Abraham Believed God
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” – Romans 4:3
Note the area from which the text is quoted by the apostle in Romans, he is citing Genesis 15, the context of this is soon after the war with the kings of the nations when Lot was kidnapped with all of the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, (he was carried away quite literally with the riches of this world, this will happen to all who fall into the same trap!) he had tithed with the king and priest of Salem, and Abraham had made a vow to God before the king of Sodom that he would not take of his goods, for he desired not that someone of this world should enrich him. Then, at the beginning of chapter fifteen, a remarkable visitation of God was given to Abraham by a vision. He declared “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.” Then began to expound on His promise. From this we get “Abraham believe in the LORD…” and from that it transfers to Romans, as “Abraham believed God.”
ribute to Abraham-Kierkegaard
ReplyDeleteFear and Trembling consists of four restatements of how Abraham handled the situation on whether to sacrifice his own son (Isaac) or not. Kierkegaard presents the first tribute saying that Abraham makes a decision to kill Isaac because it was God’s own will. Abraham would rather have his own child to lose faith in him, than for Abraham to lose faith in the Lord. Kierkegaard writes that “Abraham believed and did not doubt,” God even if it cost him his own son “whom he loves.”( pg 17)
As Christians, we understand and find out the meaning of the test Abraham goes through with the use of the holy bible. In reality, anyone can see it as such a preposterous action to have to “thrust a knife” in our own child’s chest. I pondered and thought about how I would react if God asked me to give my own child as an offering? What would you do? First, I would probably try to test if that’s really God’s will ( I know, it’s different from what Abraham did) but, I would just because even in the bible, it said that murder is against what God wants. Second, I would pray and fast about the decision, so that my spirit will be ready when the time comes. Third, I would probably try to explain to my child the reason behind the sacrifice-so that we can honor God and obey what He wants, because I would want my child to understand what it means to a real follower of Christ. I’m sure a lot would disagree with what I would do as an action, and I probably would not comprehend how much heartbreak it can cause because I am not in that position. But one thing, I know for sure is that, Abraham’s act of faith-was not a joke and was an outstanding example of how we all should be!
The book emphasizes on the religious and ethical perspectives. According to the author, murder is wrong- ethically and wrong in society’s standards, although in God’s eyes, obedience is first, even if it involves killing. He wants his children to obey for a purpose. What purpose? So that we can trust that there is something good in what we think is bad. (Yes, serial killers with psychological problems can use this as an excuse to kill, but a real child of God will know the difference between an evil intention and a religions action) We will never understand the reasons on why God lets things happen, but since He is our Creator, He would not let any harm happen to us. It’s like walking down in a dark alley and you only see that SCARY path you are walking on, but God is looking down from a giant LIGHTHOUSE and He can only see what is on the other side of the scary path. (the other side maybe the most beautiful thing) The reason why I am talking about this is because, in the bible Abraham was asked to offer his son, for testing, but in the end, God had the perfect plan, and did not let Abraham touch his son. With that said, we should still have faith in God even if the society does not approve.