“…just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”
Paul now turns to arguments for grace through faith from Scripture. He takes up the case of how God justified Abraham, the first Jew. Abraham lived before the Mosaic Law. There were no Ten Commandments in his day. God did not give those […]
Archive for February, 2000
“Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham”
Therefore
Paul draws a conclusion from the quotation from Genesis 15:6. Paul whacks a great wallop against the Judaizers by relating Abraham to the principle of grace. The legalists taught that a person became a Jew by circumcision but Abraham became a Jew […]
“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’”
And the Scripture,
Paul says that Scripture foresaw the Gentiles coming to faith in the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:3). When the legalists argue against “faith” salvation, they argue against […]
“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’”
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
Paul personifies Scripture as foreseeing the Gentiles coming to salvation by faith.
preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand,
God preached the […]
“So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham”
So then
Paul draws the inference from his preceding argument that those who place their faith in Christ receive justification just as Abraham did.
those who are of faith
A person must appropriate salvation by faith. The emphasis is upon belief in this verse in […]
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’”
Paul now turns to an argument that shows how inconsistent it is to think that […]
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’”
for it is written,
Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 to demonstrate the law requires perfection for […]
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’”
in all things
The law demands perfection. If we break one point of the law, […]
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’”
which are written in the book of the law,
This phrase refers to the entire […]
“But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith’”
Paul argues from another Scripture in this verse (Habakkuk 2:4). Hypothetically, if a man in his own estimation should “continue in all things to do them” (3:10), he would not escape God’s curse […]