March 14, 2023
In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
Thought:
The main argument of the Judaizers was that Gentiles had to become Jews in order to be right with God. Paul quotes from scripture (Genesis) to expose the flaw in this argument and show that God’s righteousness was given to Abraham only because he believed God's promise (Genesis 15:1-6). For Abraham to believe God’s promise (that his offspring would outnumber the stars) wouldn’t have been easy. He was an old man, far beyond childbearing years, and his wife, Sarah, was just as old. But Abraham looked at his circumstances and then at the promise of God and trusted God’s promise. That’s faith. Faith is seeing beyond the outward appearances to the object of God standing behind it all.
In verse 8, Paul’s quotation of Moses “All nations will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3), proves that from the beginning, the blessing of salvation was promised to all the nations of the world. All believers at every age and from every nation share Abraham’s blessing (justification by faith).
Application:
1. Consider the obstacles Abraham faced in believing God’s promise. What obstacles might keep you from bold faith in Christ?
2. Pause right now and thank God that you already have His blessing (you’re blessed along with Abraham!) since you have faith. Meditate on what that means in your life.