Here’s a readers’ theatre setting of Romans 4: 1-17. It is
set for two voices.
Readers’
Theatre: Romans 4: 1-17
One: Abraham was, humanly
speaking,
the founder
of our Jewish nation.
What did he
discover about being made right with God?
Two: If his good
deeds had made him acceptable to God,
he would
have had something to boast about.
But that
was not God’s way.
For the
Scriptures tell us,
One: Abraham
believed God,
and God
counted him as righteous because of his faith.
Two: When people
work, their wages are not a gift,
but
something they have earned.
But people
are counted as righteous,
not because
of their work,
but because
of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
One: Clearly, God’s
promise to give the whole earth
to Abraham
and his descendants
was based
not on his obedience to God’s law,
but on a
right relationship with God that comes by faith.
If God’s
promise is only for those who obey the law,
then faith
is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
Two: For the law
always brings punishment on those who try to obey it.
One: The only way to
avoid breaking the law
is to have
no law to break!
Two: So the promise
is received by faith.
It is given
as a free gift.
One: And we are all
certain to receive it,
whether or
not we live according to the law of Moses,
if we have
faith like Abraham’s.
Two: For Abraham is
the father of all who believe.
That is
what the Scriptures mean when God told him,
One: “I have made
you the father of many nations.”
Two: This happened
because Abraham believed in the God
who brings
the dead back to life
and who
creates new things out of nothing.
