Abraham is the father of
faith
Writer: Kepenes D. Evangelos
(01/24/18)
Bible verses from LXXE, ESV2011, AKJV
and others if they fit better with the Grk text
Apostle Paul to Romans
“For what said the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness ……. How was
it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised;
that righteousness might be imputed to them also. And the father of circumcision to
them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of
that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.” (Rom.
4:3, 10-11)
“As it is
written, I have made you a father of many nations, before him whom he believed,
even God, who vivifies the dead, and
calls those things which be not as though they were.” (Rom. 4:17)
So
the promise of the one God to Abraham that he will become
the father of a multitude of nations
spoke of the quickening of the spiritually dead Jewish and gentiles.
“In hope of eternal
life, which God, who can not lie, promised
be fore the times of the ages, but he has in
his own times manifested his word by preaching,
which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;”
(Tit. 1:2-3, Anderson)
“That the
blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal. 3:14)
The same promise cancels out any nationalistic and
biological interpretation of Pharisaic Judaism for revival and worldwide
domination of the earthly kingdom of Israel. It was a promise of God, which surpassed the narrow limits of the genealogically
fleshly Jewish nation and embraced all the children of faith regardless of their earthly nationality. Any biological or
national religious perception of the promise is untrue. God did not say to
Abraham that he would be the biological father of all nations, but he made him the father of the faith of the children
of the promise who are fatherless, motherless, non-genealogical in relation to
the cosmic creation, because the members of the household, the living children of God, is a
spiritual living nation, a holy nation.
“But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (I Pet. 2:9)
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God.” (John, 1:12-13)
And to your seed, who is Christ [the Life]
Nor
when he said to him “and to your seed”
did he mean the perishable biological seed, because the biological man is sown, he is born in corruption, in dishonor and in weakness. But, by
establishing Abraham as the father of faith, he told him about the heavenly man Jesus Christ, who, as
a life-giving spirit, raises within the psychic, perishable
and mortal body of the earthly men the
inner spiritual man through faith
and acceptance in Jesus.
“If there is a
natural body, there is also a
spiritual body.” (I Cor. 15:42-44)
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (II Cor. 4:16)
So
the promise spoke of a spiritual living
creation. It spoke of a spiritual
body, a new man who would be born of imperishable spiritual seed, the word of God, who is the heavenly and not an earthly Jesus Christ.
“Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of
imperishable, through the living
and abiding word of God;” (I Peter to Hebrews, 1:23)
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
(II Cor. 5:17)
The flesh/body of Jesus Christ
Flesh = sarx||body||form||man (Stamatakos Grk Dictionary, see also Liddell
Scott)
“And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.” (John, 1:14)
Jesus is the
life and the resurrection. The man
Jesus Christ had glory as of the
only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, he was not full of
“dishonor” like the spiritually dead
biological man, but he was “the word of
life who became man,” the eternal
life itself, the life of the eternal Father, the self of God, and not another god. (I John, 1:1-3)
Compare: “the Word
became flesh || God was
manifest in the flesh || for the
life was manifested.” (John, 1:14, I Tim. 3:16, I John, 1:2)
“That which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked on, and our hands have
handled, of the Word of life; For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and
show to you that (Grk: the) eternal life, which was with (Grk:
towards, to) the Father, and was
manifested to us;” (I John, 1:2,
AKJV)
“For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;” (John, 5:26)
The body of Jesus is the dwelling place, the house, of the fullness of the
invisible God, the temple of the one
God, who does not dwell in handmade
temples. The quickened ones through Jesus, the spiritual children of the
promise, are also within Christ, “in
Christ,” in the real non-handmade
temple, and they are the true living
worshipers, “in spirit and in truth,” of God the
Father who dwells “in Christ.” (Col. 2:9)
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.” (John, 14:6, 2:20-21)
Jesus was not
sown as the biological man is sown, but he is the fulfillment of the promise
to Abraham, the living word of God, the heavenly man, who gives life to the spiritually dead men.
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world.”
(John, 6:51)
“For the bread of God is he which comes down from
heaven, and gives life to the world.”
(John, 6:33)
“I am the living bread that came down
from heaven,” just as the manna was from
heaven; and he is “the imperishable seed”
that gives life and bears the spiritual
man.
Life-giving Spirit
The “holy one” born in the womb of Mary
was from the Holy Spirit, that’s why
Jesus Christ is a “Life-giving Spirit.”
(I Cor. 15:45)
“And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy
Ghost shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be
called the Son of God.” (Luk. 1:35, AKJV)
In the gospel
of Luke 1:35 Greek text omits the words “of you.” Let’s see
other versions
“And the angel, answering, said to her, The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of [the] Most High
will overshadow you; wherefore also the
Holy Thing that is begotten shall be called [the] Son of God.”
(Worrell)
“And the angel answered and said to her: The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
for which reason, also, that which is
begotten, being holy, shall be called the Son of God.” (Anderson)
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The holy
Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee, and therefore [thine] holy offspring shall be
called the Son of God.” (Worsley)
Also notice Matthew chapter one and verse twenty:
“But while he thought on these things, behold, the
angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David,
fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” (Mat. 1:20)
Jesus repeatedly referred to his Father, “the Spirit,” reminding them of his heavenly origin, and he never
called the earthly Mary “mother.” The humanity
of Jesus Christ is thus associated with the new, spiritual, “in
Christ” man, whose Father is Jesus, “the giver of life,”
and not with the perishable earthly
man. The similarities of Jesus with the earthly man were two:
a)
He was similar in shape
“Let ye same mynde be in you, which was in Christe Iesus: (who was born of Mary) Who beyng in
the fourme of God, thought it not
robbery to be equall with God. But made hym
selfe of no reputation, takyng on him the fourme of a seruaut, and made in the lykenesse of men, and
founde in figure (Grk txt: shape) as a man: He humbled
hym selfe, made obedient vnto death, euen the death of the crosse.” (Philip.
2:5-8, Bishops)
b) He
was similar in the sufferings he endured
“For verily not of angels doth he take
hold, but he taketh hold of the seed of Abraham (“the children of the promise are
counted for the seed” [Rom. 8:9]). Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the
people. For in that
he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are
tempted.” (Heb. 2:16-18, ERV)
“For we have not a high priest that
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)
More about the flesh / body of Jesus
“For as much then as the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;” (Heb. 2:14)
Likewise || Grk txt:
παραπλησίως (G3898 Strong’s
number) = in a manner near by, i.e., (figuratively)
similarly.
“For what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh:” (Rom. 8:3)
“And he said to them, You are from beneath; I am from
above: you are of this world; I
am not of this world.” (John, 8:23)
“I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your
sins: for if you believe not that I am
he, you shall die in your sins.” (John, 8:24)
“I am the
living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the
world.” (John, 6:51)
The resurrection of the spiritually dead -because of sin- earthly men
“So also is the
resurrection of the dead. It is sown
in corruption; it is raised in
incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (I Cor. 15:42-44)
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (II
Cor. 4:16)
“Do not lie to one another. Strip yourselves of the old
man, with his deeds,
and clothe
yourself with the new man, who has
been renewed by knowledge, in accord
with the image of the One who created
him.” (Col. 3:9-10, CPDV)
The old man is the mortal, fleshly and
perishable man who is “sown,” born
by a father and a mother, while the new
man is the spiritual one, the imperishable one, born within the earthly man by the heavenly Jesus who is a life-giving spirit.
“What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John, 3:6)
So
the promise to Abraham was a statement
that put in action the great and incomprehensible for the human mind plan of
the love of God for the quickening
through Jesus Christ of the spiritually
dead -because of sin- man, and this happens through faith.
Biblical
testimonies
“But Jesus
said to him, Follow me; and let the dead
bury their dead.” (Mat. 8:22)
“For this my son was
dead, and is alive again; he was
lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” (Luk. 15:24. I Tim. 6:19. I Cor.
15:42-49. John, 3:6)
Why he said, Awake
you that sleep, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give you
light.” (Eph. 5:14)
Paul to Felix: “ ‘It is with
respect to the resurrection of the dead
that I am on trial before you this day.” (Acts, 24:21b)
“Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened
us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
(Eph. 2:5-7)
The fulfillment of promise
“And Paul stood up, and
beckoning with the hand said, Men of
Israel, and ye that fear God,
hearken ………… And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the
fathers, that God hath
fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also
it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee.” (Acts 13:16, 32-33 ASV)
Amen
