By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
June 07, 2026
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Romans 4:13–25 (ESV)
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
The promise to Abraham and his offspring, is where Paul begins today’s passage. This is where so much of faith begins. What does it mean to be part of this community? Is it Christian, is it interfaith? Does it only apply to Israel or does it extend to all people? There is a great deal of debate around these very things. Intense debates that bring into question every aspect of life and how we interact with those around us.
This is important, because it gets to the very nature of human existence. Why are we here, and what is our purpose?
To begin we need to look at the promise given to Abraham found in Genesis 17. “Behold my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
God gave Abraham this promise after Ishmael was born, and just prior to the birth of Issac. Prior to this particular promise God had called Abram to follow him, and the benefit of following was that his offspring would be greater than the stars in heaven. There is some debate as to if this means the number of stars, which would be seen as infinite, or if the promise was that they would be greater than the stars, or the substance of the stars. In that ancient time, there was an understanding that the stars were not spheres of gas with such mass that nuclear fusion occurred to produce heat and light, instead they believed that the stars were heavenly beings, or Elohim. The stars were lesser gods, or angels that had power that could be wielded over the creatures of Earth.
The reality of the promise is that Abraham would become the father of many nations. God promised that his offspring, those that emerged from his life and his influence would become so great in power, or number that they would rule the entire world. Both interpretations are correct to various degrees.
But this promise came after a long history. It came after the fall in the garden, after the great flood, after the rise of a monolithic empire that held unitary power over all the known world. Those were the three falls of humanity that shaped early Hebrew thought. Out of those falls the children of Abraham held to the idea that the most high God divided the nations of the earth, that he scattered the nations, and from Israel he would bring them all back to himself. He chose Israel. He selected this small insignificant family to reveal his teachings and his ultimate redemption.
I want us to think about this for a moment. Does this mean that Israel is chosen forever? This is where the debates begin. I do not see this as being necessarily the case. But let me explain, it means that Israel’s God is forever. The God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob will remain and through his patience and grace he will preserve a people of faith. God will preserve his teachings forever. And to preserve his teachings, he will ensure that Israel will remain as a testimony of his faithfulness.
This is what Paul is getting at in this passage. The influence, or the teachings of God through faith will remain. It will spread to the ends of the earth and that will influence the nations. But this influence does not come through direct inheritance. Biology does not spread the influence of God, nor does biology prevent the spread of God’s influence. We see this in the genealogy of David and of Jesus. Within their linage there are people that come from outside Israel. Rehab, and Ruth are examples. It is even said that Caleb, one of the faithful spies that Moses sent into the promised land, was not directly part of the tribe of Judah but was someone that became part of the tribe. He was a foreigner that chose Israel as his nation, and through him and his faith Israel became stronger.
If it is not direct biology, what then spreads the influence of God? Paul says in this passage that the promise did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. It was not the offspring, or the law but faith.
At this point we need to understand the law. In our western mind, we look at law differently than they did in region Israel developed. For us a law is legislation, and when we break a law there are certain consequences of those actions. In the ancient near east the law was less about black and white legislation, and more about teaching. I have spoken about this at length. But what I have not expanded on is how the understanding of the law changed as Israel matured.
The teachings should have encouraged a certain lifestyle. The lifestyle that it points to is a lifestyle where we love God with all that we have and all that we are. To express that love of God by treating the people around us as we would like to be treated. This is the teaching. It is the start of the conversation. As we converse many aspects can emerge. We begin to ask different questions, and we begin to seek answers to those questions. Eventually Israel could justify any sort of action within the law because they reasoned through it. These justifications began to look more like the world around them and less like original teachings. To such a degree that one could not tell the difference between Israel, Judah, or any other nation in the world. From this judgment came. The Northern kingdom of Israel was scattered like dust, and Judah was taken into captivity and lived in exile.
Upon return, they had devised a different understanding of the law. What makes us distinct? What makes us Israel? Their focus turned to the physical. Circumcision became even more important. The dietary laws became a priority. These were the things that the world could see that set them apart. As more persecution emerged they would double down on these aspects of the law. They used to marry outsiders and bring them into the faith, but in the past this led to idolatry so they outlawed marrying foreigners. They did all of this because they thought if they could just do the right things. If we could make rules and force people to comply to these rules, we could make the world righteous.
This is the interpretation of the law that Jesus and Paul both objected. The outward aberrance without true dedication. The rabbis taught that Israel went into exile because we married foreigners, so they outlawed certain marriages. They thought that they experienced judgment because we did not eat right, or perform the proper rituals. So they dedicated their lives to making sure every aspect of life was covered. Jesus described this as laying a burden on the shoulders of the people without lifting a finger to assist.
Paul then speaks of the law bringing wrath and then says where there is no law there is no transgression. I think it is important to look at this from the proper context. Law brings wrath. When we think of wrath, our mind goes to judgment. The wrath of God against Israel lead to the exile. This is not wrong, but it skews our perspective. Most of our view of wrath does not come from a Hebrew understanding of wrath, it instead comes from pagan perspectives. It is from a pagan perspective that a lightning bolt will come from the heavens to smite us if we do wrong. Why lightning? Zeus, Thor, Baal are all storm gods that control lightening. That is why Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to have the greatest God light the sacrifice, if Baal had the power of lightening it should be easy, but Baal was incapable. Our thoughts of wrath come from these pagan views, not from the character of the God of scripture. God is slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
The Hebrew understanding of wrath is not judgment, but is instead a picture. CS Lewis captured the picture in the description he provided of Aslan from the perspective of Mr. Beaver. He said that Aslan was a lion. The girls were concerned about this since they were going to meet the lion. So they asked if it was a tame lion. Mr. Beaver, scoffs and says not he is not safe, but he is good. This is the image of God’s wrath that is truly derived from scripture. The word is derived from the nose, and it sounds silly, but it is good. The wrath of God is snorts and scoffs.
It is like a bull casually standing in the sun of a pasture. Bulls are scary, but they are good. They are majestic and powerful, there is a reason that Israel used the symbolism of a bull at Sinai. But what if you go into the pasture with the bull and the bull does not want you there? That bull snorts. He gives a warning. If you are wise you would take heed, because if you continue down that path the bull will escalate, the nose becomes hot. The snort becomes deeper, the head lowers, and the air coming from the nose rises along with dust. The picture is smoke coming from the nostrils, or a hot nose. The bull is preparing to charge, but there is still a chance, we can divert the attention, or we can change course. But if we do not change course we face the horns. This is the mental picture of wrath. It is not a bolt of lightening coming from the heavens, it is instead the snorts of a bull.
The bull is scary, dangerous, but good. When I worked on the farm, the bull was my favorite of all the cattle we had. We had an enormous bull named Red. This bull would see me from across the pasture and run to greet me. I could call out his name and like a dog he would come to me and I could scratch him behind his ears. He was such a loving animal that you had to be careful because his eminence love could literally smother you. There were more than a few dents in our farm pickup with a distinct Jared shape, where Red became a bit to generous in expressing his love. But we could not take the love of Red for granted. We could not force Red to do things contrary to his own mind. When we needed to load cattle to move them to a different pasture, we could not force Red to go, we had to convince him. When we tried to force Red, he would snort, he would charge. There was one instance where Red came charging at me and I thought I was going to die, but instead of hitting me he jumped over the coral fence behind me. He cleared the fence that was seven feet tall without any trouble. That is the image of wrath.
“For law brings wrath,” Paul says, “but where there is no law there is no transgression.”
Is Paul rejecting the law? No. Paul loves the teachings of scripture. He quotes them, he tells the younger pastors that he trained that all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching and reproof. So what is Paul rejecting? Is he speaking of God, or of Man? Is he saying that anything and everything goes? No, the law brings snorts. These things annoy, they begin the process that leads to the use of the horns.
The question then is if it is God or man that is annoyed and wrathful. Paul, prior to this, speaks of righteousness. And almost exclusively the topic revolves around circumcision. This is an outward physical body modification that was used when God made his covenant with Abraham. This symbol we often associate with Israel, but they were not the only culture that used this form of body modification. The nations that surrounded Israel also practiced circumcision, but they did it differently and for a different reason. In Egypt only the priest participated in this ritualistic cutting, but they did not remove the skin only slit the skin. Among the Phoenicians, it was to ward off evil. To the people of Moab, circumcision was associated with marriage and fertility. This skin was taken and given to the wife so that she could bear his children. When Moses was going back to Egypt there is an incident where Moses’ wife is required to circumcise someone, and she calls God the bloody bridegroom. The passage is not clear as to whom she had to circumcise, if it was Moses himself or their son, but she is angry with God because God demanded the blood, and it was taken from her. Even outside the Near East there are cultural practices similar to this. Each culture has their own meaning. But what does it symbolize?
Most associate it with a marriage of sorts not between individuals but between God and humanity. The people of Israel are to do this to infants not adults, as other cultures did. And the Greek cultures saw this practice as obscene and immodest. In their perspective a circumcised individual was naked or exposed. Which philosophically provides more layers of thought. The Greeks outlawed the practice, and circumcision became a symbol of rebellion. And later after the Jewish people gained their independence from their Greek rulers during the Maccabean revolts, it became the law of the land. Every male living within Judea had to be circumcised, so that God would bless Israel. It did not matter if they were part of the religion or not. They forced compliance to this law.
This is the background of Paul’s argument. It is a mix between human mandates and the teachings of God. Some remember the brutality of the Hasmonean dynasty in this regard. They remember the teachings surrounding it. And the ritual that once held such meaning to the righteous people, became something akin to nationalistic scarification. There was no dedication other than to king and country. No faith, no repentance, no understanding, only obedience.
The law brings wrath, Paul says. This blind obedience, this adherence without knowledge and the nationalistic desires of theocratic statehood caused annoyance. It causes nostrils to flare and the nose to get hot. It annoys those that do not have belief and are being forced to follow, and it annoys those that do have belief because the ritual has lost its meaning. Eventually something will happen. There will be a revolt. There will always be a revolt because the requirement of obedience without the transfer of knowledge gives the perception of unjust control.
In other letters Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery…for you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another… Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 5 & 6)
We are not to participate in injustice. We should not be provoking others, we should not be living in envy. We should not be looking out at those around us, seeing them as sources of ire and blaming them for everything wrong within our world. This is wrath, this promotes and provokes wrath. Not only does it annoy everyone around, but it annoys God. It annoys God because the way we exhibit our love and devotion to God is in how we treat those around us.
I want to go back to Red the bull. If you were to go out into the pasture he would show you his wrath, because he does not know you. He is a giant of a beast, and yet he is good. I can walk into the pasture and call out to him. With me, he is like a pet. I know what makes him happy, I know what makes him upset. I know Red, but even I have been subject to Red’s wrath.
The same is with every relationship. Your cats only allow so much loving before they get annoyed, and you end up with claws and teeth. Your spouse can only be pushed so far before they snap. You must learn how to write an essay to for each of your teachers, because they tend to focus on different things which are listed in the syllabus. We can provoke, we can annoy and then cry that we have been subject to wrath, but are we the victim or the cause? To prevent wrath, we need communication, we need understanding, we need convincement not mere obedience. Love God with all that you have and are, and your neighbor as yourself. Against such things there is no law.
This leads us to Paul’s point. It is faith, not law, not biology, but faith. I have spoken about faith many times over the years. There are three stages of faith. The first is belief. We have looked at the lives of those around us, and we have looked at the scriptures, and we believe it to be true. The second stage is trust. We believe, then start to put what we believe into action. We trust that God will provide so we give out tithes. We trust that God will direct our path forward, so we take the risk.
Then there is the third stage, we entrust. Entrusting goes beyond trust, because the reward is not sure, and the path is not clear. Entrusting our lives to God is that place of faith where we have a clearness to our path forward, we have assurance that it is right and yet those around us may have the same perception. It is in this place that we entrust our lives to God, fully devoted to His will, be it suffering or blessing. We entrust because we know that by living for him at that moment he will bring about the necessary changes. Abraham entrusted his life to God. And it was counted to him as righteousness. It did not make sense to the world. It did not even make sense to his own family, yet he moved forward entrusting that God was worthy of that trust. When we step back from seeking our own personal gain and entrust our lives, our property, our future to God we are walking in faith. When we encourage those around us to look beyond, to dig deeper, to trust just a bit more, we are walking in faith. Seeking not to control but instead to encourage change even when it seems contrary to what society desires, we are walking in faith. But why do we do it? Why? We do it because we know the one we are entrusting ourselves to. We know that God is similar to a lion or a bull. God can be provoked to wrath, but God is also good. God is slow to anger, abounding in mercy and grace, and will bless those that trust him.
Where do we stand? Will we entrust our lives to God? Will we live into the things that there is no law? Will we become a people Loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others? Or will we be people of wrath?
Previous Messages:
Live In Peace
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 31, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 2 Corinthians 13:11–14 (ESV) 11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace…
Gifted for Good
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 24, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Corinthians 12:3–13 (ESV) 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one…
In Your Hearts Honor Christ as Holy
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
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