Section 7: By Faith was Made Righteous

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” 2 Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.7 And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 He said, “O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

The Covenant is Confirmed

What is happening in this section

Abraham had faith and it was accounted to / reckoned to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 15

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

What circumstances were Abraham under that he would fear?

Defeated the four kings Genesis 14:1-16

Sodom’s king approached him Genesis 14:17-24

He hadn’t had a child at this point, though his name was now well known in the region

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 15

2 Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”

What were the details about having offspring given to Abraham?

Were they specific?

Genesis 12:1–3 (NASB95) Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 14:17–24 (NASB95) Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a tenth of all. The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ “I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

Genesis 15:4–5 (NASB95) Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 15

4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Abraham Reckoned as Righteous by Faith

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 15

6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

What does this mean:

Believed:

The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament I. אָמַן

I. [אָמַן] vb. confirm, support — Qal 1. as vb. support, nourish. 2. as subst. foster-father. 3. foster-mother, nurse. 4. pillars, supporters of the door. Niph. 1. carried by a nurse. 2. made firm, sure, lasting. 3. confirmed, established, sure. 4. verified, conmfirmed. 5. reliable, faithful, trusty. Hiph. 1. stand firm. 2. trust, believe: (a) abs.; (b) with ל of person, trust to, believe; ל of thing; (c) with ב of person, trust in, believe in; with ב of thing; (d) with כִּי trust or believe that; (e) so with infin. (sq. ל); also trust to do a thing, almost = allow.

Reckoned:

Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words חָשַׁב

[3108] חָשַׁב ḥāšab 124× [Q] to plan, plot, purpose, consider; to credit, account, impute; [N] to be thought, considered, regarded; be reckoned, accounted; [P] to determine, plan, plot; to compute, account; [Ht] to consider oneself [2803] See calculate; count; plan; think; value.

Righteous:

Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words צְדָקָה

[7407] צְדָקָה ṣedāqâ 159× righteousness, acting according to a proper (God’s) standard, doing what is right, being in the right [6666] See innocence; justice;

rightetous, righteousness.

Abraham was credited by God as living according to the proper standard.

Why does this matter for us?

Has God’s view of righteousness changed? (What it is? How to be credited by God?)

Abel was seen as righteous by faith

Hebrews 11:1–4 NASB95

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Enoch was viewed as righteous by faith

Hebrews 11:5 NASB95

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

Noah was seen as righteous by faith

Genesis 6:9 NASB95

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

Genesis 7:1 NASB95

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.

Hebrews 11:7 NASB95

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

We are righteous by faith

Romans 1:17 (NASB95) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Romans 3:28 (NASB95) For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Romans 3:30 (NASB95) since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Romans 4:16 (NASB95) For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

Romans 5:1–2 (NASB95) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

What was the condition that needed to be met in order to be credited?

Faith.

What is faith?

James 2:14–26 NASB95

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

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