Genesis 15:1-6
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
“… ” 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. …”
The Apostle Paul uses this verse in Romans 3 to argue that it is faith, rather than works, that brings salvation. Abram is made righteous, not by his acts of obedience, but by trusting in the word of the Lord. Paul says that it’s the same with us. We are made righteous before God, not by obeying the law but by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for our sins and rose again to give us new life. That is the basic teaching of the Church.
The difficulty arises as folks attempt to practice this belief. Instead of trusting in the Word of the Lord witnessed here in Genesis and reiterated by Paul in Romans, they devolve into thinking that it is by their acts of obedience that they are saved. While obeying the Word of the Lord is important to our lives of faith and our participating in the world around us, it will not justify us before God.
We are not saved by obeying the law. We are saved by God’s grace receive through faith. This Paul makes abundantly clear in Romans and throughout his writings. Martin Luther and others picked this up during the Protestant Reformation in Europe and it forms the foundational teaching of the Church today.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for Your abundant grace that delivers us from sin, death, and the devil. Help me to remember that is it by faith in Your grace that I am saved. Amen.