Perhaps you have poked around in the web-based product, ancestry.com. It is wildly popular, mainly because people want to know their parentage, heritage, ethnic make-up, etc. Some even send a DNA sample off to be tested, so that their own unique combination of ethnicities can be revealed. And, some have been surprised at the results!
As mysterious as our physical genealogy may be, the spiritual genealogy of the Christian is revealed in Romans 4. In this chapter, Paul is continuing to teach the Jews, newly converted to Christianity, about the centrality of "salvation by faith", as opposed to "salvation by good works" (such as circumcision). In so doing, he uses Abraham as an example. You may or may not have realized that Abraham was not circumcised at the time God asserted that his faith in God had made him right with God (Gen. 15:6, 22). We will explore this truth further in a few minutes....
Because, in our study today we are going to spend some time looking at the example of faith given to us by Father Abraham. Let’s begin by looking at the Genesis verse I mentioned just now. In Romans 4, this verse is quoted not one, not two, but three times. Here it is, Genesis 15:6, from the CJB:
He believed in Adonai, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
We first see this verse quoted in verse three of this chapter. Let’s read the first three verses of chapter 4.
What then will we say concerning Abraham the patriarch, that he obtained sanctification by the flesh? 2 But if Abraham was being made righteous by works, he had good reason for his pride, but not before Elohim. 3. For what does the Scripture say? That Abraham believed Elohim, and it was credited to him for righteousness.
In verse one, the thing being obtained was sanctification, that work of the Holy Spirit that comes about after justification, that is, after the initial conversion has been accomplished by the Holy Spirit previously. However, whether we are talking about justification or sanctification, the means, the agent is the same, and that is faith, a sure confidence that Elohim will keep His promises.
AGR has an interesting comment on the phrase “credited to him for righteousness”. He essentially says that it is wonderful to receive eternal salvation, which speaks of God’s general favor upon Abraham. However, it is not until Abraham’s faith is manifested in his obedience that the full package of blessings from Elohim is conveyed upon him. In other words, blessings in the next world are certainly a joy and delight. But, how much better to obey God, evidencing that inner faith, and receive blessings in both this world AND the next?
In Judaism, in legal matters, the word of at least two witnesses is required to establish a matter. Therefore, in this vein, Paul mentions King David as a concurring witness. See verse 6 and following:
As David also said about the blessedness of the man whom Elohim proclaimed as righteous without works. 7 Blessed are they whose wickedness is forgiven and whose sins are covered up. 8. And, Blessed is the man to whom Elohim will not count his sin.
These verses 7 and 8 are a direct quote from Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2, a psalm of David. The phrase “covered up” here is the Aramaic word “kasiyo”, which is analogous to the Hebrew “kacah”, both words referring to atonement and redemption.
It is a testimony to the power of circumcision as an identifying marking of male followers of Elohim that Paul returns to this theme yet again. Verses 9-10 Before we begin to read these, note that in verse 10 Genesis 15:6 is quoted for the second time.
This blessing, therefore, is it on the circumcision or on the uncircumcision? For we say that Abraham’s faith was credited to him for uprightness. 10 How then was it credited to him? In circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
This sounds a bit convoluted, because that is how Paul often writes, but what he is saying here is that the call of God came on Abraham, to obey Him by leaving his homeland of Ur, while Abraham was an uncircumcised Aramean, living in Mesopotamia, some several hundred miles from Canaan. Abraham was not called by God because he was circumcised. However, later the Lord God asked him to become circumcised and in obedience to Elohim, the obedience that flows from the foundation of faith, Abraham submitted himself to the circumcision procedure. This is verified by verse 11 and 12 here, which say,
For he received circumcision as the sign and the seal of the uprightness of his faith while in uncircumcision: that he might become the father of all of them of the uncircumcision whobelieve; and that it might be counted to them also for uprightness. 12 And the father of the circumcision; not to them only who are of the circumcision, but to them also who follow the steps of the faith of our father Abraham in his uncircumcision.
Paul is pointing out that it was after Abraham had faith, after his heart was circumcised, that he obeyed God in becoming physically circumcised, as opposed to a false teaching in both Paul’s and our own day that circumcision should precede saving faith. Paul was against the Judaizers who wanted to use circumcision as a device to control new believers in Yeshua. They did this to show “notches on a belt”. Paul did not discount physical circumcision. He just objected to the wrong use of it and its misapplication.
“A sign and a seal”...All this reminds me of water baptism. In my faith background, the only proper and Scriptural baptism was (and is) by immersion. The English word “baptism” comes from the Greek word “baptizo”, which means “a thorough change of condition accomplished by immersion”. It is closely related and derived after the Hebrew word “tevila”, which means “to totally immerse” (as in a mikvah - - hold that thought). Baptism is not interpreted as an agent of grace, but rather as an outward sign of an inward transformation. In other words, believers in whom the Holy Spirit had affected regeneration, justification, testified to the world about their identification with the Messiah by undergoing baptism. The best part of the ceremonies I’ve witnessed featured the minister performing the rite saying, “Buried in the likeness of His death (Yeshua’s death)” as the person was submerged briefly, and then saying “Raised to walk in newness of life” as the person was brought up out from beneath the waters.
Before leaving this topic of baptism, modelled for us by none other than our Mashiach, let me point out that baptism did not originate with John the Baptist, or even with Jesus, as most Christians believe. Baptism was a type of the Jewish mikvah, a ritual cleansing pool utilized to spiritually cleanse a person as required by commandments in the Torah. Remember that Yeshua was a thoroughly Jewish, Torah-observant man. I don’t have the time to delve more deeply into this topic this morning, because this was a bit of a rabbit trail, but in this case I could not resist hopping down it for just a moment.
Ok, back to Romans 4. Let’s continue in verses 13 and following, where Paul speaks of God’s promise to Abraham, and how that promise hinged on Abraham’s faith.
13. The promise (molkana) to Abraham and to his seed, that he would be the heir of the world was not by Torah, but by the uprightness of his faith. 14. For if they who are of Torah were heirs, faith would be made void, and the promise (molkana) will have no effect. 15 For Torah is a worker of wrath; because where there is no instruction (Torah), there is no transgression of Torah.
Keep in mind, and this should be stating the obvious....some commandments of Torah were practiced as oral tradition in the days of Abraham, but the formal, written Torah, penned by Moses, did not even exist until almost 500 years after Abraham lived. Righteousness by faith existed before the written Torah, during the time of the written Torah and until the present. Furthermore, the role of Torah is still relevant to us today.
Footnote # 45 on Romans 4:15, from TAW - - “Like the Hebrew word “Torah”, the Aramaic “namusa” can refer to the entire corpus of work or to an individual instruction for a person or group (“torah” with a small “t”). This verse literally reads, “where there is no Torah provision against an action, there is no transgression.” The KJV reads “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Mainstream Christianity translates this to mean that Torah is done away with, but Rav Shaul is teaching the very opposite. Wherever Torah is not being taught, people will do what is right in their own eyes, thus bringing the wrath of Master YHWH upon themselves.”
16. Therefore, it is by the faith, which is by grace, that we are being made righteous: so that the promise (molkana) may be assured to all the seed; not to only those which is of Torah, but also to those who are from the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
Therefore, we are sons and daughters of Abraham. It reminds me of the folksy camp song we used to sing at Bible camp:
Father Abraham had many sons - - many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them - - - and so are you
So let’s just praise the Lord!
And, then, there is some strange choreography that supposedly accompanies the singing of it; but, we won't go into that!
AGR points out in his commentary that our Messiah gave the definition of being a true son or daughter of Abraham, in John 8:39, and that was a person who did Abraham’s righteous deeds. And, what does that mean, those “righteous deeds”? Genesis 26:5 tells us that Abraham “kept My Torah, my statutes, my commandments and my rules.” A true son or daughter will follow Abraham’s example in faith and in the resulting Spirit-produced deeds.
Verse 17 contains another Old Testament quote, this one from Genesis 17:5. Verse 18 likewise contains an OT quote, from Genesis 15:5.
As it is written: “I have placed you as a father to a multitude of nations;” before Elohim, in whom you have believed; who makes alive the dead and calls those things which are not, as if they were. 18. And, without hope, he believed in the hope of becoming the father of a multitude of nations; as it is written: “So will your seed be.”
Let’s go on and read the next few verses before I comment.
19 And he was not weak in his faith, considering his aged body for he was a hundred years old and the dead womb of Sarah. 20 And he did not doubt the promise (molkana) of Elohim as one lacking faith; but he was strong in faith and gave glory to Elohim; 21 And was convinced, that what Elohim had promised (molkana) to him, would be fulfilled. 22 And therefore it was credited to him for uprightness.
This is a timely teaching, and believe me, I had nothing to do with it landing here at this time on the calendar. In real time, as I’m teaching Romans 4, last week’s parsha was concerning Genesis 22, otherwise known in Hebrew as The Akedah, the Binding of Isaac to the altar of offering on Mt. Moriah.
Talk about a conundrum of the highest order...this was it. Soren Kierkegaard spelled it out like this:
“Ethically speaking, what Abraham planned to do was to murder Isaac; religiously, however, he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. In this contradiction lies the very anguish that can indeed make anyone sleepless. And yet, without that anguish Abraham is not hte one he is. Neither would faith be what it is.”
I read in my study of that parsha last week the most beautiful meditation on the life of Abraham I’ve ever encountered. If you don’t follow John Parsons of Hebrew for Christians, you are missing out, big-time. This meditation was on his Hebrew for Christians Facebook page.
He points out that, as Christians, we tend to focus on how the Angel of the Lord intervened and rescued Isaac, going on to provide a “ram in the thicket” to take his place as Abraham’s offering. And, that surely happened. But, as beautiful as that is, it is not the deepest beauty in that story.
In order to find that, we must go back to the land of Ur, where Abraham rejected idol-worship to step out in faith and “cross over” from idolatry to worship of one God, THE one, true God. That is where his journey began. As he continued to walk in faith, and grow in faith, God revealed more and more of His plan to Abraham.
The Jewish sages say that Father Abraham was tested with 10 major tests, all of which he withstood. Those tests are:
Rejecting the religion of his fathers, that is, idolatry (Joshua 24:2)
Leaving this home country for a far-away, unknown land (Gen. 12:1)
Overcoming the challenge of extreme famine upon entering Canaan (Gen. 12:10)
Overcoming Sarah’s abductions at the hands of powerful men (Gen. 12 and 20)
Helping Lot and battling successful the four kings (Gen. 14:12-16)
Experiencing vision of a future captivity (Gen. 15:1-21)
The challenge of painful circumcision, at age 99 (Gen. 17:10)
The infertility of Sarah and the associated challenges of that (Gen. 11:30 and 15: 3)
The sending away of Hagar and her son Ishmael (Gen. 21:9-14)
The Akedah
For the most part, he passed every faith test “with flying colors.” Yet, the greatest test was the last one, The Akedah. John Parsons puts it like this:
“Behold the man. Imagine the depths of his surrender! What was the secret of his strength? Everything he wanted in his life was embodied in his son who lay bound upon the altar. Isaac was Abraham’s world. His dream. His hope. His religion. All of the promises of God were bound up in Isaac as the leather ropes that tightly bound his hands and feet. Abraham’s life flashed before his eyes. His mind was spinning as he remembered the starry night sky and the promise, “So shall your seed be....”
It was all so incredible, impossible and surreal. And yet it all led to this moment. The call to leave everything behind and go to an unknown land; the various tests he faced over the long years; the moments of unspeakable joy, of seeing God, hearing his promises, his laughter, his song; and moments of sorrow, loss and fear. After it was all said and done, there was nothing left of him other than who he was in relation to the Lord, and nothing else - - not even his dearest hope and dream – mattered in comparison.
Wow. Yes, Abraham’s faith was the central miracle of the story of The Akedah. I am just in awe, really. Is there any doubt why Abraham was included in the Hebrews 11 “Roll Call of Faith”? Hebrews 11:17-19 (TAW)
By faith Abraham, in his trial, offered up Yitz’chak; and he laid on the altar his only son whom he had received by promise. 18. For it had been said to him, Through Yitz’chak will your seed be called. 19 And he reasoned within himself that Elohim was able even to raise him from the dead: and therefore, by connection to that example, he was restored to him.
Genesis 21:12 was referenced in verse 18, by the way, the promise that Yitz’chak, Sarah’s son, would be the chosen seed.
Abraham’s faith extended, according to the writer of Hebrews, that death could not bind the hand of the Lord God Almighty, could not thwart His strong arm, mighty to save.
I want to share with you a deeply personal story. For the past 15 or so years, the Lord has been putting me through an Akedah-like experience. It has been incredibly difficult. In fact, I did not see it properly until about six months ago, when miraculously, He began over this past summer to deliver me through it. Without getting into unnecessary details, He was asking me to surrender to Him the dearest thing in the world to me. And, I did not want to do that. I did not want to trust Him with that. I did not truly believe I COULD trust Him with something so precious. As a result of this spiritual ambivalence, I sank into a depression which was so deep I did not even realize how far gone I was. Oh, I continued to function, and even appeared to flourish as I served Him and lived and loved. But, at the very depths of my soul, I walked around in agony. For 15 years.
Over the past six months, He has used a variety of circumstances to wake me up - - physical illness and pain, the rather sudden death of a beloved mentor, a meaningful birthday. All of these seemed like curses, unwelcome guests in my life. But, oh how God used them, to lift me up from the miry clay! And, on the other side now, I am so very, very thankful for them!
Let my story inspire you to examine your own life today. What attachments are keeping you tethered to a place where your faith is weak? Considering this question takes deep introspection, because we are so often immune to our own weaknesses. For example, during my period of relative darkness, I stopped listening to or making music, almost entirely. Now, I have three college degrees - - all of them in music. How much sense did that make, right? But, you know, I just did not realize it as the symptom that it was. Over the past 3-4 months, as the Lord has been healing me, I’ve formed four playlists on YouTube, with hundreds of songs added. And, now, I go around enjoying music again, most of the time.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what may be holding you prisoner and to release you from that, to grow your faith. Because it takes faith to let go. But, full surrender goes beyond the idea of self-denial. Full surrender is really a turning away from darkness, toward God’s perfect light. As a result, you will experience His divine beauty and truth, even if the current circumstances don’t altogether reflect that beauty. For example, in the wake of Abraham and Isaac’s experiences on Mt. Moriah that day, Sarah learned where they were going and for what purpose, and out of shock and grief, she died. (This is part of our parsha for this week, in real time.) Neither Abraham nor Isaac ever saw her alive again. And, the Jewish midrash says that Isaac left home after the Moriah experience and never saw his father alive again either. So much pain!
It takes great faith to believe in the impossible, as Abraham did. He was nearly 100 years old; Sarah was WAY past the biological age for childbearing. But, as verse 21 says in TAW, Abraham “was convinced” that Elohim would fulfill His promises, even though he and Isaac were estranged for the rest of his life. The very next verse, verse 22, is the third repetition of Genesis 15:6.
Let’s go on now and finish the verses of chapter 4, verses 23-25.
And not for his sake alone was it written that his faith was credited for uprightness; 24. But for our sakes also; because it is to be credited also to us, who believe in Him who raised our Master Yeshua the Mashiyach fom the dead; 25 Who was delivered up on account of our sins and rose, in order that he might make us righteous.
These verses remind me that I can’t close this teaching without noting the parallels, the foreshadowing, of what Father Yahweh did for us in giving us His own unique Son, His only-begotten one. After all, Paul ends this section by making such a connection.
The story of The Akedah is in Genesis 22, and it is in connection with this story we find the very first occurrence of the Hebrew word “ahava” in Scripture. Ahava is the Hebrew word for “love”. It is used to describe Abraham’s feelings for his unique son, Isaac, his only son from his beloved wife, Sarah. This first mention of the word “love” was spoken by Father Yahweh Himself, as He spoke to Abraham of Abraham’s only son and gave him the direction to offer Isaac as a living sacrifice.
The story of The Akedah is so important in the practice of Judaism, that it is read every morning as a prelude to the morning service. Since it is believed that The Akedah took place at the time of Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, Tishri 1, the story is also read during Rosh Hashanah services.
One of the parallels concerns the place the offering of Isaac was to take place. The land of Mt. Moriah was believed to be from the time of Adam and Eve the place where God created the universe, the place where Adam and Cain and Abel offered sacrifices. It is also said that Shem, the son of Noah through which Messiah would come, established a Torah academy there to teach the post-flood generations. It is said that Shem named the place Shalayim, meaning “perfect”, and later Abraham named it Adonai Yireh (God sees, or God will provide), and that even later the two names were combined to form Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem, in English.
Another parallel is one I alluded to earlier, when mentioning the Hebrews 11 passage. Abraham told his servants in Gen. 22:5 that “we will return to you.” It is said that Abraham told them this because he believed God had the power to resurrect Isaac from the dead. Of course, in the case of Mashiach, Father Yahweh knew that He would later raise His only begotten Son from the dead, on the third day. Notice that it was on the 3rd day that the climax of The Akedah took place, according to Genesis 22:4. Yet another parallel.
The Jewish midrash records a supposed conversation between Abraham and Isaac as they were ascending the mountain, in which Isaac, after asking about the lamb which would be needed for the offering, realized that he would be the lamb, and accepted his fate willingly. The Divine, Majestic Mystery we know as our Elohim, our God, also agreed “before the foundation of the world” that the Son would be slain, to provide atonement. Abraham’s trust and surrender to the will of His heavenly Father was mirrored in Isaac, who surrendered to the will of his earthly father. Isaac “set his face like flint”, much as did our Messiah Yeshua, as His time on the execution stake drew near.
A ram was offered instead of Isaac, in exchange for him, which is the whole idea of substitutionary atonement. Likewise, Yeshua was offered in exchange for us. It might interest you to know that in Judaism, it became an adage to say, after reading The Akedah, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Indeed, God Himself provided a lamb. His plan all along was to offer up His promised Redeemer, promised from as early as Genesis 3:15, on Mount Moriah, for the salvation of all mankind.
