Abraham - the Father of Faith

ABRAHAM – THE FATHER OF FAITH

Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6; cf. Romans 4:3, 9, 22; Galatians 3:6)

Abraham’s original name was Abram (see Genesis 11:26) which means “father of many”. Yet when God called him while he was living in Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:28, 31; cf Acts 7:2-4), the patriarch was childless. By the time he left Haran, after the death of his father, Terah, Abraham was seventy-five years old (Genesis 12:4) and still without children. Yet by faith he began the last part of his journey to the land God had promised. In his initial call, God promised that He would make of Abram a great nation (Genesis 12:1-2). When the promise was repeated some years later, the Lord promised Abram that his descendants would be as innumerable as the stars in the heavens (15:7, cf 22:17), although the patriarch and his wife Sarah were still childless. It was at that time that Abram “believed in the Lord: and He reckoned it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, cf. Romans 4:3,9,20-22; Galatians 3:6). We do not know how God convinced Abram, an idolatrous pagan (see Joshua 24:2), that He was indeed the true and only God or how He persuaded Abram to place his trust in Him. But we do know that the same God who made the call prompted the faith to respond to it. Abram’s faith was truly astounding. For some 40 years before it was fulfilled, Abram believed God’s promise to give him an heir. For the century that he lived in Canaan (see Genesis 25:7), Abram owned none of it, except for the small parcel of ground he bought for a burial site for Sarah and himself (23:16-20). Abram trusted God to make him the father of a great nation and of a multitude of people, although there would not be a nation in the usual sense of the term until nearly 600 years later, when Joshua would lead the Israelites back into Canaan to possess it. After Abram arrived in Canaan he was immediately faced with a number of sever tests of his faith. He encountered famine (Genesis 12:10), a potentially hostile pharaoh (12:14-20), a conflict with his nephew Lot (13:5-9) and apparently a struggle with fear (see 15:1). Yet through all that testing he remained faithful to the God who had called him. When Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, Abram at last had an heir, but it was an heir of his own sinful contriving and human virility, not the divinely promised and divinely provided heir to whom only Sarah could give birth. Thirteen years later, when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the merciful Lord appeared to him again and repeated the promise of multiplying Abram’s descendants. He also changed Abram’s name, saying “No longer shall your name be called Abram. But your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations...” (Genesis 17:5-8). Sarah was now 90 years old and past the normal time of childbearing. Abraham asked the Lord that Ishmael might become the promised heir (Genesis 17:18). But the Lord replied: “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him” (Genesis 17:19). God now told Abraham explicitly that he would indeed bear a son by Sarah, that the birth would Page 1 of 4 occur one year later, and that the sons’ name was to be Isaac (v. 21). *It is a profound lesson to learn that God’s promises can only be fulfilled by God’s power, and human efforts to effect His will, no matter how sincere or clever those efforts might be, are doomed to failure, and bring God dishonor rather than glory. Ishmael illustrates the product of legalistic human self-effort, whereas Isaac illustrates the product of God’s sovereign and gracious provision. Paul reminded the Galatian believers that, because of their trust in Jesus Christ, they were “like Isaac, children of promise” (Galatians 4:28). They were God’s children by the working of His divine grace, not by the working of their own human efforts. Just as God would not recognize Ishmael as the son of His promise to Abraham because that son was naturally conceived, He will not recognize as His spiritual children those who trust in their own goodness and accomplishments.

NOTE: When quoting Genesis 15:6, Paul was asking, don’t you know that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? Had they conveniently ignored the fact that scripture precisely ascribed righteousness to Abraham by faith and that God commanded Abraham to be circumcised many years after he had reckoned Abraham to be righteous because he believed God? It was at least fourteen years after that occasion (see Genesis 16:16; 17:1) before the command for his circumcision was given. They had completely reversed the relationship of circumcision and salvation. Circumcision was only a mark, not the means, of salvation. Also, Paul had told the Galatians, “The law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, as to nullify the promise” (Galatians 3:17). The four hundred and thirty years refers to the time elapsed between God’s last statement of the Abrahamic covenant and his giving of the law to Moses. The Lord repeated the promise to Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:24) and then to his grandson Jacob (Genesis 28:15). The law came 645 years after Abraham, but 215 years later God repeated the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob, exactly four hundred and thirty years prior to the Mosaic covenant at Sinai. *The story of Abraham and of his faith is important to us today, because men are now saved on exactly the same basis on which Abraham was saved - trust in God. The marvelous thing about Abraham’s faith being reckoned as righteousness, is that the same divine principle applies to every person who trusts in God’s Son. Jesus was delivered up because of our transgression and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4:25). For that supernatural, miraculous work to be effective, a person must confess and renounce his transgressions, which is the supreme offense to man’s depraved nature. But only by such confession and repentance, which always accompany true faith, can a person receive the justification, the reckoning of undeserved righteousness to his account, that the sacrifice of Christ makes possible!

of 4 THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

Abraham’s (God-given) Faith, Romans 4:18-22 In hope against hope he believed - The terms hope and faith are related, but they are not the same. Hope, in this case, is the desire for something that might be true or might happen. Abraham had hope, when, from the human vantage point, there was absolutely no basis for hope. Yet despite the seeming impossibility hoped for, he believed it would happen as God said. The object of Abraham’s faith was God, and in particular His promise, that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “so shall your descendants be.” Without becoming weak in faith - To become weak in faith is to allow doubt to cloud and partly undermine belief. Abraham had been trusting God for 25 years, acknowledging, “God ... gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (Romans 4:17). As far as we know, Abraham had witnessed no miracle of God. He had never seen God raise a person from the dead or call anything or anyone into being who did not already exist. Yet he firmly believed the Lord was easily capable of doing such things. He contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old - Abraham’s faith prevented him from becoming discouraged by his own natural weakness. Because Abraham’s faith in God was strong and unwavering, his own ignorance and weakness were not obstacles to his trust. Natural impotence was no problem to Abraham, because his faith was in the supernatural God who had created him in the first place. The deadness of Sarah’s womb - This was no more a hindrance to Abraham’s faith than was the impotence of his own body. Abraham did not doubt God’s promise when the circumstances around him seemed to make its fulfillment impossible. With respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief - He did not vacillate between faith and doubt as many believers do. When from the human viewpoint things are going well, it is easy to trust God. But when things seem impossible, it is even easier to distrust Him. Abraham had openly admitted before God that he could not understand how the divine promise of an heir, much less a multitude of nations, could be fulfilled (Genesis 15:1-3). However, struggling faith is not doubt, just as temptation to sin is not itself sin. The very fact that Abraham was trying to understand how God’s promise could be fulfilled indicates he was looking for a way of fulfillment, although he could not yet see a way. Weaker faith might have simply succumbed to doubt. Sincere struggling with spiritual problems comes from strong, Godly faith. Such faith refuses to doubt and trusts in God’s

of 4 promises, even when no way of fulfillment is humanly imaginable. God’s testing of His children’s faith is designed to strengthen their trust, and they should thank Him for it, hard as it seems to be at the time (see James 1:2-4). When Abraham was tested by God he grew strong in faith. John Calvin observed that believers “are never so enlightened that there are no remains of ignorance, nor is the heart so established that there are no misgivings.” A Christian who claims to understand all of God’s truth and to envision the fulfillment of all His promises is not demonstrating great faith but great presumption. Godly faith is not full understanding but full trust, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Giving glory to God - Godly faith glorifies God: the One who gives faith receives all the credit. Conversely, any faith that does not glorify God is not of or from Him. Faith in God, because it affirms His trustworthy character, is the supreme way that men glorify Him, while without faith, any attempt to worship, praise, or honor Him is a worthless, self-righteous sham. Being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform - this statement sums up the fact that his faith in God was complete and unqualified. Abraham was fully persuaded that God’s promise was certain and His power sufficient.

Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Romans 4:22-23; Genesis 15:6)

In response to Abraham’s faith, God graciously reckoned him as righteousness. In his sinful flesh, Abraham was totally unable to meet God’s standard of perfect righteousness. But the good news of salvation, “The gospel of God” (Romans 1:1), is that the Lord will take the faith that He Himself has enabled a person to possess and count that faith as divine righteousness on the believing sinner’s behalf. It is not faith that merits salvation, but that faith accepts salvation from God’s gracious hand. Through that acceptance comes the righteousness that only God can impart.

Ed D. Kleiman, Messengers of Hope P.O. Box 32832, St. Louis, MO 63132 email: [email protected]

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