Genesis 15 Archives

Previously we saw that Abraham obtained righteousness simply by believing. That all-important sentence puts it like this:

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6

Belief is not about the existence of God

Think what ‘believe’ means. Many people think that ‘believe’ means believing that God exists. We think that God just wants us to believe that He is there. But the Bible states it differently. It says,

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
James 2:19

Abraham and his wife Sarah
_{Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}

Here the Bible uses sarcasm to say that simply believing God exists makes us as good as the Devil. It is true that Abraham believed in God’s existence, but that is not the point of his righteousness. God had promised Abraham that He would give him a son. It was that promise that Abraham had to choose to believe or not. He had to make this choice even while he was in his 80’s and his wife was in her 70’s. He trusted that God would somehow fulfill that promise to him. Belief, in this account, means trust. Abraham chose to trust God for a son.

When Abraham chose to believe that promise of a son then God also gave him – ‘credited’ him– righteousness. In the end Abraham got both the fulfilled promise (a son from whom a great nation came) and also righteousness.

Righteousness – not from merit or effort

Abraham did not ‘earn’ righteousness. God ‘credited’ it to him. What is the difference? If you earn something you work for it – you deserve it. It is like receiving wages for the work you do. But when something is credited to you, it is given to you. You do not earn or merit it, but you do need to receive it.

_{Free Clip Art, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons}

We think that doing more good things than bad things, doing good deeds, or meeting obligations allows us to deserve or merit righteousness. Abraham proves this idea false. He did not try to earn righteousness. He simply chose to believe the promise offered to him, and then righteousness was given to him as well.

Abraham’s Belief: He bet his life on it

Choosing to believe in this promise for a son was simple but it was not easy. When he was first promised a ‘Great Nation’ he was 75 years old and he had left his home country and traveled to Canaan. Almost ten years had now passed and Abraham and Sarah still did not have a child – let alone a nation!

“Why has God not already given us a son if he could have done so”?, he would have wondered.

Abraham believed the promise of a son because he trusted God. He did so even though he did not understand everything about the promise. Nor did he have all his questions answered.

Believing the promise required active waiting. His whole life was interrupted while living in tents waiting for the promise. It would have been much easier to make excuses and return home to Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). His brother and family still lived there. Life was comfortable there.

His trust in the promise took priority over normal goals in life – security, comfort and well-being. He could have disbelieved the promise while still believing in the existence of God. He could have given up on the promise and still continued with religious activities and good deeds. Then he would have maintained his religion but not have been ‘credited’ righteousness.

Our Example

The rest of the Bible treats Abraham as an example for us. Abraham’s belief in the promise from God, and the crediting of righteousness, is a pattern for us. The Bible has other promises that God makes to all of us. We also have to chose whether we will trust them.

Here is an example of such a promise.

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
John 1:12-13

Today we know that the promise to Abraham came true. It is undeniable that the Jewish people today exist as that nation that came from Abraham. But like Abraham we face a promise today that seems unlikely and raises some questions. Like Abraham, we must choose to trust this promise – or not.

Who pays for Righteousness?

Abraham showed that God gives righteousness as a gift. When you get a gift you do not pay for it – otherwise it is not a gift. The giver of the gift is the one who pays. God, the giver of righteousness, will have to pay for righteousness. How will He do it? We see in our next article.

Today’s global news headlines will quickly be forgotten as we move on to other amusements, championships or political events. The highlight one day quickly becomes forgotten the next. We saw in our previous article that this was true in the ancient time of Abraham. The important achievements that held the attention of people living 4000 years ago are now forgotten. But a promise quietly spoken to an individual, though overlooked by the world back then, is growing and still unfolding before our eyes. The promise given to Abraham 4000 years ago has come true. Perhaps God does exist and is working in the world.

Abraham’s Complaint

Several years have passed since God spoke the Promise recorded in Genesis 12. In obedience Abraham had moved to Canaan (the Promised Land) in what is today Israel. But the birth of the promised son did not happen. So Abraham began to worry.

Then the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:1-3

God’s Promise

Abraham was camping out in the Land waiting for the start of the ‘Great Nation’ that God had promised him. But nothing had happened. He was now around 85 years old (ten years having passed since his move). He complained to God that He was not keeping His Promise. Their conversation continued:

Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Genesis 15:4-5

So God expanded His initial Promise by declaring that Abraham would get a son that would become a people as uncountable as the stars in the sky.

A map of the Land of Canaan or Holy Land, as divided among the twelve tribes which God promised to Abraham and his seed
^{Bowles, John, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}

Abraham’s Response: Everlasting Effect

How would Abraham respond to the expanded Promise? What follows is a sentence that the Bible itself treats as one of its most important sentences. It helps us to understand the Bible and it shows the heart of God. The sentence reads:

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6

It is easier to understand if we replace the pronouns with names, it would read:

Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD credited it to Abram as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6

It is such a small, simple sentence, but it is truly significant.

Why?

Because in this little sentence Abraham obtains ‘righteousness’. This is the one – and the only one – quality that we need to get right standing before God.

Reviewing our Problem: Corruption

From God’s point-of-view, though He created us in the image of God something happened that corrupted us. The Bible says:

The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 14:2-3

Our corruption has resulted in our not doing what is good –causing emptiness and death. (If you doubt this, read the world news headlines and see what people have been doing the last 24 hours.) The result is that we are separated from a Righteous God because we lack righteousness.

Our corruption repels God in the same way that we would keep away from the body of a dead rat. We would not want to go near it. So the words of the prophet Isaiah in the Bible come true.

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6

Abraham and Righteousness

But here in the conversation between Abraham and God we find God declaring that Abraham had gained ‘righteousness’, the kind that God accepts. This was true even though Abraham was not sinless. So, what did Abraham ‘do’ to get this righteousness? It simply says Abraham ‘believed’.

That’s it?!

We try to earn righteousness by doing so many things, but this man, Abraham, got it simply by ‘believing’.

But what does believing mean? And what does this have to do with your righteousness and mine? We take it up next.

Tag: Genesis 15

Getting Righteousness – Abraham’s example