substitute!

So what is the big deal behind all the talk of "belief" and why the need to be "counted...as righteousness"? I guess I am finally coming upon that stage where I know the desperation of my human condition and just how much I NEED atonement for my sin, a substitute, someone or something to satisfy the wrath of God that I deserve upon my life. Not in the aspect of salvation, but hopefully in the realm of growth.

I can only speak for me, but I am a very unrighteous person in my own strength. Left up to my own devices, I will self destruct in a heartbeat and I am fully aware of how I deserve the wrath of God UPON my life. I am fully aware of how wretched I can be, and how that ugliness can never approach the absolute holiness of God!

Paul ends chapter 3 of Romans making sure that we all understand that there is sin in all of our lives that separates us from God, that we all fall short of His glory, and that we all need justification that comes from a source other than ourselves. It is so awesome that Jesus was fully man and remains to be fully God. Sins were committed by man, sins had to be paid for by man. However, we all know that this man had to be holy and spotless, a sacrificial lamb that it without blemish. There is no other option when dealing with the atonement of sin.

So Paul makes the statement in Romans 4:2, again using Abraham as the example, that Abraham's good works cannot do it, because that would allow him (or us) to boast. We would want to take credit for something so far beyond our human, sinful capabilities. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus God laid out some very strict requirements that allow for potential fellowship with Him, that just cannot be kept! I will not get into all of that, but wanted to set the tone for how much we need, and have to have a sacrifice, our sin must be atoned for and we have to be "counted...as righteousness." It has to be done by Him, through Him, and for His glory!

In closing, I will dispel the post-modern myth that this was a "back then" scenario, and that it really doesn't apply to us today. If the post-modern thought is that truth is relative and that these type of passages don't apply to us today in an absolute manner, Paul tells us "But the words 'it was counted to him' were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord" (verses 23-24).

Like Abraham, we must believe God!