The Heirs of the Covenant

The faith of uncircumcised Abraham provides an example for Jewish and Gentile believers who live from the faith of Jesus – Romans 4:11-17.

God began to implement His plan to redeem humanity by establishing His Covenant with Abraham, starting with the call for the Patriarch to leave his homeland for “the land I will show you.” Yahweh would produce a “great nation” from the Patriarch, and the covenant would bring blessings to all “the nations of the Earth,” and the promise of territory was central to it.

In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul presents Abraham as the great exemplar of faith, the model for every man and woman who chooses to live “from the faith of Jesus” to emulate. Paul also called Abraham “the Heir of the World.”

[Photo by Anastasiya Dalenka on Unsplash]

The original promise of territory finds its fulfillment in the coming resurrection of Jewish and Gentile believers who will dwell in the New Creation. The Patriarch and those who live from the same faith will inherit “the world,” the ‘kosmos’ [κοσμος] - (Genesis 17:4-5).

• “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned to them; and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircumcision. For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness from faith”- (Romans 4:11-13).

In the Book of Genesis, God declared Abraham “righteous” while he was uncircumcised. He was justified before God apart from the “works of the Law” or Torah that was given centuries later, and which would require the circumcision of all male Israelites.

• “And he brought him forth abroad and said: Look, now, toward the heavens and number the stars if you can number them. And He said to him, So will your seed be. And he trusted in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him for righteousness” – (Genesis 15:5-6).

• “For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed in God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness” – (Romans 4:3).

Because of his faith in the promise of God, Abraham became the “father” of everyone who is “from faith,” circumcised or not. All who are from that faith become heirs along with the Patriarch, and “coheirs with Jesus” – (Romans 8:17).

Paul’s reference to believers emulating the “faith of Abraham” is a verbal link to his explanation in the third chapter of Romans on how men are acquitted before God:

• “The righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all those who believe” – (Romans 3:21-24).

It is not generic faith or the simple exercise of faith that saves us, but the source, content, and target of that faith. Sinners are justified “from” (‘ek’ - εκ) the faith or faithfulness of Jesus, and they respond accordingly by placing faith in him and what God has accomplished through his Death and Resurrection.

It is Christ’s faithful act of “obedience unto death” that justifies and saves us, a very specific act of faith, namely, the sacrificial and obedient death of Jesus. All we can do is respond in faith to God’s gracious provision of salvation.

• “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him and gave unto him the name which is above every name” – (Philippians 2:8-9).

• “We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, yet knowing that a man is not justified from the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified from faith in Christ, and not from the works of the law, because from the works of the law no flesh will be justified <…> I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. I do not make void the grace of God, for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for no reason” – (Galatians 2:15-21).

HEIR OF THE COSMOS

The promise was to Abraham and “his seed,” and this group includes all men and women who walk according to the faith of Abraham. The inheritance is through faith and grace; therefore, the “promise is firm to all the seed.” God appointed Abraham to be the “Father of many nations,” not just Israel.

And so, the Apostle to the Gentiles has expanded and universalized the original promise of territory in Palestine to include “the world,” the Cosmos. All those who have been acquitted before God “from the faith of Jesus Christ” become heirs of the covenant promises. Ethnicity and nationality are irrelevant for every man and woman who is now in Christ:

• “There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female, for you are all one man in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise” – (Galatians 3:28-29).

The description of the Patriarch as “the heir of the world” and “the father of all who believe” anticipates the detailed discussion of our future hope in Romans Chapter 8. We have received the “Spirit of adoption” and call God “Father.” If we are His “children,” then are we also the “heirs of God” and “coheirs” with Jesus of the promises.

Abraham qualified for this inheritance because he believed in the promise of the same God who “raises the dead and calls the things that are not into being.” Paul applies this to the Patriarch’s belief that God would grant him “seed” as promised, namely, Isaac, even though Sarah’s womb was “dead.” Central to our salvation is our bodily resurrection.

Paul finds the fulfillment of the promise of land to Abraham as men and women from every nation are gathered into the Church. The Gospel is a fundamental part of the “Blessings of Abraham” promised for the Gentile nations, and its proclamation will conclude with our resurrection from the dead and life in the “New Heavens and New Earth.”

• “But, according to his promise, we look for the new heavens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells” – (2 Peter 3:13).

The Abrahamic Covenant finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the true “seed of Abraham,” and in the Good News of the Kingdom proclaimed by him and his followers to “the ends of the Earth,” “to every nation.”

As the Gospel progresses, God’s promises that Abraham would have “descendants as countless as the stars” and that through him “all the nations will be blessed” come to fruition, and in ways beyond anything that Abraham or Israel ever imagined.

What God began when He first called Abraham to leave “Ur of the Chaldees” finds its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth, his message, and God’s kingdom. All men who respond to the “faith of Jesus” with repentance and faith become “children of Abraham,” “coheirs with Christ,” and, therefore, “the heirs of the world,” along with our Father Abraham.

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SEE ALSO:

• From Faith - For Faith - (Men are not justified before God from the works of the Mosaic Law, but rather from the faith of Jesus Christ)

• The Inheritance of Abraham - (Believers are the heirs of Abraham, and the possession of their inheritance is secured by possession of the Gift of the Spirit)

• Yea and Amen in Jesus - (The promises of the Hebrew Bible are fulfilled in and by the Son of God and Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth)

• Os herdeiros da Aliança - (The promises of the Hebrew Bible are fulfilled in and by the Son of God and Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth)