Noah & Abraham (part 2 of 2)

Continuing here in chapter twelve of Genesis, the covenant making God continues speaking to Abram and says, “I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name” (12:3). With these words, a further connection is forged between Abraham and Noah, as Abraham stands in the line of covenant speaking and covenant language that begins with Noah, because according to the Scriptural narrative, there is only a people to be blessed through the nation into which the Creator God has promised to make Abram, because God told Noah (and Noah was faithful to), “be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it” (9:7).

Continuing on then, we can look to chapter fifteen, in which Abraham, still childless though having a promise from God, says “O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?...  Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” (15:2-3)  By this report, it becomes quite clear that Abraham was taking his God very seriously.  He was not wavering at the promise.  In fact, it could be said that these are questions rooted in faith.  Presumably, because of that ongoing response of faith, the Creator God does not rebuke Abraham but rather says to him, “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir…  Gaze into the sky and count the stars---if you are able to count them!...  So will your descendants be” (15:4-5).  Here is where we find the source of Paul’s quote in Romans (which would call to mind the Abraham narrative), where we then read “Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty” (15:6).  Here, along with seeing that righteousness (in right covenant standing) is equated with a genuine loyalty to God, we learn that just like had been experienced by Noah, Abraham was given a promise of things not yet seen, reverently regarded the promise of his God, and through faith became an heir of righteousness.

Staying in Romans and going forward, which continues to give us insight into the ways in which the Abraham story was understood in the days of Paul (and Jesus), we find that “Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, ‘so will your descendants be’.” (4:18)  Like Abraham, did not Noah believe God against all reasonable probability?  Remember, the Noah story, as part of the Israel story, is understood against the backdrop of the Abraham story (for without the Abraham story, there is no Israel story, and no record or purpose for the Noah story). 

For the Noah story, it appears to be the case that what God was talking about seemed highly unlikely, based on mankind’s experience up to that point.  It was no different for Abraham.  The people of that time understood that really old people didn’t have children.  Yet Abraham, and Noah likewise, “did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (4:20).  The Creator God received glory through Noah’s faith-motivated construction of the ark, in confident expectation that his God would deliver on His promise.  Both Noah and Abraham were “fully convinced that what God had promised He was also able to do” (4:21).  This “was credited to Abraham as righteousness” (4:22), which is what the Hebrews’ author would come to say of Noah as well. 

So what is it to which all of this is leading?  Just like Noah, and just like Abraham, who became the heir of righteousness (Noah) and the father of many nations (Abraham) when they believed, so believers in the Christ likewise become heirs of the Creator God’s promise of a resurrection just like Jesus when they believe in His new covenant of the Gospel message that Jesus is Lord.  Believers become recipients of what Paul refers to as the down payment ,and heirs of the complete inheritance of eternal life (the life of the age to come breaking into the creation) that is set forth in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As Paul writes, in the same way that Abraham was credited with a complete trust in his God’s covenant faithfulness, it is those “to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the One Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans 4:24).  Though Noah became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith, “God had provided something better for us” (Hebrews 11:40a), that being those that believe in, and live as if Jesus is Lord, as they walk and serve in response to Christ’s Resurrection power---as instruments for the out-raying of the glory of their God.        

Abraham's Family (part 1 of 3)

If one is going to attempt to examine Paul’s use, in Romans, of the Abraham story, then one must do so in relation to God’s covenant with Abraham and covenant speeches made to him.  This must be done so that, as would be the case for the Jewish part of Paul’s hearers in Rome (because it partially defined them), and also the Gentile portion of Paul’s hearers (because they were being grafted into the family of Abraham and so defining themselves and their purpose in the world accordingly), the story of Abraham is fresh in our minds and we are able to hear Paul within the appropriate Abrahamic context.  We cannot fail to take into account how crucial the Abraham story was to the way in which the Jews would have understood themselves and the way in which they related to the world.

All of the covenant speeches to Abraham are conditioned by God’s original and familiar covenant speech that is on offer in Genesis twelve.  There, the Creator God promises Abraham (then Abram) that he will be blessed and be a blessing.  Likewise, every covenant speech, with its covenant promises and obligations, must be recognized to be conditioned by God’s covenant speeches to both Adam and Noah, as those speeches convey God’s original intentions for His creation and His divine-image bearers, with those intentions being implied in the words to Abraham as they are heard within the narrative that begins with Genesis one. 

The second time God speaks to Abraham is recorded in Genesis thirteen.  There, the Creator God says to Abraham, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.  I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever.  And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.  Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you” (13:14b-17).  Israel treasured this promise.  In times of exodus and exile, of displacement and restoration (which occur regularly throughout Israel’s history, both in and outside of their promised land), it echoes through their history and it is clung to in hopefulness and as a sign of God’s covenant faithfulness.

In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, “the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision” (15:1a).  With that vision, the voice of God is heard saying “Fear not, Abram!  I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance” (15:1b).  Abraham, who well understands the previous promises in regards to descendants and what is implied by abundance, while remaining childless (in his day, there could be no abundance without children), responds to the Lord with “O sovereign Lord, what will You give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?...  Since you have not given me a descendant,” as promised, “then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” (15:2)  Interestingly, Abraham, unlike his descendants of Jesus’ and Paul’s day, understood that physical descent was not of the utmost importance.  Abraham well knew that, according to the custom of his own day (and that of subsequent eras), that being a member of a man’s household, if adopted as his son with full rights of sonship, made the adopted one equal to a born son.  Surely Paul has this in mind as he speaks of Gentiles joining the house of God that began with Abraham. 

However, “the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir” (15:4).  Though an heir through adoption would have been perfectly legitimate, God has chosen to go the route of natural sonship, with the added benefit that, because of the advanced age of both he and his wife, trusting in this promise will be difficult for Abraham, while it also proves up the power of this covenant-making God.  Reiterating His previous words of promise and adding another metaphor of immeasurability, “the Lord took him outside and said, ‘Gaze into the sky and count the stars---if you are able to count them!’  Then He said, ‘So will your descendants be” (15:5).  To this the author of Genesis adds, quite happily for the man who has been given the responsibility of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles (that being Paul), “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty” (15:6). 

Because the Gospel of Jesus demands a response of loyalty to the proclaimed King, just as the gospel of Caesar demanded a response of loyalty to the proclaimed king, Abraham’s response to the assertion of God’s power and faithfulness, which was belief, is directly analogous to the situation of Gentiles.  Luckily for Paul, he does not need to proof-text, as the story of Abraham is ingrained and well-rehearsed.  Those who may oppose his works-of-the-law-free justification message (no need to adopt Israel’s covenant markers in order to be grafted into the covenant people of the Creator God of Israel) are going to have difficulty responding to this all-important point of Abraham’s story.  For all practical purposes, Abraham is ensconced in the language and state of justification (righteousness), with circumcision nowhere in sight (still two chapters and at least thirteen years away), and Sabbath-keeping and dietary laws (according to Israel’s narrative) hundreds of years away.