If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. – Romans 4:2

Today's Scripture Reading (April 19, 2024):  Romans 4

How do you breathe? Are you good at it? How often has someone stopped you and told you that you are an excellent breather? Sometimes, it is great just to be able to watch the masters do something well, and there are days when all they want to do is watch you breathe. Maybe people do, but I wouldn't know; I am not a good breather. I struggle with asthma and allergies, both of which can impede my breathing. My guess is that we don't notice good breathing, but we do take notice of someone who is struggling with their breath. To breathe well is natural, something that we do without thinking. To struggle with breathing is unnatural and often an indication of severe illness.

Paul tells the Romans that if works justified Abraham, he might have something about which to boast, although there is an open question on why one would want to. The idea is that doing what is right should be as natural and automatic as breathing. It is how we were created back when God placed Adam and Eve in the garden. Doing right was as natural as breathing, and failing to keep God's Law was an indication of severe spiritual and physical illness.

It would have been natural for Abraham to be justified by works, except that he was suffering from the same disease that has beset every individual of the human race since the fall of Adam and Eve. I don't know what the mechanics of the disease might be; if we knew the answer to that question, maybe we could work toward a solution for the problem. But instead, we pass the disease from one generation to the next. As a result, instead of right practice being the natural outgrowth of our being, evil and sin have become our natural path.

I keep returning to St. Augustine of Hippo's story of the pear tree. It is well known that Augustine ran with a bit of a wild crowd during his youth. And one night, his gang became aware of a pear tree that was loaded with ripe fruit. They didn't want to eat the pears, but they thought it might be fun to steal them. Augustine says;

We carried off a huge load of pears, not to eat ourselves, but to dump out to the hogs, after barely tasting some of them ourselves. Doing this pleased us all the more because it was forbidden. Such was my heart, O God, such was my heart – which thou didst pity even in that bottomless pit. Behold, now let my heart confess to thee what it was seeking there, when I was being gratuitously wanton, having no inducement to evil but the evil itself (Saint Augustine of Hippo; Confessions).

It was evil that was natural, and doing good that was an achievement. But it should never have been that way. The reverse should have been true; doing good should have been our natural state, and because of that, it should never have been something that we might want to boast about, at least not in front of the God who created us. It would be like bragging about our ability to breathe.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Romans 5