Consider Abraham

Hey.

As we progress through Galatians we get to Gal. 3:6.  Paul says "Consider Abraham.  He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."  

Paul is going to use one of the great heroes of his detractors, Abraham, to show the weakness of their arguments.  So, to understand what Paul is talking about here, it is important to understand Abraham’s story.  His story is told in Genesis chapters 12-25. Today, we will look at some of the highlights of Abraham's story as they apply to Paul's argument in Galatians. 

In Gen. 12, God calls Abraham to go to a land that He would show him.  In verses 2-3, God promises to make Abraham into a great nation, and that through him all nations would be blessed. Abraham believed God and left his homeland. He was 75 years old at the time. (12:4)

A little later, in Gen. 15:2-3 Abraham reminds God that he is still childless, and that his heir was a servant in his household.  God assures Abraham that he would have a son to be his heir (verses 4-5) Gen. 15:6  says “Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.” So, even though it seems impossible for a couple the advanced age of Abraham and Sarah to have a child, Abraham believed in spite of the impossibility, and God credits Abraham faith as righteousness. Paul repeats Galatians 15:6 in Gal. 3:6 as evidence to support his argument. 

Chapter 16 deals with Sarah and Hagar and the birth of Ishamel.  Verse1 tells us that Sarah had still not borne Abraham a child.  They were getting to be very old, way beyond normal child-bearing years, so Sarah tries to force the promise by giving Abram her slave Hagar to have a child with.  At this point Abram is 85, as 16:3 says that he had been living in Canaan for 10 years. 

When Hagar conceives, things start to go awry.  Part of the problem was that this thing with Hagar was never God’s plan.  Hagar, now carrying Abraham’s child, begins to show contempt for Sarah, and so a lot tension exists between Abraham's wife, and the soon-to-be mother of his child.  Sarah blames Abraham, even though it was her idea, not his.  She sends Hagar away, but God sends her back.  She gives birth to a son, and names him Ishmael, which means, “A God who sees.” 

There is a 13 year time jump between chapter 16 and 17, and now Abraham is 99 years old.  God promises again that he will make him into a great nation, in fact, now the promise is that he will be father of many nations. It is here that God establishes the covenant of circumcision.  Abraham and every male in his household are circumcised.  Abraham was 99 and Ishmael 13 when they were circumcised. 

Abraham asks that Ishmael be the child of the promise.  (v. 18) God promises to bless Ishmael, but He tells Abraham that Ishmael is not the child of the promise, and that even in old age, Sarah would give Abraham a son. 

Finally, in chapter 21 at the age of 100, Abraham becomes the father of Isaac.  Sarah was 90 at that point. Isaac is born. He is the child of the promise.  

Abraham holds a great feast one the day that young Isaac is weaned.  Sarah notices that the teenaged Ishmael is mocking little Isaac, and gets angry.  She demands that Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away, saying in verse 10, “that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son.”  God talks to Abraham and tells him to listen to Sarah.  Isaac is to be the son of the promise, and Ishmael, the son of the slave is not.  Although it distresses Abraham, he complies, and sends them away.  This story is central to what Paul is about to talk about.  There are mothers and two sons.  Paul uses one to represent slavery and the other to represent freedom as he continues make his plea for grace and against legalism.