“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” “
Romans 4:18-22

–

Do you remember the story of Peter Pan? There’s a moment when Tinkerbell is about to die; her light has gone out and she’s lying limply on the ground. Peter Pan implores children everywhere to believe. If we could all just, at the same moment, believe really hard in fairies, Tinkerbell would come back to life.

We tend to think of faith in this way. The invisible God can be hard to believe in but if we close our eyes really tightly and believe with all our might then it might all be true!

But biblical faith is not like this. Biblical faith is relational, practical, impacting not primarily our thoughts and feelings but our entire lives. It is a posture of trust and surrendering allegiance. Faith results in faithfulness, staying on this relational path long term. Covenantal faith is like marriage: We rearrange our entire lives around this journey of faithfulness.

We see that faith in Abraham—in what Paul says here, and in what we already know from Genesis. There was a component of shifting in Abraham’s head and heart, but primarily it was his feet that shifted. When God told him to leave his country and head out into the unknown, he went. When there seemed to be no hope Abraham continued. Not perfectly, as we see in his trips to Egypt, his willingness to sacrifice his wife for his own safety, his attempts to produce an heir through Hagar rather than wait on God’s laugh-worthy plan. But through fits and start, Abraham and his family persisted on the path God asked them to follow. Their faith resulted in action because they trusted God and followed God’s instructions. Not perfectly. But persistently.

Yes, faith requires obedience. But God’s promise came first, then their faith and then their obedience.

So who is the heir of this type of hopeful, obedient faith? Not merely Abraham’s descendants, but anyone who is also willing to believe not just with their head and heart but with their feet, with their lives. Anyone who is willing to put their hope in God and in the promise of God. Not in order to earn their place in the family, but because of their place in the family.

How did this news land on the marginalized Jewish believers coming back home to a community in which they had lost their status? No doubt this sounded “sketch” as my kids say. Their Gentile believing neighbor was just as welcome into the Covenant as they themselves were. And Abraham, their father, was the best example of a Gentile convert as they could ask for.

It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Romans 4:13

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • How would you describe faith?
  • How does faith impact your head and heart and how you live your life?
  • How would you describe the process of being included into this family (or to use a theological term, justification)?

Church Reading Plan: Job 36; 2 Corinthians 6