The Faith of the Gospel

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." (Galatians 3:7-8 ESV) Immortalizing our heroes is a dangerous practice. Living or dead, we can easily build them into something they aren't. We tend to ignore their faults and exaggerate their strengths. We can even do that with characters in the Bible. Abraham is known for his willingness to leave his land or his obedience to sacrifice Issac. But we fail to remember that he lied about his wife being his sister, not once but twice. He doubted and even laughed at God's promises. And, he was an adulterer with the complicity of his wife. I love the honesty, and grittiness of the scriptures. But with all of his faults, we are called to emulate Abraham in one aspect. This week we continue in our series, Freedom, as we again look at Galatians 3. I want to encourage you to take some time to read through the passage.