Galatians 3:6-9 - Abraham: Prototype Believer

Galatians 3:6–9 KJV (WS)

6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Introduction

Lonnie Johnson

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Vs 6 - Abraham was accounted righteous.

The Judaizers had almost definitely tried to use Abraham as part of their argument for law observance.

They tried to use their ethnic pedigree to assert spiritual superiority over the gentile believers.

Circumcision had, since Abraham been the sign of Abraham’s descendants.

Abraham, after all, was the first to be circumcised .

Father Abraham was the originator of the Jewish nation.

They were God’s people.

They knew what God wanted and what made him happy.

In their history, anytime circumcision had fallen out of practice, they had been judged.

If the gentiles wanted to be really right with God, they needed to be like Abraham and get circumcised.

Paul points out a terrible misunderstanding of what made Abraham pleasing to God.

Verse 6 is a quote of Genesis 15:6 “6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

It was not Abraham’s circumcision that made him righteous, it was his faith in God.

Abraham was ready to surrender unreservedly to the word of the Lord, no matter how incredible it seemed.

Abraham demonstrated an unreserved, exclusive trust in the grace of God.

Far from being a support for the legalists case, Abraham is actually evidence of the necessity of faith.

If a gentile desired to follow in Abraham’s steps.

Or, if they wanted to enjoy some of the same blessings as Abraham.

Then, the path to do that was not through the law or circumcision it was through faith.

Vs 7 - Believers are part of Abraham’s family.

We have to be careful here, because some people, today, have taken the verse too far.

They teach that believers in Jesus have replaced Abraham’s biological seed, the people of Israel.

They teach that all of God’s promises to the Israelites now apply to the church.

This just isn’t true.

We do not receive their land.

We do not receive the promises that were made to David, Moses, and Abraham.

These were all covenants that were made with a single nation.

Believers are made up of many nations.

Yet, the Bible is clear, by faith we are the children of Abraham.

What does this mean?

What are children?

They are copies of their parents.

The DNA from a man and woman are combined to produce a new human.

This human is unique, and yet also he/she is representative of his or her parents.

There are genetics that are passed down linking the child to their parents, grandparents and so on.

Biologically, you carry your family with you.

When we think about Abraham, we know that he had one true son with his wife Sarah.

Isaac bore the DNA of Abraham and Sarah.

He had features that resembled them.

He received these traits through natural means.

He was their natural son.

He was not naturally Abraham’s spiritual son.

Remember, Abraham produced another son, Ishmael.

Ishmael, like Isaac, received Abraham’s DNA, but not Sarah’s.

Isaac and Ishmael were both the sons of Abraham.

But only Isaac became the spiritual son of Abraham.

Why?

Because he shared his father’s faith.

Hebrews 11 gives testimony to the faith of Isaac.

Hebrews 11:13 “13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

Hebrews 11:20 “20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”

I cannot alter my genetics to become a biological descendant of Abraham.

But, according to verse 7, I can be a spiritual son of Abraham through faith.

This does not confer upon the believer the rights of natural Jew.

It does connect the believer to the spiritual blessings of faith that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob enjoyed.

What blessing is that?

Faith = Righteousness.

Vs 8 - God foreknew the eventual arrival of the gospel.

God knew that the gentiles would be saved by faith just like the Jews.

Abraham obviously lived thousands of years before the fulfilment of the gospel.

He even lived hundreds of years before the law.

God knew all of His own plans, though.

Back in Genesis, God, with this knowledge declared to Abraham that, in him all nations would be blessed.

This is seen, first of all, in God blessing Abraham’s lineage with the birth of Jesus.

But, secondarily, we see this realized in this passage that identifies Abraham as the prototype believer.

Abraham set the example for all that would come after him about having faith in God.

When God called Abraham out of his home country, Abraham believed God.

When God promised to make a great nation out of a childless old man, Abraham believed Him.

Now, all believers, from all nations and families can find blessing in Abraham through His greatest “son” Jesus, and through his prototypical faith in God.

Vs 9 - They that be of faith are blessed with Abraham.

If someone wants to be a part of Abraham’s family, or they want to partake in the spiritual blessings of Abraham, there is only one prerequisite.

It has nothing to do with biology.

It has nothing to do with circumcision.

It definitely has nothing to do with the law.

The faith of the believer makes them a recipient of the spiritual blessings of Abraham’s family.

That blessing is the righteousness that we receive from Jesus, Abraham’s greatest son.

That blessing is inclusion in God’s family regardless of our past or biological family.

What is your faith in this morning?

Is it in your biological heritage?

You may have inherited some blessings from your natural family.

Property

Funds

Example

Have you ever made the faith of your parents personal?

A biological heritage is insufficient to save your soul.

Is it in your physical performance?

Maybe it’s even in some sacrifice you’ve made.

Circumcision was a significant sacrifice for Abraham.

That’s not what saved him.

The justification of sinners from Genesis till now has only ever been through faith.

Abraham was justified in the typical way that believers today are justified.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

If you’re not saved, you can be saved today.

If you are saved, how are you enjoying the blessings that you have received?