Difficult Words

There are some difficult words in Romans 4. Difficult not because they send us running to the dictionary, but difficult because in the biblical context, they don’t mean what they do in everyday speech and can be misleading. The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, and that’s another reason we have difficulty with the words in English—English doesn’t always have an exact word for what is in the original language.

There are two words that occur over and over again in this section of Romans: "faith" and "righteousness."

Faith. Have you ever heard someone say “I wish I had your faith!” What do they mean? I like to say that it’s not because of some abstract quality called “faith” that I believe what I do. It’s because I have chosen to trust in Jesus Christ. And that’s not a blind trust. There are reasons why I trust him. “Faith” and “trust” are the same word in Greek. So when Abraham had “faith” in God it means that he chose to trust him.

Righteousness/justify. These words are really tricky. They both come from the same Greek root. When we hear the word “righteousness” we probably think of self-righteousness, which is not an attractive quality. But the Hebrew idea behind the New Testament use of the word includes honesty, justice, goodness, vindication, restoration and loyalty. A “righteous” person defends the weak, the poor, the oppressed and the defenceless.

Jesus made a covenant with us before he died for us, giving us his body and his blood—his very self (Matthew 26:26-28). We are unable to help ourselves. He loves us to the utmost. He forgives us and will always be loyal to the promises he has made to us. He restores us as he changes us daily, bit by bit, to become like him.

Respond in Prayer

Father, sometimes the Bible is hard to understand. Please help me to understand what you want to say to me, and to grow in my love for you as I figure things out. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Annabel Robinson