by Jerry Senn
“And he (God) brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the Lord, and he (God) counted it to him as righteousness.”
—Genesis 15:5-6
This passage is often used to teach that saving faith comes as a result of a momentary acceptance of the promise that God would make Abraham’s descendants a great nation and a blessing. It is supposed this single event is an example of saving faith. The meaning of saving faith is the question.
While none should doubt the importance of such faith as was attributed to Abraham on that occasion—God honored him by counting “it to him as righteousness.” But is this all we need to know about faith?
The New Testament surely teaches that sinners are saved by “grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8-10). About this there should be no question. And, Genesis 15:6 is quoted by Paul in Romans 4:3 to demonstrate the essentiality of faith for being “made righteous” (justified).
But please read the following from the pen of Jack Cottrell’s commentary on Romans:
“We must not conclude, however, that this was the only time when Abraham believed, nor that it was the only or even the first time when ‘it was counted to him as righteousness.’ James 2:23 also quotes Genesis 15:6, but applies it to the occasion when Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice, an event which occurred much later (Genesis 22:1-18). This implies that Abrham’s faith and the resulting justification were present from the day he was called (Genesis 12:1ff) and to the end of his life.”
Cottrell makes an interesting point which may help us understand that saving faith (as taught by James) includes “obedience of faith” as taught (Romans 1:5 & 16:26b). Mental acceptance alone seems in question here.
It seems clear that saving faith is a faith that expresses itself, and without some action to demonstrate it, remains “empty and incomplete,’ according to James 2 and Hebrews 11.
This is something to consider.