Commentaries:
The promises to Abraham include that he would be heir of the world. Jesus Christ confirmed those promises and became Heir of them. "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29)! From the time of Abraham, God has been working to establish, preserve, and expand Abraham's family and fulfill His purpose.
John W. Ritenbaugh
God's Promises Are Sure!
Abraham is the father of the physical nation God elected to work in and through, and he is also the father of those He calls to be part of His forming spiritual nation. Appreciating Abraham as the father of the physical nation is easy, but seeing him as father of the spiritual nation is not so simple, as we are more apt to think that, because God begets us, He is our spiritual Father. We must therefore see Abraham's spiritual fatherhood in a different light.
The Jews of Jesus' day did not grasp Abraham's spiritual fatherhood correctly. Jesus gives the answer to this perplexing title in John 8, where a great deal of the dialogue involves ancestry.
"And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. . . . I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." They said to Him, 'Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also." . . . Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." (verses 16, 18-19, 28-29)
Abraham's spiritual fatherhood soon becomes the focus of Jesus' instruction:
They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?" . . . "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father." They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this." (John 8:33, 37-40)
Members of the same family bear a likeness to one another. It is this principle that designates who is a spiritual child of Abraham. It is not a matter of physical resemblance but a similarity of moral and spiritual attitude and behavior. Christ designates that resemblance to be believing God as Abraham did, as well as doing the works that he did. In the larger picture, a spiritual descendant of Abraham will grow and overcome, gradually changing into the spiritual image of Jesus Christ.
The factor that set Abraham apart above all others was that faith drove, motivated, inspired, and guided—sometimes dramatically—what he did with his life. Thus, Abraham is not only the physical progenitor of Israelites but also the spiritual, moral pattern that his descendants are to conform to.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Christian Fight (Part Six)
Before all else, God requires a person to have faith in order to be justified. Then, he must repent of his sins (Psalm 51; Matthew 3:1-2; Acts 2:37-38; 3:19) and upon baptism, be born from above (or made spiritually alive) by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8). Much more than a simple human decision, justification is God's recognition and acceptance of an individual's repentance and decision to be baptized. At that time, a faithful individual becomes a part of the Body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13) through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit (Romans 8:10; Galatians 2:20; I John 3:24).
Martin G. Collins
Are You Justified?
Circumcision represents any work or any body of works that an individual might attempt to use as payment—they are unacceptable for this use, any and all of them.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Christian Fight (Part Four)
God justifies us. He does it freely. One of His purposes for doing so is that the promises may be sure.
The Jews have a saying, "How can a man enter into a right relationship with God so that he, too, may inherit the promises?" They understood the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. They wanted to be able to participate in it, so they posed this question. Their answer: "He must do so by acquiring merit in the sight of God through doing good works, which the law prescribes." That is to say, by one's own effort.
However, as Paul describes here, justification through works, if it were even possible, would destroy the promises of God because no man can keep the law fully! If nobody can keep the law, because the giving of the promises depends on keeping the law, then God cannot give the promises. No one would ever qualify.
So God, wanting to ensure that the promises are given, justifies a person of His own free will. He blesses us, so that we can qualify to receive the promises on the basis of His grace. We had better be glad He does it this way, or we could never be co-inheritors of what Abraham is promised.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Grace Upon Grace
