Tag Archives: Abraham

Clothed with Christ – Galatians 3

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waterAs we look at New Testament passages that teach us about baptism, it’s good to keep in mind that the main point of these passages isn’t baptism. That’s a striking contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Where the Mosaic Law gave specific ordinances about worship and how it was to be carried out, the New Testament lacks such code. We’re not told who can baptize, where they can baptize, when they can baptize, what kind of water is to be used…

With that in mind, we turn to Galatians 3, a passage which not only isn’t about baptism, but isn’t about the role of women, despite any lectures you might have heard at Pepperdine or read in other places. The theme of Galatians 3:1-4:7 is this: “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7) This passage is about who is a child of Abraham and, therefore, an heir of the promises made to Abraham. Any ideas we extract from these passages must be evaluated according to their place within that theme.

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26–29)

What is said about baptism is a part of this discussion. By being baptized into Christ, we cloth ourselves with Christ. This faith response makes us a son of God and “Abraham’s seed,” heirs of the promises made to Abraham.

I love that imagery… clothed with Christ. We used to sing a song when I was in college that says

I am covered over with the robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to me.
I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus and he lives in me.
What a joy it is to know my heavenly Father loves me so he gives to me my Jesus.
And when he looks at me he sees not what I used to be, but he sees Jesus.

The Bible & War: General Abraham?

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Bible & soldiersOK, I’m ready to start looking some at God’s people and war in the Bible. Genesis 14 seems like a good place to start, though someone may want to point out an earlier passage.

In Genesis 14, we see two groups of kings going to battle against one another. At this time, kings tended to rule over city states, rather than countries. In the ensuing fighting, Sodom is conquered and Abraham’s nephew lot is taken captive. So Abraham decides to rescue his nephew.

“When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” (Genesis 14:14)

That’s an intriguing verse. While Matthew Henry suggests that these men may have been religiously trained, that is, Abraham only took those who had faith in God. However, this phrase, while unique to the Bible, has been seen in other writings to refer to “armed retainers,” according to the NIV Study Bible. I would tend to think that in this context it’s referring to some sort of combat training. Which is in itself remarkable. What use did Abraham have of a fighting force, besides this one incident we see here? It’s a small army, granted. But it’s an army.

It should be noted, however, that Abraham did not pledge his loyalty to any of these kings, not even the king of Sodom. He refused to accept anything in payment.

Another interesting part of this story is the tribute Abraham pays to Melchizedek, the king of Peace. There is no record that Melchizedek’s people took part in the fighting, yet Melchizedek came out to bless Abraham.

Here’s our first foray into the fighting world of ancient times. What shall we make of it?

The Promise

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I’ve been around the church a long time. I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years. So it’s amazing to me how many basic things I’ve come to grasp only in recent years.

Like the promise to Abraham. I knew Abraham was important. I mean, three major religions count him as one of theirs. But I tended to lump Abraham in with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph & Co. And I certainly didn’t put him on the same plain with Moses.

What I just didn’t see was that the promises made to Abraham are the basis for just about all of the promises that follow. In fact, our salvation stems from the fact that we’ve been made spiritual heirs of Abraham. Read Romans 4. Galatians 3. For Paul, the promise to Abraham wasn’t part of the “Patriarchal Era.” It’s our promise, too. We have been made heirs of Abraham, heirs to the promise.

When Paul talks about us sharing in “the promise” (Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:29, Ephesians 3:6, etc.), he means that we now receive the benefits of the promise that God made to Abraham. God chose Abraham and his descendants to be His people. The only way we could become the people of God was to somehow share in that promise. It never went away, it was just amplified. Jesus gave us access to the promise, the promise made to Abraham.

I know, I know, you’re all saying “Duh! I’ve always known that.” It just takes longer for some of us to figure things out.

Puts singing “Father Abraham” in a whole new light.