Romans 4:1-5

 4:1 What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified _accepted by mitzvoth-works, he has something to boast about, but not before hwhy. ³For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed hwhy, and it was reckoned (credited) to him as righteousness." (Gen15:6)  ⁴Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned (considered to be) as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies (accepts) the ungodly, his a’men is reckoned (considered to be) as righteousness.

You work hard for what you have. There is never enough to assure the life you desire. You wonder sometimes if your boss even knows you exist. Someone gives you a gift and you experience joy. The gift is acknowledgement that you not only exist, but your life has value.

So it is with mitzvoth (works). You can go down your personal check-list of do's, you can be a pillar in your community and kid yourself into believing that your work is valuable to the community so surly you are valuable to YHVH (the LORD). Yet you feel fear when you read Matthew 7:21-23.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'  "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' 

 Then there are the ungodly, those we like to look down our nose at, as we assure ourselves that we are not like them. Those the church hides their daughters from. Those who are helpless to earn their way to heaven and must trust the gift given, Y'shua ha Machiach (Jesus who is the Christ). Those who say "amen" to the Word instead of "doing", those who celebrate life instead of chasing it. Those who love the giver of the gift are those who are known by YHVH and welcomed into the arms of Heaven.

Personal study of ROMANS chapter 4: 1-5

Romans 3:27-31

3:27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of mitzvoth-works? No, but on the principle of a’men. ²⁸For we hold that a man is justified (acceptable) by a’men apart from mitzvoth-works of Torah. ²⁹Or is hwhy the Elohim of Jews only? Is he not the Elohim of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰since hwhy is one; and he will justify (accept) the circumcised on the ground of their a’men and the uncircumcised through their a’men. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the Torah by this a’men? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah.

Faith is amen. Amen is standing firm on the Word. The Word is Torah.

If Torah observance is a matter of "be" not "do" then the key to Torah observance is keeping my gaze on Y'shua-Jesus. Can it be that simple? Are their habits and traditions to do in living "The Way"? The frustrating answer is keep your eyes on Y'shua. It is also the answer of Joy. Keep your eyes on Y'shua. Anything I can brag to you about is eliminated. There is no mitzvoth (work) I can do that gives me or you any assurance in The Way of Life. Stand firm (be). That is Torah observance. The first step on The Way is something you cannot do; you must be born again.

Personal Study of Romans, chapter 3:27-31

Romans 3:21-26

3:21 But now the righteousness of hwhy has been manifested apart from Torah, although the Torah and the prophets bear witness to it, ²²the righteousness of hwhy through a’men in Mashiach Y’shua for all who believe. For there is no distinction; ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of hwhy, ²⁴they are justified (acceptable) by his /j (Chen- kindness) grace as a gift, through the redemption (liberation) which is in Y’shua HaMashiach, ²⁵whom hwhy put forward as an expiation (payment of penalty) by his blood, to be received by a’men. This was to show hwhy 's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies (accepts) him who has a’men in Y’shua.

Romans 3:21-26 are probably the grandest words of the book of Romans. Righteousness; a requirement for believers, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. How to attain righteousness is the question.

If Torah (the Law) is a handbook, a how-to for righteous living, then we are doomed. Torah gives an awareness of sin with its sense of guilt. Guilt does not bring righteousness. It turns out that Torah is not of book of "do" but a book of "be". (1 Peter 1: 15-16) The righteousness is YHVH's. He sent me a hero to liberate me from slavery to sin. Liberation is a gift to be accepted (never earned).

Here is where Torah comes in, it testifies of Passover, the blood payment of an innocent for the guilty. The washing of sin (not the suppression of sin through rules), the REMOVAL of guilt. The realization that YHVH is my righteousness. Faith in Y'shua declares it. Every time I stand firm in Messiah I declare that YHVH is Righteous, even in this modern era. Joy!

Personal study of Romans.

Romans 3:9-20

3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, ¹⁰as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;

 ¹¹ no one understands, no one seeks for hwhy.

¹² All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;

no one does good, not even one."

¹³ "Their throat is an open grave,

they use their tongues to deceive."

"The venom of asps is under their lips."

¹⁴ "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."

¹⁵ "Their feet are swift to shed blood,

¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery,

¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know."

¹⁸ "There is no fear of hwhy before their eyes."

3:19 Now we know that whatever the Torah says it speaks to those who are under the Torah, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to hwhy. ²⁰For no human being will be justified (accepted) in his sight by works of the Torah, since through the Torah comes knowledge of sin.

What is a fool? Y'shua-Jesus said that we are not to call a person who does dumb things a fool (Matthew 5:21-22). The Scripture specifically says that a fool is someone who says in their heart, "There is no God". Why is that important? In Hebrew, the word for heart is bl "leb," a picto-graph for the shepherd’s house. Fools are often very religious. They can be Torah observant to the extreme. They are careful to do the good works. The problem is they do it apart from God, which makes their whole life a dance with death. The words they say, the fellowship they keep, the things they do are all about death. Anyone dazzled by their lifestyle will put themselves in submission to the service of death.

There is a way of escape. It is through the blood of Y'shua ha Mashiach. (Jesus who is the Christ) The walking dead, the religious crowd, go the easy way. The way of Y'shua is difficult, like a steep, narrow path leading to life. How is that path found? It is found in the Word of God but the Word is not a "how to" manual, it is a person to trust. Don't be a fool. Call on the name of YHVH, walk with His Son Y'shua, be comforted and helped by their Ruach (breath, spirit). Keep your eyes on the author and finisher of our Amen (agreement with the Torah).

Personal study of ROMANS 3:9-20

Romans 2: 6-11

⁶For he will render to every man according to his mitzvoth works: ⁷to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸but for those who are factious (schemers) and do not obey the tma emt-truth, but obey ur raa -wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, ¹⁰but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹For hwhy shows no partiality.

We live by our choices. Each of us has a moment of awareness, an awakening if you will, when the Ruach (Spirit) penetrates our hard heart and reveals the wickedness we have embraced. It does not matter what position we have attained, who our family is or what our circumstance in life is. Each of us has moments when we know guilt. Christians call it conviction. In that moment, we can turn to Y'shua-Jesus for compassion or turn back to those whose thinking and life make us feel as if we are not so bad after all. May I just say, the old image of the scales of life are not so far off. The wicked, evil, even sinful behavior of our life is stored up on our account. The wrath of YHVH-God will be given to you in full as payment for your choice. But if in the moment you turn to Y'shua-Jesus, who suffered YHVH's wrath on the cross, paying in full your penalty; if you then take steps, even baby steps, toward a life pleasing to Him, there will be peace with honor, even glory, on that same Day of the LORD. Choose wisely.

Personal study of ROMANS chapter 2: 6-11

Romans 1:18-23

1:18 For the wrath of hwhy is revealed from heaven against all uvr resha’ -ungodliness and ur raa -wickedness of ^Lmen who by ^Ltheir ur raa wickedness suppress the tma emet  truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about hwhy is plain to ^Lthem, because hwhy has shown it to ^Lthem. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So ^Lthey are without excuse; ²¹for although ^Lthey knew hwhy ^Lthey did not honor him as Elohim or give thanks to him, but they became futile in ^Ltheir thinking and ^Ltheir senseless minds were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, ^Lthey became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal hwhy for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.

Most of us know that YHVH (God) loves us so deeply that he gave his only begotten Son as a sacrifice to buy our freedom from the slavery of sin. I wonder if you might also know what YHVH hates.

In my Romans study (1:18-23), I learn that YHVH hates those who suppress truth. YHVH is truth (emet). Y'shua (Jesus), Ben YHVH, the only Son of God,  is truth in the flesh.

 How do mere men suppress truth? It starts with a very simple attitude of un-thankfulness to YHVH. Suppression of truth begins with not being thankful. That is all it takes to start your journey to life as a fool.

Everyone has an idea of what a fool is. We may sometimes feel "foolish" but we do not want to be fools. But what is a fool? A fool is not a stupid person but simply a person who says in their heart, "There is no God" (Psalms 14:1 and 53:1). Without acknowledgement of your loving creator, your thought life becomes dark, senseless, futile. A fool tends to believe that they know the path of wisdom, but wisdom begins with "the fear of YHVH" (Proverbs 1:7), they discover the end of their path is folly. Is there hope?

Thankfulness. In EVERYTHING give thanks (Ephesians 5:20) Thanksgiving is an action that recognizes YHVH's work in your life. Without a thankful heart there is a temptation to believe that enough money, youth, good looks, balance or whatever else seems valuable to you at this stage of your life is the key to success. Thanksgiving is the trail marker on the path of life. I plan to carve out time to be thankful on purpose. What about you?

Not ashamed

Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the Besorah: it is the power of hwhy for salvation to -everyone who has /ma a’men, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of hwhy is revealed through /ma a’men for /ma a’men; as it is written,

"He who through /ma a’men is righteous shall live." (Habakkuk 2:4)

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (Letter to the Romans, 1:16-17)

Par ici et par la photograph 

Why would Paul even bring up "not being ashamed"? Apparently there was an attitude in the age following the Hasmoneans (Maccabees) to do public mitzvoth (works of Torah/Law). To be pious in the eyes of your community was a matter of pride and diligent work. To not make an effort to do the "things" that proclaim we are righteous seems to open a person up to scorn. 

To "rest" in what Y'shua (Jesus) did for you is a game changer in the religious world. My focus changes to pleasing YHVH instead of "minding my public witness" FREEDOM. Why am I not ashamed of the Besorah (Gospel)? Because my devotion is to Abba (my heavenly father) who sees in secret. And what does he see when he looks my way? The covenant blood of Y'shua, my Salvation, who set me free from the burden of sin and the need to prove I am who I say I am. He proved it, I rest in it.

Note: learning the heritage of Abraham the Hebrew, I use the phrases I am learning instead of the Greek-English when I can. Please do not be frustrated, ask questions if you have them. Deb

Originally posted on FaceBook by Mrs. Hagerty, January 16, 2014