The First Witness—Abraham Our Father I divided yesterday’s message in two and present the second half again today. The principle from yesterday is established to the Jew, as it is written, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established’ (Deut 19:15; 2Cor 13:1b). So today we hear Abraham and tomorrow David. Rom 4:1-3 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God for what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) “There is a surprising resistance to the message of ‘justification by faith.’ Not infrequently I have been challenged by people who have said, ‘Do you mean to tell me that if a murderer-rapist repents and believes at the last minute before he dies he will be justified by God because of Christ, but the decent, honest, moral person who doesn’t believe will not be justified?’” (D. Stuart Briscoe) BUT TO THE JEWISH HEARERS OF PAULS DAY, this is the real issue at hand: “Gentile reprobates who profess faith in Jesus will be accepted while the actual physical descendants of Abraham, to whom the promises were made, will not.” So, Paul first uses Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, to make his case for merit based on faith. What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?... “’Abraham our father’ reveals the importance the Jews attached to Abraham. They reckoned their ancestry from him and consider him the father of their faith..” (Bible Study Fellowship Intnl) Abraham discovered “according to the flesh” that human works could not justify him. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”… “After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’ But Abram said, ‘Yahweh God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ AND HE BELIEVED IN YAHWEH, AND HE ACCOUNTED IT TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Genesis 15:1-6) Paul loosely quotes “believed God: “And he believed in the Lord... The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are, ‘in the Word of the Lord; in the essential Word of the Lord, in Christ ‘the LORD his righteousness’ (Jeremiah 23:6); he believed in the promise of God, that he should have a seed, and a very numerous one; he believed that the Messiah would spring from his seed; he believed in him as his Saviour and Redeemer; he believed in him for righteousness, and he believed in his righteousness as justifying him before God.” (John Gill) “…. see how the apostle magnifies this faith of Abram, and makes it a standing example… He was not weak in faith; he staggered not at the promise: he was strong in faith; he was fully persuaded. The Lord work such a faith in every one of us.” (John Wesley)... by it, he obeyed. Abraham had such an obedient faith. By faith he “obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10) This all happened before these words were spoken. and he counted it to him for righteousness… Genesis 15:6 “is the first time we read of believing, and as early do we hear of imputed righteousness.” (John Gill) “Accounted” is a bookkeeping term. This word (chashab in Hebrew) refers to a field in which the accountant has to be one hundred percent right. So, accounted is marking down what is actually the case. When God justified Abraham: “He did not pretend that something was true when it was not. Therefore, if righteousness was credited to Abraham, it must have been a real righteousness received through the channel of faith. As Paul views it, that righteousness was nothing other than the righteousness of Jesus Christ.” (Bible Study Fellowship Intnl) “If Adam’s sin be mine, though I committed it not; why should it seem so strange, that the merit of Christ’s entire obedience should by the like means be mine, though I wrought it not? See Romans 5:19 2 Corinthians 5:19. ‘If he hath wronged thee aught, reckon that to me,’ said Paul to Philemon, concerning Onesimus; [Philemon 1:18] saith Christ to his Father concerning us.” (Trapps Complete Commentary) But this happened afterwards: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” (Hebrews 11:17-19) The Scriptures preached the Gospel to him.“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’” (Galatians 3:8) When Yahweh God considered Abraham’s worthiness, He saw the finished work of Messiah. And Abraham was glad for it. Jesus said: “’Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM...” (John 8:56-59)
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 09:44:01 +0000
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