been covered. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” It’s not credited to him any longer. He’s talked about this. It’s wiped clean. You’re declared righteous; you’re absolved from all guilt. Sin is no longer on my account as something I will be charged with. Someone paid my debt in full. That’s the point. Those blessings, how did they come? You know what kind of people we’re talking about. They have lawless deeds, they have sin. Their sins, they’ve been forgiven, they’ve been covered, they’re not taken into account. That was the whole point at the end of chapter 3.

Something needs to happen here. A righteous God can’t declare unrighteous people righteous because a righteous God said the penalty for sin is death, in all its aspects, physical, spiritual, and eternal. Wait a minute. David is writing about this, the blessings on a man who’s declared righteous apart from his works. Because he’s a sinful man, a lawless man. He says he’s a man who commits sin. And yet somehow, he’s not charged with it any longer. Well, if he’s shown to be a sinner, you just can’t declare him righteous, and he can’t work it off because the penalty for sin is death. David is writing about someone who is blessed because God has credited righteousness to his account, which has wiped the slate clean of the sin. He can’t credit my account with righteousness and leave the sin on there, because then I’m not righteous in God’s sight. I need His righteousness applied to my account. It’s not something I can bring to it. What have I brought to my account? Well, if, you’re going on what comes from me, it’s sin. But God is crediting something to my account that doesn’t come from me: His righteousness. This point is crucial. He says that when David’s talking about this blessedness of sins being forgiven, not charged you any longer, he’s talking about getting this done apart from your works, because you can’t earn this righteousness. That’s required.

Alright. We have another question. You see here, in the Old Testament, both what is said about Abraham and what is said about David. I mean, pick these two key men from Israel’s history, Abraham—the father of the nation, and David—the king with whom the Davidic Covenant is established. Foundational for the rule of Messiah, both Abraham and David are testimonies of salvation apart from works; being declared righteous, but not by your works.

Verse 9. “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?” Is circumcision necessary or not? This is the big thing in Israel, circumcision. Today, the big thing is baptism, for Protestants and Catholics alike. So many believe in baptism. For the Jews, it was all about circumcision. Circumcision is the sign of the Covenant. Is circumcision necessary for salvation? This blessing[RG6] that David talks about, that takes us back to Abraham because Abraham was declared righteous by faith, since there’s only one God, we know how God’s going to save everyone. The only people that can be declared righteous are those who believe God; what He says and does. David is an example of that. He speaks of that blessing of having your sin forgiven, not counted to you, another way of saying declared righteous. It’s all the same word. If you declare someone righteous, that means their lawless deeds have been forgiven. Their sin has been covered. Verse 8, “…the Lord will not take into account.” Paul is saying the same thing. You’re declared righteous, sin is taken care of. David testified to that blessedness.

Well, let’s go back to Abraham now because David was a circumcised Jew. “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, ‘faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” Alright, anybody who knew the Old Testament, and the Jews knew it very well. Next question. “How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?” Remember there’s one God and one way of salvation. That’s why I said the end of chapter 3 is important, all of that from verse 21 on. But his transition here, there is only one God. There can be only one way of salvation. We’ve found Abraham was declared righteous by faith. No works. David spoke of the blessedness of the person who had been declared righteous by God when he wrote Psalm 32. He was talking about a man who was declared righteous by faith because his lawless deeds had been forgiven. His sins had been covered. They were not taken into account.

Now we need to answer the issue of circumcision. But David was circumcised, so of course, yes, you need to believe and be circumcised. But wait, we need to go back to Abraham, remember. He’s our foundational example. Was Abraham circumcised when God declared him righteous? And the answer is, No, not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

Let’s go back to Genesis so we see the timeline here. Genesis 15, he’s declared righteous. Now, chapter 17, Abraham is ninety-nine years old, and God promises him a son. Now, we didn’t mention chapter 16, but in chapter 16 Abraham and Sarah agreed on an alternative plan. Abram would father a child through Sarah’s handmaid, and then that could be considered a child of Sarah and Abram. That would fulfill His promise in Abram and Sarah’s sight. But, look at verse 16 of chapter 16. “Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.” We know that was at least a year earlier, approximately a year earlier, when the conception would have taken place. And we’re not sure whether there were two, three, four years earlier when God declared Abram righteous.

But the point is, when you get to chapter 17, he’s ninety-nine, so we know it’s at least thirteen years after God declared him righteous. And really, at least fourteen years when you put the year in for the conception to the birth, approximately. And we don’t know if it was two, three, four years before that. But we say thirteen or fourteen years at least. Abram was not ninety-nine. You know what? He’s still not circumcised. So, he was declared righteous thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years earlier. Somewhere along that line. Because we know he’s ninety-nine now, we know that Ishmael was born as a result of his relationship with Hagar when he was eighty-six, and the promise of God to him, declaring him righteous, happened before that conception took place.

So now, you’re going to have the account in verse 24. “Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised…” Ishmael is also circumcised and he’s thirteen. Well, how can you say circumcision is necessary for salvation? You have to have two Gods! One God who declares people righteous by faith alone, apart from works, apart from circumcision; and a god who saves people by faith plus circumcision. Or, you only have one God and there’s only one way of salvation, and He does not require circumcision necessary for salvation. That’s the only answer. That’s the line of argument going on. Now, I’ve used the argument with people for a variety of things. Baptism, I use it often. With baptism I bring them to Romans 4. If we’re in a situation, we’re going to talk about this. I say, Let’s follow this. You’d agree Abraham’s the example here. There’s one God. There can only be one way of salvation. Abraham believed God and it was credited him as righteousness. Yes, but baptism was added later, so now that is necessary. Well, wait a minute. The whole argument here is that circumcision was added later too, but not as necessary for salvation. And he explains it down in Romans 4:11, “…and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them…”

Abraham, being declared righteous by God before he was circumcised, which was in the plan of God, was to make clear that circumcision is not necessary for salvation. Nothing else is necessary, besides faith. So, people add baptism. I’ve been asked by a denomination, a couple of the pastors came to see me, and we went through this passage because they came and sat in my office for some time. I said, tell me when Abraham was baptized. Well, we don’t know that he ever was. Well, how can you add that? He’d tell me that faith plus baptism is what is required. Well, it was added later. You can’t add anything later! That’s the whole argument. We need to allow Scripture to speak. Now understand there are verses that you could take and say, ‘repent and be baptized for the remission of sins,’ but that can also be understood a different way, and it could also be understood in a way that is consistent with what the Scripture says. We want to be careful that we don’t turn Scripture against Scripture. Anything other than faith, and you’re denying the foundational principle of the Word. There is only one God. That’s the whole argument. That’s why you had chapter 3, verses 29 and 30. Verse 30, “…since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” There’s one God and one way of salvation.

What was circumcision? It was a sign. It was an act of obedience to mark him off as God would mark the nation Israel off as a nation that would believe in Him. The problem was, they didn’t. They began to think the physical thing was what was necessary, but circumcision was just a sign. Baptism, same thing. What is baptism? It’s a public testimony. It’s a public sign in a sense, you die with Christ, you’re buried, and you’re raised to new life, but baptism never saved anyone. How do I know? There’s only one God, and that one God only saves people one way, by faith alone. You add anything to it, it’s looking like you’ve put the antidote into the power of God. You’ve cancelled it out. That’s why Paul is so strong in declaring, “curse to Hell anyone who does that”.

Verse 11, “…and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised…” It was to reflect the circumcision of the heart. But he declared to the nation that you need to have your heart circumcised, and that’s because he[RG7] could be the believer of all people. No Jew was ever saved because he was circumcised. Jews were circumcised at eight days old. They had to place their faith in the God of Israel as they grew older. There was a physical identification with the physical nation, but that didn’t bring spiritual salvation. It was a great privilege! It exposed them to the truth that God had revealed. But getting circumcised on the eighth day didn’t mean that when you grew up to be an adult you were saved. You had to experience the circumcision of the heart. We’ve looked at those verses from the Old Testament prophets, and even earlier. The works of Moses would require the circumcision of the heart.

So, righteousness is credited to them, not connected to whether they’re circumcised or not. Look at verse 12 as we wrap this up. “…and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.” Then what he’s going to do in verse 13 is show that Abraham was declared righteous before the Mosaic Law was ever given? Too bad for the people who think you’re saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, because that’s where we’ll pick up, but we won’t get to that. It will wait. The point is what? Abraham’s 2,000 years before Christ. Moses is about 1,500 years before Christ. 500 years later! You can’t say the Law’s going to be necessary for Abraham to be saved! The Law wasn’t even given until hundreds of years after God declared him righteous by faith. You see how he systematically works through, is it by works of any kind? No! That he could boast? By being a good man? Trying to be the best man he could be? What about circumcision? No, it wasn’t part of it. Then we get to the Mosaic Law. What about that? No, nobody was ever saved by keeping the Law. Paul established that in the opening section, and we got into that in chapter 2 and the first part of chapter 3. Now he’s just going to drive it home, using Abraham as the example that confirms what he taught. Salvation is by grace through faith.

If you haven’t marked your Bible in this, at some time this week just sit down to circle or underline, however you mark your Bible. I just went through and put a circle around the word faith every time it appeared, from chapter 3 verse 21 down, and I stopped in chapter 5 verse 2. Just circle the word faith and the word believe. See that unrelenting emphasis he brings. He’s cutting the legs out from under anything else we would look to, add to, or support other than what God would do. And we as the church need to be clear on that today.

Let’s have a word of prayer, then I’m going to address some questions. Thank You, Lord, for the truth of Your Word. Thank You for its clarity, thank You for its beauty, and thank You Lord, by Your grace through the ministry of Your spirit, that our blind eyes are opened to see and understand. By Your grace we have believed in the provision You have made in Your Son, the promises that come with that provision, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Promises that include a life for eternity, eternity in the glory of Your presence. Thank You for such a wonderful salvation. Bless us even as we talk further about Your Word. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

I have a couple questions that came in, and I’ve had them for a while. I had a question about James 5:14, so turn there in your Bibles. It has to do with the prayer of the elders for the sick. In James 5:14, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, James writes if someone is sick to call the elders, and who will anoint him with the oil while praying for him. Is there reason this is not practiced much anymore? Obviously, the oil has no healing power, it’s the Lord who does the work. But you explain what has changed from James’s time to today, concerning this passage. It is a passage that challenges. I went to a seminary and they believed in the literal practice of this, along with practicing foot-washing and kneeling with the communion service. They believed in the elders going and anointing the sick, and praying over them, and they practiced that. So, that’s to say there is a variation within evangelicalism on carrying it out. Obviously, we haven’t carried this out to that extent. There are several possibilities that are taken. I believe John MacArthur takes it just as general weakness, and so it’s a spiritual weakness, maybe fatigue; and the elders come to encourage this person who’s gotten worn out in the ministry. That’s not a very popular view, and not very many hold it because it seems to be more clearly talking about sickness. If that would be the case, it’s not something that’s false. It’s true. People get worn out spiritually, and it’s good to come and comfort and encourage them and pray with them. The question is, is that what James is talking about particularly?

It seems he’s talking about prayer, and prayer becomes the dominant thing in this section. Verse 13, “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil…” Some take the oil as medicinal, but I don’t know why you’d call the elders to do something medicinal. I’d call Luke the physician if it were me. [RG8]I think it’s probably the elders coming to pray over them. Why don’t we practice it? Well, we do have godly men who go to the hospital and that. They’re qualified, they may not serve officially as elders, but they’re godly men. They come and pray with the people in the hospital, and they’d do it in a home. You note that people take the position here, evidently the illness is of a somewhat serious nature, and they call for the elders.

Why do they call for the elders and not pray themselves, since verse 13 says if they’re suffering, he must pray? But why, if you’re physically sick, do you call for elders to pray? If you’re suffering of any kind, the[RG9] elders’ prayers are special. Do I think, do you call for them for any kind? You can go to the Lord. If you’re suffering, go to Him in prayer. Hebrews says we can come with confidence to the throne of grace as believers. We have Christ as our high priest. So that causes me, from my own observation, to think there may be something more here than just the physical sickness. Although, again, I think it’s good we have godly men that are to come to pray. And we do have godly men who do that. They do visitation in the home, visitation at the hospital, and pray. But it seems, why would you call for the elders in a special case, and that person takes the initiative? But the elders become aware. This doesn’t tell the elders to be aware of people who are sick, to go pray for them. He tells the person that may[RG10] think that, maybe there’s something more involved here. He says, “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord…” I take it, this may be more of a ceremonial anointing. Indicating, perhaps, the Spirit of God, will do any work that’s done here. They did caution us in seminary, don’t use unscented olive oil, use scented olive oil because unscented olive oil can make some people sick. You don’t want to go and anoint them and make them sick. So, if you do decide to take oil, take scented olive oil.

“…and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” He seems to move this into the context where, like Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 11. Because in the Corinthian church, some had misused and abused the communion service and at that time, some among you were weak, some among you were sick, and some among you have died. James is one of the early epistles in the New Testament, and it seems that there may be a question of whether sin is involved here, and the person may recognize it. If you’re involved in the practice of sin as a believer, and you turned up seriously ill, you put two and two together, because of that sense of guilt and awareness God may be doing. Now that doesn’t always hold. Job’s friends thought it must be something sinful in his life, but we know from Job it wasn’t anything about what Job had done to cause to sin. We want to be careful. Scripture corrects that.

But this person calls, and it may be in the context of confessing the sin to one another. Who would be confessing the sin? Well, the person who calls. I want to make things right with the Lord. I have been guilty of sin, and my sickness may well be the result of that sin. That’s what Job’s friends were trying to bring out of him. God wouldn’t do this if you weren’t sinful. That’s why the person takes the initiative, because we don’t know. Very godly people like Job, and God testified that he was the most righteous man He could point to, and he’s going to get terribly ill. I would prefer the view, and I respect good men in other views, that we’re probably in the context of sin here. And, that necessitates the call for the elders, because they’re the ones who represent the church and there may have been a discipline done. When a person is disciplined, they’re put into the realm of Satan. Some of the protections that God provides for us are removed. That’s the same as with certain liberties to accomplish certain things.

I take the situation like here in James. That’s why we don’t have a formal practice here of that. I’ve had a case that happened many years ago, and this person is with the Lord now, where they were put under discipline, and then got a serious disease, and came back. They said, I know. I have no doubt this is a result of the sin that I have practiced in my life. They were put under discipline for that sin. So, they had that awareness. I would not tell them, that’s not the case. God would not punish you that way. He says He will! He told the Corinthians that had been the experience, some of you are weak, some of you are sick, and some have died. There is forgiveness. That was the testimony of that person. Some of you were here and heard that.

That’s why I think they call for the elders. That’s the kind of thing here that we do. That’s why we have godly men representing the church in a pastoral capacity of one kind or another, on staff, or volunteers. They will go and pray for people in the hospital. Not because we think they’re in sin, but because it’s good to pray for one another. When people are suffering, we want to pray for one another. That’s always a good thing. And pray for God to intervene. He’s the God of healing, even if it’s not a cause of sin. It may be because He’s going to do work that only He can do and restore them. We don’t know.

That’s my thinking on James 5. He doesn’t say it is sin; that’s the condition there. It’s not necessarily a cause of sin. But there’s evidently some concern here, and that’s why he calls for the elders. Because by that, and there’s not a guarantee. But offering prayer, in that kind of case, wouldn’t be effective.

Let me answer one and then I’ll open it to you. Come to 1 Corinthians 13.
The Bible talks about some spiritual gifts being done away with, could this be referring to the fact these gifts will not be used in heaven? Could the perfect be referring to heaven? When we pick that part up, there’s another part of the question. This is in 1 Corinthians 13 when he says in verse 8, “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” When will these gifts cease? And what is the perfect?

There are different views on that. Some talk about the perfect being the coming of Christ. Again, MacArthur, I check him if I get a chance because I know he’s probably the most commonly used. Some of you use his study Bible. Some of you use his commentaries. I think he takes it as eternity, but he has a different view of the gifts than I would understand. And he sees the gift of knowledge and the gift of prophecy as gifts that are present today. He redefines prophecy as preaching, distinct from what it was in the New Testament. He thinks if we did away with knowledge, Christians wouldn’t know anything today. Well, it would never be done away with in that sense, because in a hundred trillion years we’ll still be growing in knowledge, because we’re finite and God is infinite. We will never exhaust the knowledge of God. So, knowledge, in that sense, will never cease. When we’re perfected, doesn’t mean we’ll have full, complete knowledge. Adam, before he fell, didn’t have knowledge of everything. Only God is omniscient in knowing everything. I think knowledge and prophecy and tongues are all gifts. Knowledge was special knowledge, a revelational knowledge, that was necessary when the New Testament wasn’t completed. Certain gifts were there because they couldn’t turn to the book of Revelation. Men like Paul and Peter will have been dead for almost 30 years before God reveals the book of Revelation to the apostle John. So, these gifts are given in a church like Corinth, where certain gifts were revealed. That was the gift of knowledge for what they needed to know at that time, perhaps, and how the Scripture should be applied at that time. Prophecy was additional revelation; new revelation being given. I’d take it that the perfect here, and when these gifts complete, I’d take it with the Word of God. Come over to James 1:25.

Let me pick up with verse 22. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” This is one of those pictures, and now we’re going to apply it on the spiritual side. “But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty…” the Word of God, not the Mosaic Law, but the perfect law, what God has given in Christ and the Word revealed. So that’s what’s perfect, “…the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” In light of what transpires in the Scripture, I tend to take the perfect as the Word of God. And when revelation is perfect, complete[RG11]; it’s complete. It’s at its end; it’s full, like you get to the end of Revelation. You can’t add anything; you can’t take away from it, and revelation is closed.

We don’t need the gift of knowledge anymore. We’re growing in knowledge but not the gift of knowledge, which was special, supernatural knowledge to know what to do. And so, when you didn’t have a completed revelation to guide you, and apostles weren’t everywhere, that’s why you had the different gifts in the church at Corinth, as a result of Paul’s ministry. And the gift of prophecy, that would have been involved in revealing new revelation, which is added as our New Testament. I tend to take 1 Corinthians 13 and those gifts, tongues, which were the ability to speak in a foreign language that you had not learned; prophecy, receiving new revelation from God and speaking it forth; and knowledge, that supernatural knowledge to know how Scripture should be used or applied in those situations where Scripture hadn’t yet been given to clarify it. I take it that the perfect is the Word of God there. I understand that good men hold other views, but not everybody can be right, so keep praying for them. No, I’m kidding.

Okay, we asked about the two witnesses in Revelation. Will they be giving new information, or will they be repeating, and teaching information already recorded in the Bible? What is the definition of a prophet? And he says. I believe a prophet is one who is given direct revelation from God, and in the Tribulation, with special prophets given, I take it that they may give additional specific revelation regarding what God is doing at that time with the nation Israel. That could be additional revelation here, because they’re going to be supernatural men, and they’re going to be executed and raised back to life for all to see. They’re going to have a unique ministry. At that point in time, the church is gone, and God is resuming His program with Israel. He sends these two prophets and they will shed additional light for the nation Israel. That’s where their ministry is centered, in Jerusalem, and to the nation. I think the gift of prophecy, by definition, is not preaching. Now part of a prophetic ministry is they may have proclaimed things, but they are receiving new revelation, like the prophets of the Old Testament and the prophets in the New Testament. Like when Paul and Barnabas, were prophets in the church, and the revelations given them; set apart for Me, Barnabas and Paul for the work. Just like God had prophets in the Old Testament, there were prophets in the New Testament. I think the same kind of material you read, if you could, but that doesn’t mean everything you said was new revelation. But part of the characteristic of the gift of a prophet was that he was one through whom new revelation would be given, and some could be recorded in the Scripture.

I’ll be praying for the ministry. You be here supporting the ministry. May it be a time of growth as you’re blessed by the ministry of different men who bring the Word as the Spirit of God directs them. So, be praying for the ministry in these weeks. Marilyn and I will be going on to Colorado. She likes it cool. She likes less humidity. I’m always ready to do what she likes.

Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your great blessings. Thank You for the riches of Your Word. A challenge it is for us. No matter how long that we’ve walked with You, no matter how long and how many times we have studied the Word, it continues to be rich. Lord, we continue to grow in knowledge and understanding. We cannot exhaust even what You have revealed, but alone, so much You have not revealed. We’re a blessed people. I pray for the time ahead, pray for the men who will come and minister Your Word in the coming weeks. May their ministry be a special blessing. You’ll press upon them the portions of Your Word that You have for the people here, and that the Spirit will use it in many lives for accomplishing Your purpose. Bless the week ahead of us, and all the places You put us, and all that You give us to do. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.