All the Nations be Blessed
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Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And 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.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Verse 1
“Know then...” - in the previous verse, Verse 6, we see that justification comes by believing God just as Abraham was justified by his faith in God
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
“...that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” - Those of faith are those that have rejected all confidence in their own works for salvation and trust solely in the promises of God as we see in Romans 4:4-5
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
So to be of faith is to put our righteousness and hope of salvation on the mercy of God, who saves sinners from the wrath to come
“…who are the sons of Abraham,” - Just as Abraham is counted as righteous by his faith, the sons of Abraham must likewise abide in the same faith that Abraham held.
Verse 8
“And the Scriptures foreseeing...” - As we have talked in previous lessons, the gospel was pronounced in the scriptures far before the New Testament was written, but not just the gospel in the sense of Justification of Faith alone as we have seen in Genesis 15, but also the scope of who would be sons of Abraham that was promised to him
“…that God would justify the Gentiles by faith” - Doubts clearly existed among the Jews on how gentiles would partake in salvation as we can see in Galatians, but also in Acts 15:24
24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
People who had heard the gospel given to them by the apostles have gone out and troubled the gentiles with words contrary to the gospel, which brought confusion and unrest and this did not represent the Jerusalem leadership nor did they approve of it
In Acts 15:7-11 we see how the doctrine of Justification by faith alone being affirmed by Peter before the Jerusalem council
7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
and in verses 12-21 we get a response from James
12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’ 19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”
Verse 14
“Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.” - Peter said in verse 7, “…that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe,”, referring to Peter’s witness in Acts 10 with Cornelius the Centurion and the gentiles that accompanied.
The conclusion being that “What God has made clean do not call common”, referring not only to the overturning of the OT clean/unclean distinction of dietary laws, but also that what was previous seen as unclean can be made clean by God, namely gentiles believers
God is saying to Peter and the Jewish Christians “I show no partiality, I have brought gentiles into the promise and I have made them clean, do not call them or treat them as unclean.”
Verse 15
“And with this the words of the prophets agree...” Not just one prophet of the OT, but many
And the conclusion of James is that the Jewish Christians should not bother themselves with the ritual laws, but he offers a proposal that we should push for a behavior that does not unnecessarily bring offense to Jewish Christians because “In every city” there are Jews that observe the ritual law
(Back to Galatians 3:8)
“…preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” - This again points us back to Genesis 15 where we see the gospel in the OT. So what does it mean that all the nations will be blessed in Abraham?
Well verse 9 answers that for us
Verse 9
“So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” - We are blessed in the same manner and with the same blessing. Abraham is the model and rule to be observed, He obtained the blessing by faith and by faith the nations shall be blessed also. to clarify “the nations” refer not to everybody in every nation will be blessed, but that the blessing will reach individuals in every nation.