By this he was justified before God —
[" This faith of his," my text informs us, " was imputed to him for righteousness." But what are we to understand by this ? Was the mere act of faith made his justifying righteous- ness? No, assuredly not: for if it were so, " he had whereof to glory;" which the Apostle assures us he had notf. Faith, as an act, is a work of our own, just as love, or any other grace is : and if he was justified by it in that vieiv, he was justified
a Gen. xv. 4 — G. b Gen. xii. 2, 3. and xxii. 17, IS.
c Compare Gen. xvii. 17- with xviii. 12. (1 John viii. 36.
e Gal. iii. 8. f ver. 2.
by works, which no child of man ever was, or ever can be. No; it was instrument ally, as apprehending Christ, that faith justified him. In Christ alone his justifying righteousness was found : and it was by faith that he laid hold on this righteousness, and applied it to himself for the salvation of his soul. That is the righteousness which God has appointed to be received through faith in Christ, and which he has declared, " is unto all, and upon all, them that believe8."
Now the Apostle marks this point with peculiar jealousy and precision. It might be supposed that, because Abraham, in token of his believing the promise made to him, obeyed the command given him relative to circumcision, his obedience was meritorious, and was, in part at least, a ground of his justifi- cation before God. But the faith by which he was justified existed many years before he was circumcised ; and his circum- cision was " a seal of that righteousness which he had long before jwssessed in his uncircumcised state :" and consequently, it was his faith only, and not any subsequent obedience, that justified him11. The moment he believed in Christ as the promised seed, that moment the righteousness of Christ was imputed to him, and he was justified by it in the sight of God.]
Having distinctly marked the faith of Abraham, I proceed to state,
II. The instruction to be derived from it —
Though God was pleased to honour his servant Abraham by transmitting to posterity an account of his faith, yet this was not the only, or the principal, reason that induced him to record these things con- cerning Abraham. His chief intent was,
1. To shew us how we are to seek justification before God — ■
[Abraham believed in God as able to accomplish all that he had promised : and by this faith he was justified Thus we are to believe in God as having already accomplished his promises, in having given up his Son to " die for our offences," and having raised him from the dead as the author and pledge of our eternal justification. It is by the death of Christ, and through the prevailing intercession, which, in his exalted state,
he makes for us, that we are to be reconciled to God
We must not for one moment dream of any other way of accept- ance If so eminent a man as Abraham was incapable
s Rom. iii. 21, 22. h ver. 9 — 11.
1839.] Abraham's faith. Ii5
of being justified by his works, much more must we: and if he was necessitated to look to Christ in order to obtain salvation, beyond all doubt we must stand indebted to the same Saviour for all our hopes of happiness and glory.]
2. To assure us that, if we truly believe in Christ, we cannot fail of being justified —
[Abraham's views of Christ must assuredly have beenwery obscure : yet, dark as they were, they availed for his justifi- cation before God. But we have an incomparably clearer knowledge of Christ : we see him in his person, work, and offices, and therefore have stronger ground for our faith in him. If we then receive the record of God concerning him, and rely fully upon him as " dying for our offences, and as raised again for our justification," shall not we be accepted? We need not fear. Our souls may appear as dead with respect to spiritual fruitfulness, as Abraham's and Sarah's bodies were with respect to their having a son and heir ; and to the eye of sense it may appear as improbable that we should inherit the promise, as that they should ; but if we believe, we shall soon find that " all things are possible to him that believeth :" we shall have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us ; and, being made heirs with Abraham, we shall be enabled to " walk in his steps i" on earth, and " sit down with him in the kingdom of our Lord in heaven V]