In the Spring, our church did a series on Galatians. Later in the Autumn, we will be working through the book of James. It’s important to read something like James alongside Galatians to help us deepen our understanding of what true faith looks like. Galatians shows us that we are not saved by works, it’s about God’s grace, a free gift, received by faith. However, there should be evidence that we have faith. What we believe should affect how we live. James focuses on that.
To help us follow up on Galatians and prepare for James, we are going to spend 3 Sundays looking at the life of Abraham. Why do that? Well, the Torah including the stories of the patriarchs along with the Exodus and giving of the Law is foundational to our understanding of these New Testament letters.
We’ve seen in Galatians that the Jews kept looking back to their ancestor Abraham because the covenant was with him. Paul showed them that this covenant was about grace and faith too.
“Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Abraham’s story is about God making an unconditional covenant with him, promising to bless him.
At the same time, it is also about what it means for Abraham to live in God’s presence, showing by his life that he believed the promise. So, people like Abraham are important to James too. He also believed that Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness, However James wants us to see the evidence and consequences of that faith. It is to be lived out in obedience to Jesus. What this also means is that there are three ways of learning from the life of Abraham. First, we see how God was at work, bringing about the fulfilment of his promise. We see the story of redemptive history. Without Abraham and Sarah, Jesus doesn’t come. Secondly, we see from Abraham’s lived out faith an example of what it means to be God’s people and to live by faith. There are also a few examples of how not to live by faith, mistakes to avoid. Thirdly, we will see how Abraham points to Jesus. In his righteous acts, he points us to what the saviour will be like. In his unrighteous failings and sin, he shows us how Jesus is different, how he is unlike him. This is what Tim Keller meant when he used to say that Jesus is the true and better Abraham.
Faithroots 