Abraham: Father of Faith

Abraham Believed God

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Abraham lived about two thousand years before Jesus. He is one of the most important people in the whole Bible. Paul uses Abraham's life to show how anyone can be made right with God.

God called. God told Abraham to leave his home and go to a land He would show him. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out… And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

A big promise. God promised to bless Abraham and said, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). That promise pointed ahead to Jesus.

Still waiting. Years went by, and Abraham and Sarah still had no children. Abraham wondered how God's promise could ever come true.

Count the stars. One night God took Abraham outside. He told him to look up and count the stars, if he could. God said Abraham's family would be like that, too many to count (Genesis 15:5).

Abraham believed. “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Paul quotes this verse in Romans 4:3.

What faith is. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Abraham could not see his family yet, but he trusted the One who made the promise.

Credited. Accounted means credited, like a deposit into a bank account. Abraham's account was empty, and God filled it with righteousness.

Faith is not a feeling. Abraham did not feel strong every day. Faith means trusting the One who is strong, even on days when you feel weak.

Hoping when it looked hopeless. Abraham, “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed” (Romans 4:18), kept trusting. His body was old, but his eyes were on God.

Growing stronger. “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:20). Faith grows when we keep looking at God.

God kept His word. When Abraham was a hundred years old, God gave him and Sarah a son named Isaac (Genesis 21). God always does what He says He will do.

Friend of God. James says Abraham “was called the friend of God” (James 2:23). Trusting God brings us close to Him.

Pleasing God. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). God is pleased when we take Him at His word.

What to do. Think of one promise God makes to you in the Bible. Thank Him for it today, even before you see it happen.

Abraham is Paul's main example in Romans 4 because every Jewish believer in Rome honored him as the father of Israel. If even Abraham was made right by faith, then everyone must be.

The call (Genesis 12:1-3). God's promise to Abram came before any law, temple or sign. It began with God speaking and Abram trusting. Hebrews 11:8 says he “went out, not knowing where he was going.”

A promise for the world. “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). From the start, God's plan through Abraham reached every nation.

Genesis 15:6. The Hebrew word for believed is he'emin (say: heh-eh-MEEN). It comes from the same root as amen, which means firm or sure. Abraham leaned his whole weight on what God said, the way a person leans on a solid wall.

Credited, not earned. God “accounted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham's faith was not a good work that paid for righteousness. It was the trust through which God gave it.

God bound Himself. Later in Genesis 15, God alone passed between the pieces of the sacrifice (Genesis 15:17). God took the whole weight of keeping the promise on Himself.

Waiting (Genesis 12:4; 21:5). Abram was seventy-five when he left Haran and a hundred when Isaac was born. Faith often means trusting God's timing. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Hebrews 11:13).

A faith that stumbled. Abraham did not trust perfectly. Twice he said Sarah was only his sister (Genesis 12; 20), and he tried to build the family his own way (Genesis 16). Yet in the promise itself he did not waver (Romans 4:20). Saving faith is not flawless faith; it is faith that rests on God.

Contrary to hope (4:18-19). Abraham faced the facts honestly: his own body was “already dead” for having children, and Sarah could not have children. Faith does not pretend. It looks past the facts to the God who “gives life to the dead” (4:17).

Fully convinced (4:21). Abraham's confidence rested on God's power and God's character. Hebrews 6:18 says it is “impossible for God to lie.”

Abraham saw Jesus' day. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Abraham's hope reached past Isaac to the Messiah who would come from his family.

James 2:23. James quotes Genesis 15:6 too and adds that Abraham “was called the friend of God.” Real faith joins us to God in friendship, and it shows itself in obeying Him.

Application. Faith grows by feeding on God's promises. Choose one promise of God and write it where you will see it each morning this week.

A Family of Faith

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Paul says Abraham is “the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). That includes people from every country, every language and every family who trust in God through Jesus.

Before the sign. God counted Abraham righteous before he was circumcised (Romans 4:10). So being part of God's family does not depend on a ceremony or on being born Jewish.

Father of all who believe. Abraham is “the father of all those who believe” (Romans 4:11). Believers who are not Jewish are his children by faith.

And of the Jews. He is also the father of Jewish people “who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had” (Romans 4:12).

Good news long ago. “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand” (Galatians 3:8).

Every nation. God said, “In you all the nations shall be blessed” (Galatians 3:8). That blessing comes through Jesus, who was born into Abraham's family.

Christ's people. “And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Seed means children or family. Heirs are the ones who receive what the family promised.

A son of Abraham. When Zacchaeus trusted Jesus, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9).

God will provide. Years later God tested Abraham. On the mountain Abraham told Isaac, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8). God stopped Abraham and provided a ram in Isaac's place.

The Lamb. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Many Christians see Genesis 22 as a picture of the cross, where God gave His own Son.

A city ahead. Abraham lived in tents, “for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Abraham's family looks forward to the home God is preparing.

Jesus and Abraham. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Jesus is not only Abraham's descendant. He is Abraham's God.

One family. In God's family, nobody is better than anybody else. Everyone gets in the same way, by grace through faith in Jesus.

What to do. This week, pray for Christians in another country. They are your brothers and sisters in Abraham's family of faith.

Romans 4:9-17 answers a question every Jewish believer in Rome would ask: is Abraham's blessing only for the circumcised? Paul's answer is that Abraham is the father of everyone who shares his faith.

The timeline (4:10). Genesis 15:6 came first, and Genesis 17 came at least thirteen years later (Genesis 16:16; 17:1). Righteousness was credited first; circumcision came afterward as a seal. So Gentiles who believe stand exactly where Abraham stood on the day God declared him righteous.

A seal (4:11). In the ancient world a seal was pressed into wax to mark a document as genuine and owned. Circumcision sealed what God had already given. It did not create it.

Walking in his steps (4:12). Being born into Abraham's family is not enough by itself. Jesus told some of Abraham's descendants who opposed Him that true children of Abraham do what Abraham did (John 8:39-40). Family likeness is faith.

Heir of the world (4:13). Genesis promised land and descendants. Through Christ the promise reaches the whole world: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

The gospel beforehand (Galatians 3:8). Scripture “preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand.” The good news that God justifies Gentiles by faith is as old as Abraham.

The Seed (Galatians 3:16). The promise was made to Abraham's Seed, “who is Christ.” Believers become Abraham's children by being joined to Jesus (Galatians 3:29).

The blessing of the Spirit. Christ became a curse for us “that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14).

Genesis 22. Abraham's faith was tested when God asked him to offer Isaac. Hebrews 11 says Abraham reasoned that God could even raise Isaac from the dead. His words, “God will provide for Himself the lamb” (Genesis 22:8), came true with a ram on the mountain.

A picture of the cross. Many Christians see Genesis 22 as a picture of the Father giving His only Son. Isaac carried the wood up the mountain, and Jesus carried His cross. Isaac was spared, but Jesus was not spared, because He is the Lamb (John 1:29).

Abraham's joy. Jesus said Abraham “rejoiced to see My day” (John 8:56). The father of faith looked forward to the Messiah.

One new family. Because everyone enters by grace through faith, there are no first-class and second-class believers. Jewish and Gentile Christians share one father in faith and one Savior.

Application. When you meet a Christian from a different background, remember that you are family. Look for ways to welcome and serve believers who are different from you.

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