Abraham's Faith: The Child-like Trust in God's Word

Abraham's faith, recorded in Genesis 15:6 and upheld in Galatians 3:6, reveals six essential dimensions. First, it was a simple, child-like dependence on the naked rhema (spoken word) of God—not reasoned argument or sensory evidence. Second, it centered on God's covenant promise of a Seed, ultimately Christ the Saviour. Third, Abraham renounced his own works as meritorious, accepting instead the righteousness of Another imputed to his account.

Fourth, his faith energeō (worked, was energized) by love, making him the friend of Jehovah. Fifth, it overcame the world itself—he left Ur of the Chaldees, settled in Canaan as a stranger, and awaited a better country. Sixth, his faith evinced its reality through self-denying obedience: he offered Isaac, his only son through whom the promise would be fulfilled.

The bond of covenant rested on two sides: faith on Abraham's part; gracious acceptance, revelation, and reward on Yahweh's part. The Hebrew captures this: Abraham "supported himself, built himself up, reposed as a child in his mother's arms" in the strength of the God he did not see. Thus pistis (faith) sums the lesson of his entire life—instantaneous, full-hearted, and instantly counted for righteousness.