Life of Abraham Series : Abraham Believed In the Lord
November 2024
“And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
—Gen. 15:6
This verse is one of the most important verses in all the Bible. In its simplicity, it is the doctrine of justification by faith. This truth is so great that Paul would center his teaching on the meaning of the new covenant around this one verse (Rom. 4:3).
Let’s define what justification by faith is, and how it is received.
Justification is, first, the act of a holy God declaring a believing sinner not guilty.
The next step is God declaring the believing sinner innocent. Now some would say that both statements are one and the same, but they’re not. In a court of law, a person can be found not guilty, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t commit the crime, just that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict. Because Christ bore our sin on Calvary’s cross, the righteous Judge can firmly declare that we are not guilty and innocent of all charges.
However, there is a third step to justification, and that is God declaring us not only not guilty, but justification also declares us perfect—as though we had never sinned a day in our lives.
In his book, Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible, Myer Pearlman said this: “The word ‘justify’ is a judicial term meaning to acquit, to declare righteous, to pronounce the sentence of acceptance. The illustration is taken from legal relations. The guilty one stands before God the righteous Judge; but instead of a sentence of condemnation he receives a sentence of acquittal.”1
So, in justification, we see the Lord canceling our sins and then granting to us the righteousness of Christ.
The means by which this is done is faith, as the text states, “And he [Abraham] believed in the Lord.” The key is believing. By use of the word believing, one must understand that this is more than mental assent; it is believing and then acting upon that belief, which is faith. Faith believes,and faith acts; we accept, and God pours out His grace.
Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
Abraham believed that God would send forth a Redeemer into the world, of which he would have a part through the birth of Isaac.
So it should be obvious that justification is completely centered in the cross of Christ. We see in Genesis 15:7-9 that God told Abraham to offer up five sacrifices—a heifer, a she goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. Five is the number of grace, and the grace of God was centered upon the sacrifices, which represented the sacrifice of God’s Son on Calvary’s cross.
Once faith is placed in the proper object—the cross—then and only then can we receive the wonderful gift of justification. There is no salvation, no justification in a person’s works no matter how noble those works may be.
The word it as found in Genesis 15:6 is very interesting. The “it” is the outstretched hand of faith of a sinner reaching out to God for salvation, which God grasps in His own to lift him out of the mire of sin. The “it” is what we do—our faith.
Upon Abraham’s faith, the Lord also granted him righteousness. The word righteousness literally means “right standing” or “rightness; the state of being right.” Pearlman said, “Applied to man, it means the state of being right with God. The word ‘right’ in the original means ‘straight,’ that which is conformed to a standard or rule. Therefore a righteous man is one whose life is lined up with God’s law.”2
As believers, we must never forget that it is faith and only faith that brings us justification and righteousness; and it is faith alone that keeps us justified and righteous.
In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul would write, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Faith brings us in, and faith in Christ and His victory on Calvary’s cross keeps us in.
SOURCES:
1Myer Pearlman, Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible (Springfield, Missouri: Gospel Publishing House, 1981).
2Ibid.