Believe The Promiser

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:3 (NIV)

This statement about Abraham is foundational to our understanding of our salvation. Paul, writing here to the church in Rome, is going against the tide of doctrine taught and believed for generations. Even the great Abraham had not earned his standing before God but had received it as a gift when he believed God. Let’s look at Genesis 15:3, the context in which the statement first occurred.

God has made a promise to Abraham and that promise is a son—an heir through whom will come a great nation. The great nation will have a land all its own. But the promise rests on the foundation of a son for Abraham.

Abraham at this point is about seventy-five years old. He has no child. Abraham says, essentially, “How can you give me what you promised? How can you give me a land for my descendants or guarantee that they will become a great nation? You haven’t even given me a son!” He evaluates the empirical evidence and concludes it’s too late. The opportunity is past. He’ll have to make do with what he has.

“Then the LORD took Abram [later renamed “Abraham”] outside and said to him, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!’ And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:5-6).

Before, Abraham had believed the promise because what God promised was believable. He and Sarah were still in their childbearing years. Sure, he must have said to himself, that could happen. So Abraham believed the promise.

But now the promise was no longer “believable.” Sarah was past the age of childbearing. This time Abraham did something different. Abraham believed God, and he received the reward due the righteous. His faith rested in who God is. And God looked on Abraham’s faith and saw it as righteousness.

The same way we enter into faith, we walk in faith—by believing God. When circumstances belie the promise, we choose to believe God.

Father, I believe. Help my unbelief.

High degrees of true assurance cannot be enjoyed by those who persist in low levels of obedience.

Sinclair B. Ferguson(1948–), Scottish preacher and theologian