@jamesthompson545 James, Thank you for watching and commenting. Yes, I am sufficiently triggered by the words "your" and "denomination." I will fall for the bait only long enough to say, "We are proudly undenominated sirrah and I shall see your challenge forthwith!!!! Let me go get my slappin' gloves. ;-) In all seriousness, my opinion is certainly not the official or prevailing view within churches. This is not a cop out. All I can do is preach it like I see it. So, here goes. There is no doubt we are saved "by grace through faith." There is not doubt Abraham's faith was reckoned to his account as righteousness. There is no doubt we walk by faith not by baptism. We are saved by God through the sinless blood of his Son. Jesus death paid the price for the guilt of my sin. I am guilty before a holy God and need salvation for which I can neither pay, nor deserve via law-keeping. That is all "how" I am saved or "by whom" I am saved. When do I become the kind of person God will save? When I display the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; 6:17; 16:26). I believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, because our Father in heaven declared him to be by resurrecting Jesus from the dead (Romans 1:4; 10-9-10). I believe God gave him a kingdom (Matthew 28:18; Colossians 1:13). I have confessed with my mouth Jesus is my Lord. I have submitted to my king by being immersed into his death and burial, and raised to eternal life. I carry that divine down payment through the eternal Spirit which dwells in me. My baptism is faith (I Peter 3:21-22). I throw myself on the mercy of the court by pleading my belief in the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus my king and messiah. Sorry, I got a little preachy in there. I hope this helps. Thanks for the good question.
Yet Paul cites Genesis 15 here. In your point of view he should have cited Genesis 12, when Abraham is called by God and takes his family to the promised land. Yet he does not. He cites chapter 15, after Abraham does numerous good works.
Alex, Thank you for watching and responding. I think I may have been less than clear. As a result, we are dealing with two separate subjects. My guess is, you are making a point about when Abraham "believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness."-v3 in relation to his faith and works. Certainly Abraham had works to validate his faith by chapter 12. He had walked from Sumer to Canaan! I am familiar with that argument as it relates to James two. However, that is not the point to which I was referring today. In verses 9-12, Paul is pointing out Abraham was recognized for his faith prior to his personal circumcision. In this case chapter 12 and chapter 15 both come before he is circumcised in chapter 17. Paul's concluding point is, Abraham had saving faith while he was an uncircumcised Gentile. Abraham had saving faith while he was a circumcised Jew (Hebrew). That makes him a faithful gentile and a faithful Jew. Therefore he is the father of all the faithful for all time. Thanks for watching and commenting. Sorry I was not overly clear. I promise you, there will be other instances in this series. It is a daunting task.
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You talk about faith as the way to salvation but I thought your denomination preaches water baptism as the way. Please clarify
@jamesthompson545
James, Thank you for watching and commenting. Yes, I am sufficiently triggered by the words "your" and "denomination." I will fall for the bait only long enough to say, "We are proudly undenominated sirrah and I shall see your challenge forthwith!!!! Let me go get my slappin' gloves. ;-)
In all seriousness, my opinion is certainly not the official or prevailing view within churches. This is not a cop out. All I can do is preach it like I see it. So, here goes.
There is no doubt we are saved "by grace through faith." There is not doubt Abraham's faith was reckoned to his account as righteousness. There is no doubt we walk by faith not by baptism.
We are saved by God through the sinless blood of his Son. Jesus death paid the price for the guilt of my sin. I am guilty before a holy God and need salvation for which I can neither pay, nor deserve via law-keeping.
That is all "how" I am saved or "by whom" I am saved. When do I become the kind of person God will save? When I display the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; 6:17; 16:26).
I believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, because our Father in heaven declared him to be by resurrecting Jesus from the dead (Romans 1:4; 10-9-10). I believe God gave him a kingdom (Matthew 28:18; Colossians 1:13). I have confessed with my mouth Jesus is my Lord. I have submitted to my king by being immersed into his death and burial, and raised to eternal life. I carry that divine down payment through the eternal Spirit which dwells in me.
My baptism is faith (I Peter 3:21-22). I throw myself on the mercy of the court by pleading my belief in the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus my king and messiah.
Sorry, I got a little preachy in there. I hope this helps. Thanks for the good question.
Yet Paul cites Genesis 15 here. In your point of view he should have cited Genesis 12, when Abraham is called by God and takes his family to the promised land. Yet he does not. He cites chapter 15, after Abraham does numerous good works.
Alex, Thank you for watching and responding. I think I may have been less than clear. As a result, we are dealing with two separate subjects.
My guess is, you are making a point about when Abraham "believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness."-v3 in relation to his faith and works. Certainly Abraham had works to validate his faith by chapter 12. He had walked from Sumer to Canaan!
I am familiar with that argument as it relates to James two. However, that is not the point to which I was referring today.
In verses 9-12, Paul is pointing out Abraham was recognized for his faith prior to his personal circumcision. In this case chapter 12 and chapter 15 both come before he is circumcised in chapter 17.
Paul's concluding point is, Abraham had saving faith while he was an uncircumcised Gentile. Abraham had saving faith while he was a circumcised Jew (Hebrew). That makes him a faithful gentile and a faithful Jew. Therefore he is the father of all the faithful for all time.
Thanks for watching and commenting. Sorry I was not overly clear. I promise you, there will be other instances in this series. It is a daunting task.