Righteousness by Faith Alone (10): Abraham's Justifying Faith (Romans 4:18-19) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. Its Object
II. Its Impossibility
III. Its Support
John Calvin on Romans 4:21: “Let us also remember, that the condition of us all is the same with that of Abraham. All things around us are in opposition to the promises of God: He promises immortality; we are surrounded with mortality and corruption: He declares that he counts us just; we are covered with sins: He testifies that he is propitious and kind to us; outward judgments threaten his wrath. What then is to be done? We must with closed eyes pass by ourselves and all things connected with us, that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “We must realize that faith, true faith, always has in it this element of assurance, of certainty, and of confidence. This needs to be emphasized at the present time. Faith is not mere hopefulness; faith is fully persuaded, faith is assured, faith is certain. Faith is not just ‘whistling in the dark’ to keep up one’s courage. True faith is ‘fully persuaded’. As this is so important I must produce some further statements from Scripture to substantiate this point. It is not only here that we have this statement about faith. Take, for instance, the classic statement of it in the Epistle to the Hebrews in the first verse of the eleventh chapter. Faith we are told, ‘is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’. That means that faith is the substantiating of the thing we hope for, it is the evidence for it. There is an evidential value and element in faith; it is ‘the evidence of things that we do not see’. Faith, if you like, is a kind of title-deed, and there is certainty in a title-deed. In other words, we must not think of faith as something vague and uncertain, indefinite and nebulous. No, says this man in writing to the Hebrews; faith is that which substantiates” (Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 3:20-4:25 Atonement and Justification, pp. 212-213).