“Just as Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness” (Galatians 3:6)
A common misconception about salvation for Old Testament
believers like Abraham centers on how they were saved. We know that the New Testament era has brought
salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Ephesians 2:8-9).
But what was the way before Christ died on the cross?
Abraham represents the beginning of the Jewish people. It
would be through his family that all people of the earth would be blessed
(Genesis 22:18). In many ways, Abraham was the first Jew, the earthly father of
their nation. But Abraham was not always a God-fearer! God change his Abraham. Abram’s
name to In fact, Abraham was born and
raised in Ur of the Chaldees, which is in modern Iraq, near Nasiriyah in the
southeastern part of the country. Joshua 24:2 says that Abraham and his father
worshiped idols. So Abraham was a gentile, who became a believer, but how did
this happen?
Following a struggle with the promise, God gave Abraham over
his heir. In Genesis 15, Abraham suggested that God use Eliezer of Damascus.
Eliezer was born as a slave in his house. He must have been like a son to him.
But this was not God’s plan. God reaffirmed his promise to Abraham, and Genesis
15:6 says, “Abram BELIEVED the Lord, and He credited it to him as
righteousness.” Salvation came to Abraham the same way it comes to us, by
believing the Lord’s promises. Notice the verse does not say:
• “Abram offered
burnt offerings to the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”
• “Abram prayed
harder to the Lord, and He credited it….”
• “Abram kept the
commands of the Lord, and He credited it…”
The verse reads he BELIEVED! What was required for Old
Testaments to be saved? It was salvation through belief in God’s promises. The
Hebrew construction translated “Believed” means to place trust in someone with
confidence(Exodus 19:9; 1 Sam 27:12). In this verse, Abram’s trust is placed in
the Lord, whom he believes will carry out his promise. Genesis 15:6, emphasizes
that Abram “entrusted his future to what God would do for him as opposed to
what he could do for himself to obtain the promises.”[1]
Abraham had continued to believe in the Lord. Abraham received salvation the
same way we do, by trusting God and his promises. He was not saved through
law-keeping, he was saved through belief in God and believing God’s promises.
What about you do you believe and trust God?
[1] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New
American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 166.
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