Abram's Call Proves GOD LOVES GENTILES
God promised to make Abram’s descendants a “great nation” in Genesis 12:2. These offspring will be a blessing to all nations. God promised blessing, and ultimately salvation, to all the nations.
Romans 9:5
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh,
is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
THE TOWER OF BABEL JUDGEMENT AND THE CALL OF ABRAM
Did you know that God’s first recorded speech after the Tower of Babel judgement was Abraham’s call? The Dispersion at Babel in Genesis 11:5–9 resulted in the creation of nations. In a very real way, Yahweh’s promise to Abram acts a counter to the former.
Genesis 1–11 shows Adam’s children as moving away from the Lord. In a pivot, Genesis 12 shows the start of something new between God and man, specifically focused on God’s promises to Abram and his children. The new word to humanity (via Abram) from Yahweh in Genesis 12:3 sets up the redemptive plan for all peoples.
THE TABLE OF NATIONS AND THE CALL OF ABRAM
The figure of Abram connects Genesis 1–11 to the “worldwide vista of the promissory call.” [K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary, 2005, 105] The call and the promised blessings to follow are spoken by God to Abram. However, these realities will benefit the people of the larger world, via true salvation.
When we seek to understand Genesis 12, we must look both forward and backward first. Specifically, the Table of Nations should be understood as the proper contextual background for the interpretation of Abram’s call. Dr. Kenneth A. Matthews, who teaches OT and Hebrew at Beeson Divinity school, observes the following connections between Genesis 10 and 12. [MATTHEWS, GEN. 11, NAC, 105]
THE TABLE OF NATIONS in Genesis 10:5, 20, 31–32 mentions:
“lands” (ʾarṣôt)
“families” (mišpĕḥôt)
“nations” (gôyîm)
“father of” and “born” (the verb yālad) in Genesis 10:8, 13, 15, 21, 24, 25, 26
“curse” corresponds to the fivefold promise of blessings in Abram’s call
THE CALL OF ABRAM in Genesis 12:1–3 includes these related terms:
“country” (ʾereṣ, v. 1)
“peoples” (mišpĕḥôt, v. 3)
“nation” (gôy, v. 2)
“people” (môledet, v. 1), related to yālad
“bless” (bārak) occurs 5 times in the oath, corresponding to “curse” theme earlier
THE CONTENT OF GOD’S PROMISE TO ABRAM in Genesis 12:2–3
God’s promise to Abram includes land, seed, and blessing. God will make from Abram a great nation, bless him, and make him well-known. Abram’s obligation is simply to GO! Yahweh will lead. In fact, God’s initiating activity is emphasized with these five first-person statements found in Genesis 12:
“I will make you a great nation”
“I will bless you”
“I will make your name great”
“I will bless those who bless you”
“I will curse those who curse you”
Finally, 25 years or so later the fulfillment came via the birth of the child of the promise, Isaac. In the waiting time, Abram tried to take matters into his own hand, but this was not how the blessing would come. It was by God’s strength alone.
HOW WILL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED? Nivrekhu
In Genesis 12:3, God promises Abram that “all families of the earth will be blessed in you”. The passive here means the blessing comes through Abram. This distinct promise is repeated five more times in the Book of Genesis. In the New Testament, both Acts 3:25 and Galatians 3:8 reiterate the fact that all the families of the earth will find their blessing in Abram.
UNDERSTANDING ABRAM’S BLESSING BETTER
The fulfillment of these promises has indeed come because of God’s faithfulness and Abram’s trusting response. His trust was demonstrated by his action; he obeyed God! Allen Ross writes this in his Genesis commentary:
“And the fulfillment of these promises enabled Abraham to be the blessing that God wanted him to be. … Abram’s blessing was a blessing that would extend to all the families of the earth; it included all the ways that the blessing was spread—through Israel, the Scriptures, the prophets, the covenants, and ultimately the Messiah, its greatest fulfillment (Gal 3:8, 16; cf. Rom 9:5). People who, by faith, revered the covenant that God was making with Abram and therefore blessed Abram would be blessed in return. If people treated Abram lightly, that is, saw no importance for him or his covenant, they would be rejecting God, his choice, and his plan. God would be bound to separate such people from the blessing—although these persons actually would have already removed themselves.”
[Allen Ross, John Oswalt, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, 2008, p. 96–97]
GENESIS 17 UPS THE ANTE
In Genesis 17:4, Yahweh tells Abram he will be the father of many nations. This is an escalation from Genesis 12:2. There, God promised Abram he will be the father of a great nation. Then, in Genesis 17:6 and 17:16, it’s added he will produce not only nations, but kings. Another progressions can be found in Genesis 17:7. Here, God promises that his covenant with Abram is everlasting.
GOD’S PERSONAL SIGN TO GUARANTEE HIS PROMISE
In Genesis 17, Yahwhe changes Abram’s name to Abraham. Abram means “exalted father,” likely referring to Terah, Abram’s father (11:27). No longer. From now on, his name is Abraham, which means “father of a multitude”. This emphasizes God’s promise to bless Abraham’s descendants (see 17:5). Abraham, now in his 90s, has been renamed by God himself as the “father of a multitude”. Remember, he and his wife, Sarai, had no children yet (17:1, 24). Yet Abraham trusted God.
*watch this sermon I preached to understand Abram’s covenant within the whole biblical story
THE PROMISES OF BLESSING IN THE OT
Psalm 67 and Psalm 98 teach that when Israel is blessed, this will also bring salvation to the nations. David’s descendant in particular is the vehicle whereby Yahew will bless the families of the earth. Examples of this thought are Psalms 72:17, Isaiah 11:10–12; 55:3–5, and Amos 9:11–12.
THE PROMISES OF BLESSING IN PETER
In Acts 3:25-26, Peter alludes to Genesis 12:3. The phrase, “through your offspring”, refers to Abraham’s offspring as the dispenser of blessing, as discussed earlier. Even though there were proselytes gathered there (Acts 2:5, 11), and perhaps even some God-fearers, the majority of the Pentecost pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem would have no doubt been Israelites, albeit, from diverse regions, or “from every nation under heaven”.
Whether or not Peter himself realizes it yet or not, the Abrahamic prophecy has a more universal application than many Jews of his day realized. This isn’t a strain. Don’t forget, this idea is inherent in Genesis 12:3 and also in places like Genesis 22:18 (“and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice”) and Genesis 26:4 (“I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”).
When Peter preaches in Acts 3:35-26, he implores those gathered, Jew and proselyte alike, to repent and believe in Christ. The blessing they will receive is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise:
Acts 3:25–26 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
It’s even possible that Acts 2:39 refers to Gentiles. “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
The expression “far off” definitely refers to Gentiles in Ephesians 2:13 and 2:17. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” “And came and preached peace to you which were “afar off; and them that were nigh.” However, that is in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians.
Either way, Peter eventually heard the story of Samaritans getting saved in Acts 8:14–17 and saw firsthand Gentiles getting saved in Acts 10:44–48. At some point, though, the apostle recognized what Jesus meant when he spoke of "other sheep that are not of this fold" in John 10:16.
THE PROMISES OF BLESSING IN PAUL
The Apostle Paul clearly sees the promise made to Abraham being fulfilled in Jesus in Galatians 3:16: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ”. Paul directly applies this to the Gentiles in Galatians 3:6–8:
3:6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
3:7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
3:8 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.”
Paul also ensures the clarity of the universalistic application when he combines the Septuagint reading of Genesis 12:3 (LXX: πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς) and Genesis 26:4, which reads panta ta ethnē, “all the nations”.
THE PROMISES OF BLESSING IN THE NT
The offer of salvation was always meant to be offered to the Jewish people first, as Paul writes in Romans 1:16. Yet, in the same passage Paul tells us that the Gospel offer was always meant to be offered to the Gentiles as well. As Matthews observes:
The apostles considered the church to be the recipients of the promises made to Abram, the Jew first and then the Gentile (Rom 1:16; 2:9–10); the Lord announced by 12:3 the “gospel” to the awaiting world of peoples (Gal 3:28).
Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (2005), 118.
The New Testament writers identify Jesus as the one who obtains the salvation blessing for those who possess the faith of Abraham and believe God’s word.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 6, 2023
PHOENIX ARIZONA USA