July 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

What Paul says here about Abraham and his children sounded revolutionary to Jewish ears.

Abraham did not receive righteousness when he was circumcised. He was righteous before that, says Paul (v. 10). Paul makes it sound as if Abraham was a Gentile when God counted him righteous. Gentiles were the uncircumcised.

But Paul based his argument on Scripture. Genesis 15:6 says that Abraham "believed the Lord; and he credited it to him as righteousness."

Circumcision followed much later, in Genesis 17:24, as a sign and seal of the blessing that Abraham already possessed. Abraham was righteous not by circumcision but by faith.

Once Abraham is seen in this perspective, his fatherhood is enormously extended. All Gentiles are his children as long as they believe as he believed, for righteousness is not by circumcision but by faith.

At the same time, the fatherhood of Abraham is restricted. He is not the father of the Jews just because they are circumcised. He is the father only of those among the Jews who believe as he believed. Why? Because Abraham is not the father of the circumcised; he is the father of believers.

This is not just a clever finding of the apostle Paul to make his ministry to the Gentiles acceptable and defensible; it's the way God has fulfilled his promises to Abraham. Righteousness is not by circumcision but by faith. And God counts the children of Abraham not according to their Jewish heritage but according to faith. Anyone who counts differently is out of step not just with Paul's interpretation but with God's history of salvation.

Abraham and his children are righteous by faith. And only believers may claim Abraham as their father.

REFLECTIONS

You are a son or daughter of Abraham. How is this possible? And what does it mean to you?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.