Abraham is the father of faith
Abraham is the father of faith
Writer: Kepenes D. Evangelos (01/24/18)
Bible verses from LXXE, ESV2011, AKJV and others if they fit better with the Grk text
Apostle Paul to the believers
"Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham." (Gal. 3:7)
“For what said the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness […] How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed to them also. And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.” (Rom. 4:3, 10-11)
“As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who vivifies the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were.” (Rom. 4:17)
So the promise of the one God to Abraham that he will become the father of a multitude of nations spoke of the quickening of the spiritually dead Jewish and gentiles.
“In hope of eternal life, which God, who can not lie, promised be fore the times of the ages, but he has in his own times manifested his word by preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;” (Tit. 1:2-3, Anderson)
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal. 3:14)
The same promise cancels out any nationalistic and biological interpretation of Pharisaic Judaism for revival and worldwide domination of the earthly kingdom of Israel. It was a promise of God, which surpassed the narrow limits of the genealogically fleshly Jewish nation and embraced all the children of faith regardless of their earthly nationality. Any biological or national religious perception of the promise is untrue. God did not say to Abraham that he would be the biological father of all nations, but he made him the father of the faith of the children of the promise who are fatherless, motherless, non-genealogical in relation to the cosmic creation, because the members of the household, the living children of God, is a spiritual living nation, a holy nation.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John, 1:12-13)
"But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring." (Rom. 9:6-8)
And to your seed, who is Christ [the Life]
Nor when he said to him “and to your seed” did he mean the perishable biological seed, because the biological man is sown, he is born in corruption, in dishonor and in weakness. But, by establishing Abraham as the father of faith, he told him about the heavenly man Jesus Christ, who, as a life-giving spirit, raises within the psychic, perishable and mortal body of the earthly men the inner spiritual man through faith and acceptance in Jesus.
“If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (I Cor. 15:42-44)
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (II Cor. 4:16)
So the promise spoke of a spiritual living creation. It spoke of a spiritual body, a new man who would be born of imperishable spiritual seed, the word of God, who is the heavenly and not an earthly Jesus Christ.
“Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;” (I Peter to Hebrews, 1:23)
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Cor. 5:17)
The flesh/body of Jesus Christ
Flesh = sarx||body||form||man (Stamatakos Grk Dictionary, see also Liddell Scott)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John, 1:14)
Jesus is the life and the resurrection. The man Jesus Christ had glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, he was not full of “dishonor” like the spiritually dead biological man, but he was “the word of life who became man,” the eternal life itself, the life of the eternal Father, the self of God, and not another god. (I John, 1:1-3)
Compare: “the Word became flesh || God was manifest in the flesh || for the life was manifested.” (John, 1:14, I Tim. 3:16, I John, 1:2)
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked on, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show to you that (Grk: the) eternal life, which was with (Grk: towards, to) the Father, and was manifested to us;” (I John, 1:2, AKJV)
“For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;” (John, 5:26)
The body of Jesus is the dwelling place, the house, of the fullness of the invisible God, the temple of the one God, who does not dwell in handmade temples. The quickened ones through Jesus, the spiritual children of the promise, are also within Christ, “in Christ,” in the real non-handmade temple, and they are the true living worshipers, “in spirit and in truth,” of God the Father who dwells “in Christ.” (Col. 2:9)
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.” (John, 14:6, 2:20-21)
Jesus was not sown as the biological man is sown, but he is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, the living word of God, the heavenly man, who gives life to the spiritually dead men.
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John, 6:51)
“For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” (John, 6:33)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” just as the manna was from heaven; and he is “the imperishable seed” that gives life and bears the spiritual man.
Life-giving Spirit
The “holy one” born in the womb of Mary was from the Holy Spirit, that’s why Jesus Christ is a “Life-giving Spirit.” (I Cor. 15:45)
“And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.” (Luk. 1:35, AKJV)
In the gospel of Luke 1:35 Grk text omits the words “of you.” Let’s see other versions
“And the angel, answering, said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of [the] Most High will overshadow you; wherefore also the Holy Thing that is begotten shall be called [the] Son of God.” (Worrell)
“And the angel answered and said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for which reason, also, that which is begotten, being holy, shall be called the Son of God.” (Anderson)
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and therefore [thine] holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.” (Worsley)
Also notice Matthew chapter one and verse twenty:
“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” (Mat. 1:20)
Jesus repeatedly referred to his Father, “the Spirit,” reminding them of his heavenly origin, and he never called the earthly Mary “mother.” The humanity of Jesus Christ is thus associated with the new, spiritual, “in Christ” man, whose Father is Jesus, “the giver of life,” and not with the perishable earthly man. The similarities of Jesus with the earthly man were two:
a) He was similar in shape
“Let ye same mynde be in you, which was in Christe Iesus: (who was born of Mary) Who beyng in the fourme of God, thought it not robbery to be equall with God. But made hym selfe of no reputation, takyng on him the fourme of a seruaut, and made in the lykenesse of men, and founde in figure (Grk txt: shape) as a man: He humbled hym selfe, made obedient vnto death, euen the death of the crosse.” (Philip. 2:5-8, Bishops)
b) He was similar in the sufferings he endured
“For verily not of angels doth he take hold, but he taketh hold of the seed of Abraham (“the children of the promise are counted for the seed” [Rom. 8:9]). Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Heb. 2:16-18, ERV)
“For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)
More about the flesh / body of Jesus
“For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;” (Heb. 2:14)
Likewise || Grk txt: παραπλησίως (G3898 Strong’s number) = in a manner near by, i.e., (figuratively) similarly.
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:” (Rom. 8:3)
“And he said to them, You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world.” (John, 8:23)
“I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins.” (John, 8:24)
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John, 6:51)
The resurrection of the dead earthly man
"And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” (Mat. 8:22)
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (I Cor. 15:42-44)
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (II Cor. 4:16)
“Do not lie to one another. Strip yourselves of the old man, with his deeds,
and clothe yourself with the new man, who has been renewed by knowledge, in accord with the image of the One who created him.” (Col. 3:9-10, CPDV)
The old man is the mortal, fleshly and perishable man who is “sown,” born by a father and a mother, while the new man is the spiritual one, the imperishable one, born within the earthly man by the heavenly Jesus who is a life-giving spirit.
“What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John, 3:6)
So the promise to Abraham was a statement that put in action the great and incomprehensible for the human mind plan of the love of God for the quickening through Jesus Christ of the spiritually dead -because of sin- man, and this happens through faith.
Biblical testimonies
“But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” (Mat. 8:22)
“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” (Luk. 15:24. I Tim. 6:19. I Cor. 15:42-49. John, 3:6)
Why he said, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” (Eph. 5:14)
Paul to Felix: “ ‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.” (Acts, 24:21b)
“Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:5-7)
The fulfillment of promise
“And Paul stood up, and beckoning with the hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, hearken […] And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” (Acts 13:16, 32-33 ASV)
Amen