The last four words of our text today refer to Abraham as “the man of faith” (v. 9). As I thought about this description of Abraham this week, I thought about all of us in our own unique intersections of this journey of following Jesus as people of faith. Each of us are in our own unique seasons of this struggle to follow Jesus as aliens in a sin-soaked world that is not our home.
I know older saints in our church family who are trying to live with the harsh realities of physical weaknesses and dwindling health that comes with aging, as well as the difficulties of not being the physical people they once were, along with the relational loneliness that accompanies this season of being more homebound.
I know young couples who are desperately struggling with the desire to have children and the disappointments and the fears that come along with the constant barrage against the slivers of hope that are fighting to stay alive.
I know married couples (young and old) who are doing their best to get by in a world that demands a two-income household to barely survive while giving every ounce of their leftover energy to keeping their marriage and their family healthy as they seek to serve Jesus.
I know some single folks who live with the day in and day out temptation to despair or lose hope of ever finding someone to share their life with. I also know plenty of people who are facing the horrors of close family and friends who are suffering from physical and mental illnesses that have turned those family members and friends into what feels like a deformed caricature of who they once were.
I attended a funeral of a close friend’s dad this last week and I also know of at least one family whose son is fighting for his life in the hospital as we speak. I know some of you are struggling with wayward children, others of you are struggling to find a consistent rhythm of following Jesus, some of you are just going through the motions of following Jesus while lacking any substantial vibrancy in your relationship with him, and others of you are facing financial difficulties that seem to be overwhelming.
What does it mean to be a person of faith in these circumstances? Or what does it look like to be a person of faith in these circumstances? All too often, we hear that Abraham was a man of faith, but we fail to grasp the grittiness of the story because we have a tendency to romanticize Abraham into some kind of movie star who is acting a part rather than a real flesh and blood human being who struggled to believe in God.
Abraham was a man just like you and I and he held onto the hope that if he believed God then God would hold onto him and bring him through this dark world into the light of eternity because of the free gift of salvation. Last week we learned that only fools think they need to pay for free stuff; only a fool believes he needs to pay for the free gift of salvation with his good works. I pity the fool because a fool is not a person of faith!
God is looking for people who do not act the fool but instead listen to the gospel with faith. This hearing the gospel with faith is the way we both begin the Christian race and finish the Christian race; the finish line is the starting line – we do not begin the race by faith and end the race by our good deeds; only fools think that way. This is Paul’s concern: that the Galatians were beginning to believe that they could finish the race of following God by earning his approval through their observance of the law instead of being people of faith.
But the question that remained after last week’s text (this week’s question) is: “What does it mean to be a person of faith? What does it look like to hear with faith?” Paul anticipates this question and turns our attention all the way back to Father Abraham – the hero of the Israelite faith. We must remember that circumcision – the very thing that the Judaizers were currently trying to force upon the Galatians as a requirement for salvation – was something that God instituted through Abraham in Genesis 17:10.
There is definitely some genius in the Apostle Paul here as he argues against circumcision for salvation by using the father of circumcision in his argument. The bottom line is this, when God instituted circumcision through Abraham, it was meant to be a badge or a symbol of faith – meaning that the act of circumcision was something that communicated the fact that the Israelites had been set apart from the surrounding nations as people of faith in the living God. But it was never meant to be a prerequisite to faith or a way of earning God’s approval. Again, only fools believe they can earn God’s approval.
You may ask, how I know this. You should ask how I know this or why I believe this to be true. Why do I believe that circumcision was only a badge or a symbol of separation from the world? How do I know that circumcision was not meant to earn favor with God? The answer to those questions – while not immediately obvious in our current text – is alluded to in our current text today, and you can begin to catch it by looking at a few key phrases in the text. Look at the text with me…
6Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
#1: COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS (V. 6)
This phrase “counted to him as righteousness” is very important to our understanding of the man of faith, Father Abraham. In verse 6 Paul says, “Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’”. The idea here is that Abraham was a man of faith – he was a man who trusted in God instead of trusting in his own works of the law and because of his faith in God, he received the righteousness of God.
Faith in God results in salvation but let us not forget that even the faith we have is given to us by God because Hebrews teaches us that Jesus is the author and the perfector of our faith – he not only wrote the book of faith on our hearts but he also strengthens our faith as we follow him – therefore everything we have in the work of God in saving us is a work of God’s grace and not our work of earning salvation. So, Abraham was a man of faith who received salvation by grace from God.
#2: THE SONS OF ABRAHAM (V. 7)
In verse 7 Paul says, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”You and I are not the offspring of Abraham because of an ethnic connection or a religious connection – we are not Israelites, and we are not Jewish. We are the offspring of Abraham – the man of faith – if we too have faith in God; more specifically, if we have trusted in the promise of God in Christ Jesus at the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the hope of heaven. Father Abraham had many sons, and I am one of them and so are you if you have trusted in Christ crucified, risen, and returning. In Christ, we are men and women of faith, and we are counted as sons and daughters of Abraham.
#3: ALL THE NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED (V. 8)
In verse 8, Paul says that “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” This phrase “all the nations shall be blessed” solidifies the fact that you do not have to be an Israelite, nor do you have to be Jewish to be counted among the faithful. You and I can be justified – made right with God – by grace, through faith, in Christ, according to Scripture, for the glory of God alone; we are Father Abraham’s children because of faith.
Now, the other phrase in this verse “preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham” is also a key phrase to understanding what it means to be a person of faith and it also answers the questions about the significance of circumcision. But we are going to come back to that in a few moments.
For now, it is so important to understand that anyone from any nation at any point at any time throughout history will be blessed in Abraham if they are people of faith in Christ Jesus. God is not the exclusive God of the Israelites; he is also the God of the Gentiles as well as anyone else from any nation who trusts in God as their Savior. With that in mind, let us look at the fourth and final phrase of the text together.
#4: BLESSED ALONG WITH ABRAHAM (V. 9)
In verse 9, Paul says, “So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” This final verse is basically a summary statement of what Paul has said so far regarding Abraham and his offspring: People of faith from every nation share in Abraham’s blessing – namely that God gives us his righteousness in accordance with the faith that he has given to us; we do not receive God’s blessing – the blessing of Abraham – through our works of the law.
SUMMARIZING PAUL’S THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
So, to summarize Paul’s theological argument here we could say that:
“Every person who has trusted in Jesus, is a person of faith who shares in the blessing of Abraham, whose righteousness (salvation) was credited to him because of his faith.”
Obedience to the law – especially the practice of circumcision – does not save anyone; it is merely a badge that symbolizes the separation from the world that happens for every person of faith, but it is not required to be saved and it is not something that makes you a better person of faith.
Again, why do I believe that circumcision was only a badge or symbol of separation from the world? How do I know that circumcision was not meant to earn favor with God? As I said earlier, we can see these truths alluded to in the phrases of the text we looked at, but it is not immediately obvious if we do not know the history regarding Abraham’s blessing.
Again, we have to remember that circumcision was instituted by God through Abraham in Genesis 17. You may also remember that we left a phrase mostly untouched in verse 8 of our study today. In that phrase Paul says that God “preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed” (3:8). We have to ask, when did God preach this gospel and what does “beforehand” mean? You see, to get to the real meat of Abraham’s blessing, and to really understand what Paul is saying in Galatians, you have to go back (beforehand) before Genesis 17 and its commandment of circumcision to Genesis 12 and 15 to see the blessing that will be counted as righteousness to Abraham’s faith.
WHAT WAS THE BLESSING IN GENESIS 12 & 152
In Genesis 12:1 – 4 God comes to Abraham and says:
“Go from your country and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So, Abram went, as the LORD had told him.” At first glance this is the account of Abraham receiving the call of God on his life and then obediently following that call. But it is also important to note the place of this call in the redemptive storyline of the Bible.
The Bible is not merely a history book although it is historically accurate. It is also not merely a book of doctrines about doing right and wrong although it is an accurate book of doctrines. The Bible is also not merely a good piece of literature although it is full of different kinds of well written literature.
The Bible is primarily God’s self-revelation to humanity that centers around the story of God creating the world and everything in it, the world becoming broken because of the Fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God’s plan of redemption through the person and work of Christ crucified, risen, and returning, and finally the promise of God to set everything right once and for all in the future.
This primary purpose for the Bible’s message is typically captured in this short sentence: “The Bible is God’s self-revelation of himself to mankind through Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Glorification.”
That said, God’s call on Abraham’s life in Genesis 12 comes immediately on the heels of Genesis 3 – 11 where the Fall of Adam and Eve has completely destroyed the beauty and vibrancy of God’s creation in Genesis 1 – 2. In those previous chapters, God creates something beautiful and humanity wrecks it by falling into sin.
The question is: What will God’s solution be to the problem of an out of control, sinfully infected and broken humanity that is spiraling out towards hell? God’s solution to the problem is the blessing of Abraham. In Abraham – the man of faith – God will bring about the redemption of humanity.
How will he bring about this redemption? Will it be through circumcision? Now flip forward to Genesis 15:1 – 7 and look at another interaction between God and Abraham before circumcision even became a thing in chapter 17. These verses, 1 – 7 of chapter 15, immediately follow the event of Abraham tithing to Melchizedeck – which is a whole other level of understanding God’s redemptive plan through the institution of the priesthood of which Jesus will become the high priest forever.
In these verses, 1 – 7 of chapter 15, God says to Abraham…
“Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
In these verses we move from Creation and Fall to Redemption and Glorification. In these verses, Abraham is concerned that he has no offspring to bring about God’s promise from Genesis chapter 12. He is concerned that his only potential heir is not even a blood relative in his household. How are all the nations going to be blessed through him when he has no children?
How is God going to answer the problem of sin in this broken world if Abraham does not have any children? God’s answer is simple: You will have a son very soon and through him your offspring will be innumerable just like the stars. And of course we know that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness as he looked forward to the Promised Land being full of his offspring (both physically and spiritually speaking in regards to future glorification in heaven).
In case you have not noticed this yet, nothing has been said about Abraham’s faith being attached to circumcision. Abraham’s faith is attached to the promise of a son through whom all the nations will be saved; a son through whom every nation will have a Savior – the promised son is Isaac and through Isaac will come the real man of faith, Jesus who is the Savior of the world, the great High Priest, and the ultimate blessing that every person of faith (in Christ) from every nation shares in.
This is why Paul can say in Galatians 3:8 that “the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith [not by circumcision], preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” Being a person of faith who receives the blessing of Abraham is literally bound up in believing and trusting in the person and work of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior – Jesus Christ!
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, we have to understand that the act of circumcision did not bleed on a cross for our sins. The act of circumcision did not leave the tomb empty on the third day. The act of circumcision does not promise us eternity in heaven with God. No amount of obedience to the law – moral, ceremonial, cultural, or otherwise – will bring us or keep us in right standing with God. At the end of everything, you, me, Abraham, and all of Abraham’s offspring, the only thing we have to hang on to is the person and work of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior.
Being people of faith does not mean that we believe that God will make everything better in our lives this side of heaven; being people of faith means that we hold onto Christ and his perfect performance on our behalf at a bloody cross and an empty tomb. When our performance falls terribly short – as it did with Abraham often and as it will with every human throughout history – we only have Christ to hang onto.
When this life does not produce the health, the marriage, the happy family, the addictionless existence, or the trouble-free life we so desperately long for, all we have is Christ crucified in our place, risen in victory over all that plagues us, and returning in glory to set things straight once and for all. All the Biblical message is bound up in the storyline of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and future Glorification in eternity.
It is Christ and Christ alone who is the substance and the object of our faith. This is what it means to be people of faith! – Amen!!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Todd A., Wilson, Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living, Preaching the Word, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2013), 99 – 105.