Servile vs Filial Fear and the Continued Study of Romans 4:13-25

EMAIL:

Dear Ken and Marcus, Last week, you discussed Romans 4:4: “Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.” Recently someone pointed out Phil 2:12, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Could you compare and contrast these, and discuss how they relater to servile and filial fear? Thanks, Bob

Romans 4:13-25

13: The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, 

did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 

14: 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 descendants -- not only to the adherents of the law 

but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he 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 descendants be." 

19: He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, 

which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, 

or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 

20: No distrust 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 "reckoned to him as righteousness." 

23: But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, 

24: but for ours also. 

It will be reckoned to us 

who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 

25: who was put to death for our trespasses 

and raised for our justification.