what Did Abraham Do to gain Approval of God?

Ah, my favorite verse.....

"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." (James 2:23)

What did Abraham do? Abraham believed God!

It is all God ever asked us to do from Adam to present to future.

 

GENESIS 26 [3] Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, AND UNTO THY SEED, I will give all these countries, and I WILL PERFORM THE OATH WHICH I SWARE UNTO ABRAHAM thy father; [4] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; [5] BECAUSE THAT ABRAHAM OBEYED MY VOICE, and kept my charge, MY COMMANDMENTS, my statutes, and MY LAWS.

Yeah, the same for us today

 

God chose Abram prior to his belief, not due to it later on. Nothing in the passage you misuse proves your fallacy. No wonder 'the church' is in such error with misinterpretations such as yours.

 

So Abram earned salvation?

 

All saved are the chosen Elect of God according to the foreknowledge of God. God called Abraham, and Abraham believed! God knowing Abraham would believe does not nullify Abraham's freewill to believe. God called Judas, and Judas chose not to believe. Many are called, few are chosen.

 

what Did Abraham Do to gain Approval of God? Is that the question I answered? Where do you see the word salvation?

 

By your 'the same for us today' and its inference. :wavey:

 

Nothing. God called him according to purpose.

Abraham was like a yo yo on the end of a string. Up and down, up and down. The faith of Abraham was the hand the other end of the string was tied to.

Abraham and his one seed Christ had the promise of God which was to come through that one seed.

That promise was the faith Abraham died in. The to come Christ, the seed of Abraham, was the faith of Abraham.

 

Abraham died in faith not having received the promises.

Abraham is still dead in faith and still has not received the promises? Yet he is heir of the world.

The faith of Abraham, his seed, was born of woman lived around thirty three years and gave his life, that is he also died.

This is he to come to whom the promise of inheritance was made; See Gal. 3:18,19

He and only he to date has received the promises.

Because of the faith of the seed of Abraham we can be imputed with the same righteousness that Abraham was imputed with. Through the faith of his promised seed Christ.


When did the seed of Abraham receive the promises?

 

I posted the above scripture

One replys I made a point of being saved. Salvation. Still don't see where I made that claim.

Another replys "So Abram earned salvation". I simply posted the scripture. I gave no interpretation. I didn't write the book. So Preacher4truth if you got the feeling from reading that scripture that Abe earned his salvation, Youll have to deal with your own head and what you've been taught, not mine.

PS- Gen.26 has nothing to do with salvation

 

Greetings Yeshua1,

Genesis 22:15-18 (KJV): 15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Hebrews 11:17-19 (KJV): 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Kind regards
Trevor

 

Greetings again Yeshua1,

The following is also connected with the two quotations made in the previous post.
Hebrews 6:9-20 (KJV): 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Kind regards
Trevor

 

It wasn't simply that Abraham believed God. It was that Abraham believed something SPECIFIC about God:

Gal 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.​

The scripture says that the moment Abraham believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he was made righteous. He was saved. Abraham looked forward, we look backward, but the faith is the same faith that saves us today. In fact, all believers are called children of Abraham. This is what is meant when God said he would be the "father of many nations." Jesus Christ himself confirms this in John 8:

Jhn 8:33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do what Abraham did.
41 “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”​

-

Gal 3:7
Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.​

Rom 4:9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
10 How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;
11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,​

The Apostle Paul makes clear that Abraham was made righteous by his faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ BEFORE he followed any law... even before circumcision. In fact, the story of Abraham's salvation by faith is where God institutes circumcision.

Circumcision, then, is a SIGN or representation of things to come. It represents what Romans 7-8 says:

Rom 7:21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Rom 8:10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.​

So this condition of having a righteous, inner, man contained in an unrighteous flesh is exactly what picture circumcision is meant to convey. To "live" in the law, one has to first shed the unrighteous outer flesh, just as it is for us who are saved by faith. We too will shed the unrightous outer flesh one day.

Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Col 2:11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

Gal 6:15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.​

 

Oh, BTW Yeshua1:

Gal 3:17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.​

The Law was given 430 years after Abraham was made righteous by his faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Law was completely unnecessary for Abraham to be made righteous.

 

And yet

GENESIS 26 [3] Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, AND UNTO THY SEED, I will give all these countries, and I WILL PERFORM THE OATH WHICH I SWARE UNTO ABRAHAM thy father; [4] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; [5] BECAUSE THAT ABRAHAM OBEYED MY VOICE, and kept my charge, MY COMMANDMENTS, my statutes, and MY LAWS.