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Commentary on "Old Testament Faith"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 4: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - Reckoned as Righteous

 

Overview

The topic now is: What does it mean to be ‘reckoned’ righteous? In the epistle of Galatians Paul directs our attention to Abraham and how he was declared righteous by God. The quarterly lesson then makes the valid point that Abraham’s obedience to God followed upon when God declared and reckoned him as righteous, not the other way around.

 

Observations

As pointed out in other commentary earlier this quarter, Paul confronts the question and need for Gentiles to become circumcised in the epistle of Galatians not so much because it would have been an act of obedience but because those who were circumcised were placing themselves under the requirements of the law enacted under the Old Covenant God made between himself and Israel. Those not circumcised were not subject to the requirements of the law. Those who were, unless set free by the gospel of Jesus Christ, were subject to the requirements of all the law. There are no shades of grey between being ‘under the law’ or ‘not under the law’. Anyone advocating the need for circumcision is attempting to place the Galatian Christians, Jew and Gentile, under the law of the Old Covenant, meaning all of this law.

In the lesson we are asked to turn to this verse:

And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and he (God) counted it to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:6 ESV)

The lesson then goes on to correctly point out that God placed into Abraham’s account imputed righteousness. Certainly, Abraham obeyed God but what the lesson fails to mention is that Abraham also sinned and failed many times. In fact, when God introduced the sign of circumcision as a sign of his eternal covenant with Abraham, both he and Sarah laughed at God when they heard they were going to have a son in their old age, Gen. 17:17 & 18:12. Abraham’s obedience, before or after God’s imputed righteousness was never a condition of the covenant God made with him.

Also, since God’s covenant with Abraham came something on the order of 430 years prior to the giving of the law, Abraham’s obedience that the bible mentions certainly had nothing to do with obedience to a set 613 laws that didn’t yet exist under another covenant that did not exist. This, in and of itself undermines the false claim that our present day obedience to Jesus Christ who certainly is both our Lord and Savior means we are still obligated to obey the ‘moral law’ contained within the Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant.

Summary

  1. The lesson correctly states that Abraham believed God and righteousness was credited to his account.
  2. While Abraham believed and obeyed God his obedience was never perfect and free of the consequence of his fallen sin nature. Right after he laughed at God at the announcement that he would have a son born of his wife Sarah is the very moment when God introduced the sign of circumcision.
  3. Abraham’s faith was founded upon belief in the promises of God. Obviously Abraham’s obedience was never a factor in God’s unconditional eternal covenant he made with him.
  4. With reference to the claim that the moral content of the Mosaic Law enacted under the Old Covenant is still binding, we need to understand what Paul is saying here in Galatians along with his other epistles. The written laws of the Old Covenant are now obsolete and didn’t even exist when God made his eternal unconditional covenant with Abraham.
  5. The faith and obedience of Abraham is the foundational faith of the New Covenant recorded in Hebrews chapter eleven and undergirds the true and only gospel message of Jesus Christ Paul is defending here in the epistle of Galatians.

 

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Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised October 18, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

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