-What must I do to be saved, to be made right in the eyes of my Creator, good enough to be morally acceptable to Him? I must be(come) perfect, which is impossible, unattainable humanly-speaking. But there is good news! This most fundamental of life’s great questions and the root of the controversy in Galatia has a very simple answer, as old as Genesis, revealed in Scripture before God says even one thing about circumcision or the Mosaic law or any other religious act - Genesis 15.6. Trust. Faith. Believe IN God, believe what He says and commit yourself to it. This is the entirety of what God expects of Abra(ha)m, who is clearly the poster child for justification by faith, as Paul holds him up particularly in this chapter as well in Romans chapter 4 (Romans 4.3).
-The verse Paul quotes for us here is when the Lord renews His promise to make a nation out of Abram. It is not the first time the Lord makes this promise (Genesis 12.2, 12.7, 13.16). And it is interesting to note on these other occasions what we see in response to God’s Word: obedience (going - Genesis 12.4) and worship (altar-building - Genesis 12.7-8, 13.18). But we see no mention of faith. It is certainly possible to go through the motions and rituals of worship and obedience but to do so not out of faith but merely out of self-effort. Good works, trying to earn right standing with God. But here we have the first mention of faith in all of Scripture. Is it possible that in Genesis 15 Abram finally comes to the beginning of the end of himself, the end of self-effort and self-righteousness, the end of his perceived ability to obey and conform to God’s standards in his own strength?
-I say ‘beginning’, because there are relapses, places where we see faith-not-yet-fully-formed. And to this we can all relate - ours is the way of progressive sanctification, learning and relearning to more fully follow and trust (in) the God Who saves and forgives and transforms. Faith grows, not in its size, but in its understanding of the immense greatness and faithfulness of God Who is always true to His Word and for Whom nothing is impossible. In the very next chapter (cf Genesis 16.3) we see in Abram a fairly significant relapse, the epitome of self-effort, as he literally fathers a child of the flesh, if you will. He and Sarai - who had been barren prior to this whole leave-your-home-new-nation thing - had now lived in this new land, trying for 10 years to have a child, to crank up the new nation for God. Ten long years (!) of trying and failing, and so they decide to help God out. Abram fathers a son with Sarai’s Egyptian maid, Hagar. It appears to be Sarai’s idea - surely she is sick and tired and weary of the disaapointment and heartache and shame of barrenness, and, to be fair, the Lord had not yet (as far as we know) specifically said anything about Sarai becoming a mother, only that Abram was to be a father. Lo and behold, Hagar quickly conceives and gives birth to Ishmael. Finally, success! And as far as we can tell, nothing more is said for 13 years. For 13 years the entire family proceeds on the assumption that it was all good, that they had done their best to comply with God’s instructions. As far as they know, Ishmael is the heir of the promise (Genesis 17.8), both Abram and Sarai have given up hope of ever having even one child together - he’s 99, she’s 90 (Genesis 17.17, 18.11-12), AND Ishmael is now a teenager. He is actually coming of age in that ancient near-eastern culture. He is the man. Literally. Yet at just that time, the Lord comes and makes it clear that their fleshy effort was not at all His idea and in fact He was going to do something more miraculous still (Genesis 17.15-16). Faith lays hold of wonderful impossibles. And it is literally the end of Abram ("exalted father"), as the Lord changes his name to Abraham ("father of a multitude").
-We do see yet another relapse in Genesis 20.1-2, where Abraham lies (again) about Sarah only being his sister (she is his half-sister), not yet fully at the end of himself, not yet fully trusting in the Lord and in His promises to still one day (soon!) give them a child from whom would come kings and nations. How comforting to know that being right in God’s eyes does not depend on our ability to be able to perfectly trust and follow, but rather in His limitless ability to take the tiniest mustard seed of faith and do the impossible, create something entirely brand new, a new creation wherein the Kingdom of God is planted and takes root and grows and multiplies and blossoms into a wondrous reflection of the breathtaking goodness of God. Such that God gets the credit, He gets the glory.
-I wonder, what wonderful impossible might He desire to do in and through me if only I would come to the end of me?
-I wonder, what wonderful impossible might He desire to do in and through me if only I would come to the end of me?
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