Saturday, July 3, 2010

Abraham's faith and our faith

Romans 4:22-25
22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

From John Murray's commentary on Romans, we read "If we are to be justified by faith, obviously the circumstances of our faith cannot be identical to Abraham's. We are not now in the same historical context and our faith cannot be exemplified in the same ways ... It is precisely in relation to these considerations that verses 24 and 25 are significant." (153)

Murray proceeds to clarify by comparison the faith of Abraham and our faith. He delivers 3 points of comparison.
  1. It is God who raised Christ from the dead therefore both our faith as well as Abraham's is placed on God.
  2. Abraham's faith was focused on a God who quickens the dead (vs. 17) and our faith is in God who raised Christ from the dead. Thus, both our faith and Abraham's centers on an omnipotent, death-defying God.
  3. Abraham's faith was concerned with a promise. Our faith rests on Christ who was the fulfillment of promise. Both the patriarch's faith and our faith is centered on Christ. (153)

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