(REFLECTIONS ON Galatians 3:6-29, Galatians 4:1-11)

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

There is a children’s song called “Father Abraham.” The lyrics speak of Abraham being father of many sons: “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham.”

We may think of Abraham as the father of Israel, the nation, the chosen people of God. Indeed Israel was the descendant of Abraham that became a great nation. However, before Abraham became the father of Israel through Isaac, and his descendants, Abraham was the father of faith.

God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham believed in God’s promises and it was credited to him as righteousness. This is the point of emphasis in today’s Scripture. That is we must know that the promise, and believing in the promise, which was Abraham’s faith in God, came before the Law.

Yes, Abraham acted upon his faith and trusted in the Lord later when he had the opportunity to do so, but his faith came before his action, and his action came because of his faith.

Action isn’t necessarily faith, but the action that is a response to our faith is what connects us to Abraham.

Yes, we are sons and daughters of Abraham, not through the Law, not through the Israelites, but as descendants of Abraham’s belief and faith in God.

6 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

In Genesis 12:7, God said to Abraham, “To your offspring (seed) I will give this land.” Yes, Abraham is the father of Israel, the father of many descendants, but Paul reminds us that the offspring and seed wasn’t referring to Israel as Abraham’s offspring (seeds), but to Christ (seed). It is through Christ that God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled. This promise was established and Abraham believed in it before the law, before Israel, before the priests, the temple, and the Israelites.

The Israelites and the Law provided us a vision of God’s standard (Law) and God’s chosen people (Israelites), but that is only a vision of what was to be fulfilled in Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promises, and it is Christ that fulfilled the Law, and through Him we are taken into the holy arms of our Father, God as His sons and daughters.

When we sing the song, “Father Abraham” and sing that he had many sons, may we not think that this is referring only to the Israelites. For the sons the song talks about is not the sons of birth, but the sons and daughters of the promise that came before Isaac, Jacob, and Israel. That is why the song continues,

“Father Abraham, had many sons,
Many sons had father Abraham,
I am one of them and so are you,
So let’s just praise the Lord.”

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Galatians 3
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Galatians 4