Our Ancestor Abraham

Scripture: For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise is canceled. ... This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants - not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all in God’s sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. Romans 4:13-14,16-17

Observation: Paul has spent several chapters discuss "faith vs. works" in a specific context, that being the salvation of Gentiles and Jews. On one side, there are Jews with the Law, circumcision, and covenant; on the other side are Gentiles with knowledge of morality. They have both acquired faith in Jesus, and Paul is addressing the sufficiency of faith. In so doing, he makes this logical conclusion - as a result of faith in Jesus, the Gentiles have become descendant of Abraham.

Abraham did not have the Law, and he did not have any compliance with any documented command. He had faith. In that faith alone, God not only blessed him and made a covenant promise with him, but declared his descendant would receive that same promise by faith, and that Abraham would be the father of many nations.

Abraham did physically father several nations, with Israel being the one chosen for the further covenant of the land. Paul, however, extends this. Anyone with faith becomes a descendant of Abraham and inherits the covenant promise of salvation and blessing from God. Yes, you are still to observe the Law, but receiving the Law is not what creates a "Jew" from the perspective of covenant inheritance ... faith is credited as righteousness, which one then responds to outwardly through observation of God's teachings.

Application: It is thrilling to think that, when God said to Abraham he would make him the father of "many nations," God wasn't just thinking of Israel AND another half dozen people groups in the middle east. God had in his mind ... India, China, Russia, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Ethiopia, Uganda, Mexico, Brazil, United States, and 200+ more past, present, and future nations. Abraham's faith included his trust in God to provide offspring in his old age. However, the promise of the offspring was not associated to the physical children alone, but to that very faith.

I am a descendant of Abraham. I am adopted into the covenant promise of salvation, through my faith in Jesus and God's original love that made the promise in the first place. I look forward to meeting him someday.

Prayer: Lord, your promises are wonderful, true, generous, and loving. May I pass your blessing to others, just as Abraham and Paul have before me. Thank you for your amazing forethought to bring all people into the covenant through Jesus Christ. Amen.