Abraham, Father of Nations

We know that Abraham is regarded as a sort of father-figure in three great religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It seems there may be some common ground there, let's look at what he represents.

It’s helpful that there are many references to Abraham in both the Old and the New Testaments.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is one example from the New Testament. Chapter four may be a good place to start.

Here, Paul is talking about Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) and here he gives Abraham the title “our first father in the faith” (Message), “humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation” (The Living Bible), “our forefather according to the flesh” (New International Version).

Paul writes to his flock at Rome as follows:

“Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own” (Message).

Then Paul reasons with his readers as to the whys and wherefores of Abraham’s blessing. Was it because he earned it by working hard and being good?  Or rather was it because he put all his trust in God; he believed God’s word?

Furthermore, was this possible only for someone like Abraham, or, as Paul suggests, for anyone – even the non-initiated? Paul examines Abraham’s journey and reasons that Abraham was blessed “before he became a Jew – before he went through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision” (TLB – chapter 4, verse 9).

In verse 12 we now have a new definition for Abraham: “spiritual father” (TLB) or “father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the “outs” with God, as yet unidentified as God’s, in an “uncircumcised” condition” (Message).

Rom 4:14 (TLB) “So if you still claim that God’s blessings go to those who are “good enough,” then you are saying that God’s promises to those who have faith are meaningless, and faith is foolish.”

Rom 4: 16 (TLB) “God’s blessings are given to us by faith, as a free gift…for Abraham is the father of us all…” or “our faith father” (Message).

This brilliant analysis is pure Paul and we can rejoice in its logic. Petersen (Message) gives:

Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously sceptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong… (verse 19 and on).

Lest we get caught up, though, in a sense of an historical line of generation, the Gospel of John (8:58) lifts us higher as it recounts Jesus’ proclamation that “The absolute truth is that I was in existence before Abraham was ever born!” (TLB); “I am who I am long before Abraham was anything” (Message). This is what the Jewish elders could not comprehend and it made them so angry they hurled rocks at Jesus, who slipped away quietly out of sight (8:59).

Julie Swannell