R&I – FS
For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring[a] all nations on earth will be blessed,[b] 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”
What Paul says “13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Additional context needed to not believe what the bible says:
From a poster in my previous Post “Before he could know what God wanted him to do Abraham had to have the right relationship with God and in order to do what God commanded Abraham had to have complete faith in God.”
From the very first interaction between God and the character Abram, we have God issuing commands. There is no”relationship” backstory. Until the end, Abraham is doing what God says to do. In fact, these commands are so important that if parents fail to circumcise an 8 day old boy, the infant with no free will of its own, would be cut off from God because the infant broke covenant with God. Let that sink in a little.
God never says believe in me, or have faith in me or have a relationship with me. God appears directly to Abraham and tells him directly to do X action, and Abraham does it.
God even reiterates this contract again “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Notice that it does not say “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to have faith in me and have a relationship with me.”.
And speaking of faith, doesn’t that mean trusting the lord with all your heart? Abraham has no faith in what God is about to do to those in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[e] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
There is no faith in this exchange. If there was Abraham would have “believed” God was about to do the right thing and not question him.
Do you believe God rewarded Abraham because of his faith or because “,[b] 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”?
If you believe God rewarded Abraham because of his faith, what textual evidence in the OT do you have that makes you conclude this?
If you are a Christian and you believe what it says “,[b] 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” how do you justify still believing Paul speaks for God?
If Paul gets this basic fact about Judaism wrong, how can you trust anything he says?
Roger Mills
Article URL : https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2026&version=NIV