The Faith of Abraham (David Gore - Romans 4:1-17)

In some traditions theologians invent a chasm between what God was doing in the stories of the Hebrew scriptures and the stories of the gospels and epistles. The notion of ‘old testament’ and ‘new testament’ are a (ummm) testament to this invented chasm. In reality, there is a continuity and a full flowering that occurs. We see in today’s reading from Romans 4:1-17, St Paul anchors the notion of salvation by grace through faith in the earliest responder to the call of God… Abraham. God is (and has been and will be) actively calling to each and every generation. The call is always the call of grace. The only appropriate response is the response of trust in God’s grace.