Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
“Fine. Have it your way.” That usually means trouble for the recipient. Woe to those who get what they wish. Paul was dealing with trouble in the Galatian churches. Some were saying that true sons of Abraham must follow Jewish laws and customs, including circumcision, even as Christians. This counterargument by Paul is bluntly stated in Galatians 2:21. If you could do it that way, Christ died for nothing. Paul said here that Abraham was a man of faith and his faith was counted as righteousness. Therefore, faith makes us sons of Abraham.
There are those in Christian circles today that still call on us to attain sonship by performing rituals and abstaining from certain things. God promised Abraham that all the nations would be blessed. Then Jesus came and all the nations are blessed. All those with faith now become children of God, not just Abraham. God, through Abraham, had a plan for the Gentiles where the righteous would live by faith and be justified by it. That is good news for anyone who feels cursed by the world. Jesus Christ took the curse on himself on the cross. All we need to do is believe the promise he made that all who believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. You have a choice. You can have it your way, do good works, don’t do bad works. Or you can have…
The Way.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church