Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 4.

Title: Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 4.  

 

GAL 3:6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

 

GAL 3:7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

 

The Judiazers were under the impression that if anyone was to participate in the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant, justification, they had to be inducted into Judaism by circumcision.

 

GAL 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [present tense: God justifies] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [long before he was circumcised], saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you."

 

By the use of the word "and," Paul asserts that the blessing of Abraham, namely, the one he received from God, justification, was received by him through faith, and that it is through the exercise of a like faith that the Gentiles become his spiritual children, and not through submission to circumcision.

 

blessed - justification by faith. We would have to add all that comes with that justification as grace gifts to the believer.

 

We also have in verse 8 a wonderful expression of God's foresight. God saw the justification of the Gentiles almost 2000 years before it would happen.

 

GAL 3:9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

 

The Gentile by faith becomes a child of Abraham. This is not a genetic thing but an ethical thing. He does not become a Jew. Metaphorically speaking, faith in the gospel promise is akin to the one who had faith in the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant.

 

Abraham became the pattern to all who would follow, of how a sinner, Jew or Gentile, must appropriate salvation.

 

We’ll come back to this. Let’s see our Lord speak of the same thing.

 

JOH 8:56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

 

When Abraham believed God's promise in Gen 12, it was as good as seeing it. He saw it/Him and was glad.

 

Abraham believed that a day would come when all the families of the earth would be blessed through his future progeny.

 

JOH 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

 

JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " 

 

JOH 8:33 They [unbelieving Jews who were listening] answered Him, "We are Abraham's offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You shall become free'?"

 

JOH 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits [practices continually] sin is the slave of sin.

 

JOH 8:35 "And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

 

JOH 8:36 "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

The Son of God sets man free to become a son who has a new heart, the indwelling Spirit, the word etched on his heart, complete remission of sins - he cannot continually sin any longer.

 

JOH 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's offspring [racially/genetically]; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

 

They are Abraham's genetic offspring, but are they his "sons?"

 

GAL 3:7

Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

 

JOH 8:38 "I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father."

 

Notice that Jesus describes His own relationship with the Father as "seen" and their relationship with their father (Satan) as heard.

 

JOH 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.

 

The sons should have traits of the father. If Abraham was their father, then they would have had the faith of Abraham, and if they did, they would not be trying to kill the Lord of Glory, the God of Abraham. Abraham's deeds were all based on faith.

 

JOH 8:40 "But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.

 

JOH 8:41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."

 

They upped their claim from Abraham being their father to God being their father. This is a mistake. If they did not do the deeds of Abraham they certainly did not do the deeds of God.

 

The child of God, the son of Abraham (Jew or Gentile) loves the Lord and does the deeds of the Lord. This is a grace gift in an unconditional covenant.

 

JOH 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.

 

If Abraham were your father then you would have believed Me and not tried to kill Me, and if God were your father, then you would love Me.

 

JOH 8:43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.

 

Why can't they understand? Why can't they hear His word? They don't have a new heart. They have the old heart out of which only flows sin and evil. They have stone for hearts, which only knows one thing - self.

 

EZE 36:26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

 

EZE 36:27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances."

 

JOH 8:43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.

 

If they believe in Him now then they will be like Abraham. They will be credited with righteousness and as a result they will be reckoned with righteousness and saved people who will not try to kill Him. Then, in just a few months from this time, when the Holy Spirit descends on Pentecost, they will receive the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant and they will have a new heart and the Spirit of God will indwell them and then God would be their Father and they would love the Lord Jesus.

 

JOH 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

 

JOH 8:45 "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.

 

JOH 8:46 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?

 

JOH 8:47 "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God."

 

[back to]

GAL 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you."

 

GAL 3:9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

 

blessed - justification by faith. We would have to add all that comes with that justification as grace gifts to the believer.

 

The Covenant theologian would use this passage to indicate that the Abrahamic Covenant is fulfilled by the church, but nowhere is that stated. The first part of the covenant, in Gen 12, is that Abraham would be a great nation. The church is not a nation. The church is not promised land by God, nor great material prosperity. During the church, the Lord is not physically on the earth.

 

Dispensationalism does not deny that a facet of the Abrahamic Covenant is now being fulfilled in the church, that of spiritual blessings being extended to the Gentiles through Christ, but dispensationalism denies that this was the totality of the Abrahamic Covenant. Not all provisions of the unconditional covenants go into effect immediately.