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God's Promise to Abraham

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If you are joining us for the first time, please be sure to read the previous posts in this series:

In this last section of Hebrews 6, we see the certainty of God’s promises to His children. The author of Hebrews uses Abraham and Melchizedek as examples. We will first of look at Abraham, and as we do, you will see that it is indeed the grace of God, form beginning to end, that keeps those who are His children, versus us, by our own supposed strength and goodness, keeping ourselves:

13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And thus, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.
(Hebrews 6:13-18)

The “two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie” mentioned in verse 18 are His oath and His promise. Both of these God will unequivocally do and keep.

Take note of what this passage says of Adam. If all that we had about Abraham was what he find here in Hebrews, you might think that he was an incredibly stalwart man who unflinchingly followed the Lord in a totally uncompromising manner. However, that is not the case! Rather, we find Abraham to be a man who was just like us – fearful, doubting, compromising, and narcissistic. But we also see a man who, after his born again commitment to the Lord, began a spiritual journey in which through all of his failures as a born again believer in the Lord, God never gave up on him but rather continued to work in and through him to bring him to a place of deep brokenness and repentance. In this state of repentance, Abraham grew spiritually to the point of fully trusting in the Lord and obeying Him in faith, regardless of his circumstances, but this took years of God’s disciplining work in Abraham’s life. But in all of it, even in his serious failures of faith and trust and serious, moral compromise, God was at work guiding, protecting, and breaking him in order to bring him to the point where he would become the man of faith and obedience God intended for him to be from the moment of God’s calling Abraham.

When Abraham and his family were initially called by the Lord, they were living in what was called ancient Sumer, which was a fully pagan society, and they themselves took part in the worship of these “other gods”:

2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. . . . 14 Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 “And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
(Joshua 24:2, 14-15)

At the time Noah got off of the Ark, God gave him and his sons the first of what might be called ‘societal laws’ and guidelines:

3 “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 “And surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man. 7 “And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
(Genesis 9:3-7)

In verse 6, we read, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” The phrase, “by man his blood shall be shed,” literally reads, “by the man his blood shall be shed.” In Hebrew, the words “by man” is written, בָּֽאָדָם (bā’ādām), and the Hebrew letter בָּֽ (bā) is to be translated “by the,” which is implying some form of jurisprudence that God was establishing for capital punishment, which was and is a cornerstone for societal order in the face of murderers of all types. That is, there was a man assigned as the executioner for those guilty of capital murder, and what we see is that God began to give to Noah the foundational principles for an orderly society, and this may very well indeed be in stark contrast to the type of society that came to exist before the flood where evil prevailed, and very likely that included the lack of societal order and justice (Genesis 6:5).

At any rate, God was giving Noah these foundational principles for an orderly society, but within several years after Noah and his sons had planted a vineyard, harvested the grapes, and made wine, from which Noah got drunk, Noah was apparently sexually assaulted by Ham, and perhaps even Canaan, Ham’s son (Genesis 9:20-27), and Noah cursed Canaan, which had to affect Ham as well. The Hamitic line was the line that primarily settled and developed Mesopotamia, in which ancient Sumer was located in the southeast corner where modern day Kuwait is located.

There is no indication that Ham in any way ever repented for what he did to his father (Genesis 9:24), and thus, as a result of his sin and the apparent hardness of heart that ensued in him, as well as his prodigy toward God, the people groups that emerged from him began to establish their own form of worship—self-deification (this is seen repeatedly in the writings of ancient Sumer). However, what we see in Genesis 11 is the end result of the Hamitic line’s self-deification. They built a tower—a tower “whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). What this “tower” was intended to be was a monument to their own deification, which is seen in the phrase, “let us make for ourselves a name,” and this is clearly implying “a name” over against and above the ‘name of the Lord’. Thus, God destroyed the tower, and the people were scattered, developing various languages and dialects, along with very perverted forms of worship, as is seen in the following quote from ancient Sumerian texts:

The Sumerian gods, as illustrated graphically by the Sumerian myths, were entirely anthropomorphic; even the most powerful and most knowing among them were conceived as human in form, thought, and deed. Like man, they plan, act, eat and drink, marry and raise families, support large households, and are addicted to human passions and weaknesses. (Samuel Noah Kramer, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture And Character
[Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1963], 117)

However, there was an admixture of the lines of Noah’s sons’ prodigy, and some of the line of Shem ended up settling in Mesopotamia, which ultimately included Terah’s ancestors, and Terah was the father of Abraham (Genesis 11:10-26). As a result of the study of the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian texts, we know that a migration began to take place some time around 2000 BC of people groups from Mesopotamia and its surrounding areas into “the land of Canaan,” which is what the Bible also records with regard to Terah and his family:

27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. 28 And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
(Genesis 11:27-32)

The following quote, therefore, accords with the biblical evidence of this migration into Canaan:

But though we cannot date the patriarchs with any precision, and though future discoveries may force a redrawing of the picture presented here, evidence presently available suggests that the patriarchal traditions for the most part fit best in the context of the early centuries of the second millennium (Middle Bronze II [ e.g., 2000 – 2550 B.C. – my note). Not only does the nomenclature of the stories, as we have said, have close parallels in the texts of that period; a date for the patriarchal migrations in the centuries after ca. 2000 B.C. accords splendidly with archaeological and other extra-Biblical evidence.
(John Bright, A History of Israel, 4th ed. [Louisville: John Knox Press, 2000], 85)

The reference to “Ur of the Chaldeans” in Genesis 11:18, therefore, is referring to that area that was in ancient Sumer, which is today modern Kuwait. The reason for going into this background is to demonstrate to you that God’s purposes and plans are in no way deterred by the self- deification and utter paganism of man against Him, but rather, God sovereignly uses man’s rebellion to accomplish His ends, and we see that here with Abraham, as God was calling out to Abraham, not Abraham calling out to God:

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
(Genesis 12:1-9)

It is at this juncture that we see Abraham engage in a serious compromise with regard to Sarai as he migrates to Egypt due to a famine in Canaan:

10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 And it came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and it will come about when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” 14 And it came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels. 17 But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” 20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
(Genesis 12:10-20)

Now, indeed, Sarai was Abraham’s half sister (Genesis 20:12), but she was still his wife, first and foremost. Thus, it may very well have been that Abraham’s compromise, which was a practice in the ancient Hurrian society of Haran where Abraham lived for a period of time (i.e., in the Hurrian upper class, a wife could be adopted by her husband as his sister), was a manifestation of his embracing a cultural practice of his day in order to deliver himself, but it wasn’t at all something God ordained, directed, let alone blessed and sanctioned. However, even in the face of Abraham’s sinful, cultural compromise, God was there to deliver him from himself. He was about 75 at this time, and then after being back in Canaan and no child is born to him, he once again resorts in his thinking to the cultural practices of his day, and this one had to do with who would be his heir since he had not as yet had a son:

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” 2 And Abram said, “O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since Thou hast given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
(Genesis 15:1-6)

Genesis 15:6 is of primary importance because it categorically states the means of our salvation – faith in God ALONE – and as a result of Abraham’s faith in the Lord, the Lord “reckoned it to him as righteousness.” So, at this point, we may say that Abraham was born again and truly became a child of God, and Paul says as much in the following passage:

6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. 10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree “—14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Galatians 3:6-14)

(Stay tuned for more on Abraham next week!)

Comments

  1. I for one am glad of the example played out in Abraham’s life. It shows that even though he messed up, there is hope…and hope is the window into the future.

    Mark (Cov)

  3. Justin~

    Thank you for today’s offering. I always appreciate the history and detail you bring to us. Because you are cataloging the verses that I submit in support of believers being able to lose their salvation, I have another one for your consideration. To begin, I absolutely believe that the Bible teaches that salvation is by “faith in God ALONE – and as a result of Abraham’s faith in the Lord, the Lord “reckoned it to him as righteousness.” I also believe that the Bible teaches that “…it is indeed the grace of God, [from] beginning to end, that keeps those who are His children, versus us, by our own supposed strength and goodness, keeping ourselves.” I have never and would never suggest otherwise,” but we are not to take this truth and parlay it into a doctrine eternal security. Paul understood that it wasn’t merely about making an initial commitment to God but that it was all about making a daily commitment to Him that would result in his final salvation. As he wrote in II Timothy 1:12b, “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day,” the implication being that believers have a continual choice before them; they can choose to entrust God with “that,” or they can choose not to. It is the freedom to choose, initially and at every point in a believer’s walk, that gives God’s plan of salvation any worth or credibility. In addition, that is why Joshua said, “choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Josh. 24:15b), and as we know, into every choice is written either a good consequence or a bad consequence, up to and including our final salvation, something that Paul also realized because he wrote, “But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Cor. 9:27). The word “castaway” (adokimos, Strong’s G96) means “that which does not prove itself such as it ought” and “unfit for, unproved, spurious, reprobate.” These are not descriptors of someone who is “without spot” (II Pet. 3:14) and “without wrinkle” (Eph. 5:27) which are descriptors of those for whom Christ is coming. It is true, as you have written, that God will “unequivocally do and keep” both “His oath and His promise,” but that is not the entire issue. God’s people also have to uphold their part of the covenant, and if they don’t, they will not enter into the Promise Land, whether Canaan or heaven, which is exactly why we are given the warning in Hebrews 3:7-19.

    Thank you for taking the time to consider what I have written.
    God bless you~
    Barbara

  4. Salvation is of God. Human being is entirely outside of this capacity. Humans do not look for God unless interrupted by Him. Rom 3:10-12, Rom 10:1-21
    Introduction of God appears to be rare and more direct before the body of His word was committed to writing. This interruption is now effected in His word. Able, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David are recognized with an attentiveness for God. Despite the human inadequacy, salvation that is of God does not diminish. Where is the glory without potential to fail? Scripture notes the results of faith in very few of the millions of people throughout the human presence in this world. This is not an indication that salvation is deficient. 2Pe 3:9

  6. Steve, I’ll assume the verses following my name are for me and try to decipher what the LORD is telling you for my benefit.
    J.

  7. Jerry~

    That you would write, “I thought Replacement Theology was intended to keep the OT and the NT separate” illustrates that you are abysmally ignorant of both the Word of God and Christianity. Perhaps proponents of “Replacement Theology” would like to keep the “OT and the NT separate” to suit its ungodly agenda, but Christianity most certainly does not, which you would know if you understood it. Christianity recognizes that the OT is the prophecy of the NT and that the NT is the witness of that prophecy. Christianity recognizes that there are absolutely no contradictions between the Testaments and that together they create one continuous story from the beginning of time to the end of it. Christianity recognizes that the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is perfectly reconciled and that this unbroken thread of truth reveals God, mankind, and God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ in unmistakable clarity and that it is only the unsaved or Christians who have not grown beyond the fundamentals (Heb. 6:1-2) who would take exception to any of these truths.

    I have tried to engage you in dialogue many, many times, but you have refused to address anything, whether Scripture or explanation, that I have given you for consideration. Your attitude is something with which I am all too familiar. My son, who is 32, accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior in junior high. In 9th grade, he had a prophecy spoken over him, and twice since then, Satan has taken him out, once through drugs and once through the false belief that Christianity embraced replacement theology. Because he failed to personally study the Word, repent, and pray so that his inner man would grow, he had no defense when this heresy was introduced to him and religion, rather than spirituality, became his ticket to God. Upon moving to Hawaii, he and his family went to a Christian church pastored by a wonderful Messianic Jew. However, because his flesh would not submit to the lordship of Christ, this church lost its appeal because it was not “spiritual” enough for him, so he started attending a Messianic congregation which, although accepting the Messiah, still held many Judaic practices. This filled the hole in his heart for awhile, but with no true understanding of the Word of God and continually mistaking works and festivals and religious observations for godliness, this also lost its appeal, so he began attending synagogue and is presently making plans to convert to Judaism, which began when he failed to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15). He makes exactly the same unsubstantiated claims about Christianity that you do, and just like you, he has a great deal to say when accusing Christianity and absolutely nothing to say when called to defend his position with Scripture and logic. In addition, just like you, he is very adept at attacking me to take the focus off these facts. If it weren’t for the promises that God has given me that “…all thy children [shall be] taught of the LORD; and great [shall be] the peace of thy children” (Is. 54:13), I couldn’t have borne this burden these past several years.

    I don’t whether you have never been born again or whether you are just walking according to your flesh and not the Spirit, but I do know that you are wrong about Christianity, and nothing proves this anymore perfectly than your comment that I used at the beginning of my post. At some point, Jerry, don’t you kind of wonder why you are unable to defend your position? Again, please take the time to re-examine your views in light of the Bible because, at some point, it is going to be too late.

    Barbara

    P.S. Where did you get the idea that “We are all children of GOD our creator whether saved or not”? While it is true that we are God’s creation and that God loves each and every one of us, saved or not, we are most certainly not all His children. A person only becomes a child of God once he or she becomes born again.

      • Jerry~

        I can only assume from past correspondence that you have given this one verse in lieu of actually providing any reasonable rebuttal to my post, but I want to point something out to you. If Paul truly meant the sentiment in this verse in the strictest, literal sense, then he wouldn’t have bothered to write the other 2,000+ verses, including II Timothy 3:16. Think about it. What do you have to lose if you took the time to study the Word (II Tim. 215) in relation to Christianity (Note that I didn’t say Catholicism)? If it turns out that you are right, then you will be able to provide sound reasoning and Scripture to support your position to bring me into the truth, and if you’re wrong, then you can learn from your mistake and move into the truth. In either case, both of us will be in the truth of God, which is certainly a lot better than only one of us, wouldn’t you say?

        Barbara

      • We’re a bit off topic here…

        So when did “Christianity” start as opposed to when “Catholicism” started?

        I don’t know, are you saying the “protestant reformation” was the start of “Christianity”?

        If that is so, what time period does the phrase “early church” refer to?

        I say the “early church” is referring to the “Jews” written about in the book of “Acts” and us “gentiles” are worked in by the time chapter 15 came around. Read Act 15 HNV for yourself and ask, who is it in the “church” (edah – עֵדָה or qahal – קָהֵל ),as written in KJV, that is discussing the gentiles and there place in it? There couldn’t be any gentiles because they were the people the discussion was about.

        J.

      • Jerry~

        Of course I don’t believe that “the ‘protestant reformation’ was the start of ‘Christianity.’” Acts 2 records the beginning the “early church,” and Acts 11 records the first time that the disciples of Christ were called “ANOINTED-ians” or “Christians” (v. 26), no doubt because it was a new group and needed to be distinguished from the physical house of Israel. The Roman Catholic Church, of course, was founded in the Fourth Century by Constantine.

        The reason that I made the distinction between Christianity and Catholicism is because I had asked you to study Christianity, and inevitably, whenever that word is brought into the discussion, so is Catholicism and replacement theology as though they are one and the same.

        I’m not sure why you wrote, “We’re a bit off topic here.” I was commenting on a remark that you had made to Justin about replacement theology. Your only comment to me was one verse, I Corinthians 2:2 and that without explanation, so I had to assume what your purpose was, and the only thing that I came up with was that the only thing that mattered to you was that Christ was crucified and that nothing else needed to be discussed, including providing any proof that would link replacement theology with Christianity. Because I believe that much more needs to be discussed to arrive at the truth, I was just asking that you honestly examine Christianity and not Catholicism for the reasons I gave above.

        To avoid any confusion in the future, rather than just cite a verse, perhaps you could address the points that I’ve brought up in my posts.

        Barbara

  8. Steve, at what point do you consider a child to become more than a shared moment? At what point would say….this is a child….at conception? Second or third trimester? Or do you wait until the child is born? I ask because you as a Christian look back at the cross and Abraham looked ahead to the cross. The seed was planted into Abraham once the conversation between God and Abraham began to produce life. Do you talk about a woman with child? Or do say to a woman….I will not call the life in your womb nothing but a fetus because to label it a child would be Birth Replacement Theology. My point is simple. I seems to me there is a log in your eye. And because of the log it appears to be making you grumpy. My point from a different angle…be as smart as a cow. When eating hay if you perceive a stick, just spit it out and eat only the hay. Don’t pick a fight with the bale just because you think you might have sensed a stick.

  9. Dear Steve:

    I am so sorry for my utter ignorance, but I do not have any idea what you are referring to with regard to “censoring our LORDS word/instruction.” I am absolutely oblivious to the point you are trying to make. Therefore, will you please make clear what you are trying to convey and the reason for it.

    God bless you,

    Justin T. Alfred

  10. Dear Jerry:

    Thanks so much for your critique, and no, this is not some “original revelation,” by which I am assuming you mean some “new revelation.” On the other hand, if you will read Galatians 3, I believe you will see that Paul is making a very clear connection between those who have come to faith in Jesus since his birht, life, death, and resurrection and Abraham. Thus, my reference to Abraham being “born again” is to demonstrate what Paul was stating: “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain– if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer” (Galatians 3:1-9).
    Secondly, when you say “We are all children of GOD our creator whether saved or not,” I believe you might want to examine some of the following passages:
    (1) John 1:12-13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
    (2) Romans 8:12-17: “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.”
    (3) I John 3:1-10: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
    (4) I John 4:1-6: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
    Therefore, I would have to unequivocally disagree with your statement that “We are all children of GOD our creator whether saved or not,” and I would have to say that we are all a part of God’s creation, but “God’s children” are only those who have come to faith in Him as their Lord and Savior, from Abel forward (Hebrews 11).
    Thirdly, in your following statement, you make a very intersting point that might indeed be confusing to some: “Abraham was chosen and called faithful while a so called “pagan”, Hbr 11:8 HNV, at GODS good pleasure; it had nothing to do with Abrams behavior just as Miriam was chosen at GODS good pleasure to birth the Messiah. I’m sure there were other faithful virgins around. Our righteousness has nothing to do with us; it’s given to us only by the BLOOD of Messiah.” In reseponse, therefore, I want to make the following points:
    (1) First of all, you are absolutely correct in your statement referring to Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” However, does that mean that at that time, Abraham was considered to be “saved” in our modern vernacular? Or is this statment in Hebrews 11:8, based on Genesis 12:1-9, simply describing Abraham’s journey into the Promised Land based on God’s direction for him? What is also interesting is that in Genesis 12:8 we read, “Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.” If indeed this was the moment of his “conversison,” once again, in our common vernacular, then why do you suppose Paul didn’t reference this verse in Galatians 3:6, versus Genesis 15:6: “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness”? I would say to you that in the same way as many people today attend a church, sing praise songs, and perhaps even pray and read the Bible, but they have never been born again, so too with Abraham when “he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD,” he did not at that time have what we would term a “saving relationship” with Him. I was born and rasied in a Southern Baptist Church my whole life, and I even gave Sunday School lessons when in high school, as well as devotions for my HI Y club in high school, but I was not saved unitl my freshman year at Mississippi State University through the ministry of some fellow teammates who were members of the FCA. Thus, there are numerous people all over the world who may “call on the name of the LORD” in a religous sense, but they do not have a true, born again relationship with the Lord, and I believe that is the case with Abraham, leading up to what I call his born again encounter with the Lord in Genesis 15:6.
    (2) You are absolutely correct, however, in saying that God’s choosing Abraham and Mary (miryam is the Hebrew for Mary, the mother of Jesus, but other readers might not know that) was of His divine prerogative, and it had nothing to do with “the behavior” of either. On the other hand, as the writer of Hebrews 11 indicates, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Thus, for any and all in whom there is a relationship with God as their heavenly Father, “faith” is the ingredient that makes that possible.
    (3) In your statement, “Our righteousness has nothing to do with us; it’s given to us only by the BLOOD of Messiah,” I both completely agree and disagree with you. First of all, we have no “righteousness of our own” at all(Genesis 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3; Isaiah 64:6), and the ONLY RIGHTEOUSNESS WE HAVE COMES FROM JESUS LIVING AND ABIDING WITHIN US: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:20-21). In addition, the “faith” to believe is a gift from God, not something we produce (Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 12:1-2). However, as Romans 10:8-13 presents, once the faith has metaphorically been put in our “mouth and heart,” we then are responsible for either saying yes, Lord, I believe, or no, Lord, I reject you – the choice at that time is ours to make: “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart “– that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; 13 for “Whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved” (Romans 10:8-13).
    I hope this may give an answer to your critique, and thanks again for your response.

    God bless you,

    Justin T. Alfred

    • Thank you for the reply. I love the discourse. You need only to reference the book, chapter and verse(s), BLB will link to it. Referencing and re-typing it is redundant and makes the comments wordy.

      Still scratching my head about Avram being “born again” and Gal 3 HNV isn’t helping. It doesn’t mention what Yeshua told Nakdimon in Jhn 3 HNV and it’s a stretch to apply the regeneration of our dead spirits as a result of Messiah fulfilling Jer 31: 31-34 HNV to it and Avram’s faith thru obedience which is what Gal 3 HNV is describing. Try using the English words “Good News” for “euaggelion” instead of the English word “Gospel”. Paraphrasing another BLB Commentator, Dr. Magee, – It is possible to receive salvation from adhering to the LAW, problem is no one except Yeshua has been able to and Glory of Glories, HE shares it with us as described in Gal 3 HNV. The LAW is a “tutor” in as much as it points ultimately to Messiah, but it is much more. Thru Messiah’s obedience to the LAW, He has brought Salvation to us all.

      Concerning “children of GOD” – Jhn 10:33-35 HNV, remember this passage? Also note Yeshua was turning the Jewish Leaders own scripture against them, thus not only naming unbelieving Jewish Leaders children of the one who created us all, but also “gods”, Psa 82:6 HNV.

      I understand your supposition on Avram’s conversion being similar to our modern understanding of the event, but that too is a stretch in my opinion. Also our part in Rom 10:8-13 HNV is only a resulting in our lives that in and of itself does not satisfy GODS requirement for BLOOD shed, Hbr 9:22 HNV. I suggest staying away from “metaphorically” and stay to what is provided for us in HIS WORD.

      ‘Just in time for Christmas’ – A year or two ago, an old friend of mine from 20+ years ago, wrote a book on linguistics and scripture translation that I had just read when I saw the announcement that you were joining the BLB Blog doing a study on Greek and Hebrew. It is based on an analogy using the Copernican Theory of our universe. You may enjoy reading it during the holidays. The authors name is Daniel Gruber and the title is “Copernicus and the Jews”. Dan has a very wry sense of humor that I enjoy and makes the reading of what can be a dry topic, more entertaining. He is also a very, very thorough researcher.

      It’s getting late, Blessings to you.

      J.