How Does Romans 4 Connect With God's Calling of Abraham?

       What happens to a sinner to make him want to become a son of God?  That question popped into my mind this week while reading some Life Studies of Romans that talked about the story of Abraham given in Romans 4.  I have always found the story of Abraham remarkable.

  Some Bible scholars say that Abraham was born about 350 years after the flood in which only 8 people from Noah’s family survived.  You would think that going through that all of Noah’s grandkids would all be walking closely with God!  But that didn't happen.  It surprised me when I read in Halley’s Bible Handbook that the tower of Babel was built only about 100 years after the flood!  What Witness Lee shares about this historical event in Chapter 6 of the Life Study of Romans amazed me: 

           At Babel people built the tower of Babel.  Names of idols were written on this tower, meaning that the whole created race had turned to idolatry.  Thus Paul says the human race had exchanged God for idols (1:23, 25).  Paul wrote Romans 1 according to the history narrated in Genesis (Lee, Witness. Life Study of Romans. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1974, Print). 

     It shocks me that the entire created race had turned away from God.  And it was at this point that God came to Abraham and called him.  The Bible tells us he was living in a town called Ur, which I saw in Halley's Bible Handbook was on the Euphrates River near the Persian Gulf. 

     Halley’s states that the main idols the people in Ur worshiped were the moon, stars, fire, and the forces of nature.  So here’s Abraham living in a land where everyone worships idols, and even he is an idol worshipper.  How does God get him to drop his idol worship and turn back to the one true God?  He appears to him!    Witness Lee points out that we see this in the record Stephen gives in Acts 7:3:  And he said, Men, brothers and fathers, listen.  The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, Come out from your land and from your relatives and come into the land which I will show you.

  

      This appearing wasn't just an ordinary appearing--something happens when God appears to people. He says that God transfused Himself into Abraham, and this spontaneously caused him to believe in God (Page 78).  To make sinners sons of God,  He just continues to appear and transfuse His believing element into us until we change.  Don't you think the story of Abraham shows us that God can't be stopped?  Even if the whole world was worshiping idols, God could turn the whole situation by gaining just one person! 

You can listen to live portions of Witness Lee's sharing on the Life Study of Romans with helpful commentary on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee. 

Other Blogs on the Life Studies of Romans:

 Why is Romans Called the Gospel of God?
What's the Connection Between Romans 4 and God's Calling of Abraham?
What is Sanctification in the Book of Romans?
Have You seen the Gospel in Romans 8:3?
Seeing God's Sovereignty in Romans 8:28
What Was Man Created For in Romans 9:21?
What is the Focus of Romans 12?
What Does Romans 14 Say About Receiving Believers & Why Does It Matter?
Have You Seen the Practical Church Life in Romans 16?
What are the Three Laws in Romans 7 & 8 All About?
What Does Being Saved in Life Mean in Romans 5:10?
How Do Carnations Illustrate a Believer's Glorification in Romans 8:30?
Why is God's Righteousness the Power of the Gospel in Romans 1:16-17?
From the Life Study of Roman - Why is God Triune?