Credited as Righteousness

Hello everyone.

We will continue in Galatians 3 as Paul uses Abraham to make his case.  Here is my translation of Gal. 3:6-7: 

 6 Consider Abraham.  He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. 7 You should know then, that those who are of  faith are the children of Abraham. 

Paul restates what Genesis 15:6 says about Abraham.  “He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Note that it does not say, “He obeyed the Law and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

Abraham and Sarah are well past childbearing age when this story starts, 75 and 65 respectively.  When God promises him offspring that outnumber the stars in the heavens, Abram believes the promise, even though it seems so ridiculous that such a promise could be true. God blesses Abraham's faith. Douglas Moo explains it this way, “God graciously viewed Abraham’s faith as having in itself fulfilled all that God expected of Abraham in order for him to be in the right before God.”  (Moo, 188.) Moo’s point is that for the Galatians, it was their faith, not their adherence to the Law that led them to be in a right relationship with God. 

Paul follows in verse 7 with “You should know then, that those who have faith are the children of Abraham”. So, when we are like Abraham, and live by our faith, we become his children, whether we are Jew or Gentile.  

By using Abraham here, Paul is using one of the big heroes of the Jewish faith and of these agitators and making his arguments against their teachings. They were probably using Abraham in their arguments for circumcision, saying that the covenant established in Genesis 17 was still binding. But Paul uses Abraham's story of faith to demolish their arguments.  

Food for thought: 

• Abraham was considered righteous at 75 because he believed God’s promise.  He was 99 when he was circumcised.  It was his faith, not his circumcision that made him righteous.  He obeyed, and submitted to circumcision because of his faith.  Abraham was considered righteous for 24 years before his circumcision.
• In John 8:31 and following Jesus has a discussion with a group of Jews that involves many of the same themes that Paul is using here in Galatians 3, Abraham, slavery and freedom.  His audience claimed Abraham as their father and stated that they had never been slaves of anyone.  Jesus challenges their claims, saying that they were not really free and not really Abraham’s children. Soon they resort to insults and name-calling, and eventually pick up stones to kill him. 

Anyway, back to Paul.  He is saying in verse 7, that being a Jew doesn’t make you a child of Abraham, faith does.  Ethnicity has nothing to do with it.  Now, anyone can be a child of Abraham, if they have faith. So it is faith, not adherence to the Law that 1) justifies us and 2) makes us children of Abraham.

The phrase in Greek that Paul uses here is Οἱ Ἐκ Πίστεως (hoi ek pisteōs) A literal translation would be “those of faith.”  I translated it as “those who are of faith” to make the English a little smoother, but either way, the meaning is clear.  Moo describes like this, those “whose identity is derived from faith.” (Moo, 197.) I would say like this, “those who view life through the lenses of faith are the children of Abraham and are justified.” So, just as Abraham’s standing before God came because of his faith, so it is with us, as well.