Abraham’s Faith and Jesus

Posted by Dan C. on

Another Blogging Bible Study (BBS) question from Galatians

It is by faith we are saved, not through works of the law – Paul’s teaching to everyone, everywhere he preached. There is perhaps nothing more clearly taught in scripture. Abraham believed God and his faith was counted/accounted/credited/reckoned to him as righteousness. Christ had not yet appeared on the scene.

Yet Jesus said:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

and

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” – John 3:18

The ‘inclusivists’ among us will say that as long as one believes in God, or a creator/supreme being he/she will eventually spend eternity in bliss. They sometimes use Abraham as biblical ‘proof’ of their claim. They will even say that Christ died for ‘sin’ in a very broad sense, so that is it not necessary to have ever heard of Christ, or the name of the Son of God. One needs only believe in a supreme creator/being – they are still going ‘through’ Christ.

Here’s the question:

Did Abraham somehow believe in Christ before Christ was born?

If your answer is yes, what was it that God told Abraham and Abraham believed, that might provide a clue as to how that is possible?

Dan

7 responses to “Abraham’s Faith and Jesus”

  1. Great questions Dan. But I am way to tired to do it justice right now, but I do have some thoughts. I will come back tomorrow to expand…

    I linked you up on the BBS page…

    Peace Brother

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  2. Yes I copy/pasted from Bernard’s hope that’s ok…but it’s cool you guys asked the same thing:

    “I think the best place to start with this is in James 2:21-23 “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.”

    To me this is the perfect illustration of justification by faith. God gave Abe a promise that he would be the father of many nations. He was to be the father of the Messiah. Through him would come the offspring (and this word is singular by the way) which would bless the world. How much faith does it take to take God at His word knowing your wife is barren? They could do absolutely nothing to “make” it happen. They tried to help (ahem) but all they could do was receive God’s miracle. From what I can see, this promise was given to Abraham before he was faithful….he was not faithful in order to earn the promise, but because of the assurance OF the promise. Make sense? This is justification by faith. This faith that Abraham placed in God’s promise was not mental assent…that is very important to get. It was something that endured through the end of his life. Justifying faith is ANYTHING by and easy belief. It was a stout faith that was created in his heart by entering into His Word of promise. Abraham showed by his works that his faith was indeed in God alone. That is why Abraham was saved…He was not justified FOR his works, His salvation was apart from and prior to his works. I hope that makes sense…”

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    • So I hear you saying that Abraham believed the “Promise” and the the fulfillment of the promise was Christ? So that would mean that When Jesus said, no one comes to the father except through me, Abraham’s “faith in the Promise” was in a way faith in Christ.

      That might help us understand how anyone in the OT was saved.

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  3. When Abraham was to sacrifice Issac, all Abraham had to go on was that God was God, and he was to do as he was told by God. Faith that God would provide. God seeing his faith provided another sacrifice…The foreshadow of the ultimate sacrifice…

    As Debs said the promise was the key. Remember when it came to Abraham (even Noah) the law had not been introduced. People just believed there was a God or not, and if they believed He was I AM, they Believed Him.

    Peace

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  4. God had promised Abraham an heir, gave him a son and then told him:

    (Genesis 22:2) – “And He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

    Isaac was the son of promise. Ishmael had been born, but was not the son of promise, who was to be born from Abraham’s union with his wife.

    (Hebrews 11:17) – “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.”

    It’s all about the promise. And the ultimate fulfillment of the ‘promise’ is salvation to all who believe in Christ, the final ‘heir’ in the lineage of Abraham.

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  5. Sister Debs gives a beautiful illustration on justified by Faith. I might be using her as a reference in some of my articles.

    John 8: 56 is the perfect text for this question, at lest I think so. If we go back to Genesis 12: 3b we will see that the LORD told Abram that, ‘all the nation of this planet will be rewarded through him.’ What did Abram do before this to get the LORD God to show him favor? It must have been his faith in a better day, way or something. Think about like this if you didn’t know Jesus, God or the Holy Spirit you would want better for your seeds. Wouldn’t you? God must have given Abram a vision of things to come or at lest a taste of something for him to just leave all he knew to go to the other side of their world just for the whim of some invisible God with no name.

    Did Abraham somehow believe in Christ before Christ was born? Yes. I believe that Abram knew deep in his bones that the LORD All Mighty would call His Children back onto Himself but first He would have to deal with the Sin Debt that mankind owed Him.

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