Verse 7 sums up Paul's argument. The Judaisers said they needed to be circumcised in order to be proper children of Abraham, Paul says that it is by faith that we are Abraham's children. What does it mean to be Abraham's children? It means that we are part of the fulfilment of God's great promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 that through him all nations on earth would be blessed, that he would become the father of multitudes. Now today we would not give any attention to a group claiming we needed to be circumcised, but we do need to watch out for any teaching that claims we need to do something extra in order to be a full member of God's family. All such teachings are wrong, we become God's children purely by believing in Jesus Christ (John 1:12).
Abraham's life was based on faith. He was called by God and given a promise that he could not fulfil himself, so he had to receive it by faith. Paul argues that God always foresaw that His plan would be fulfilled by faith. It was the Christians who were fulfilling the Law and the Prophets, not the Judaisers.
Paul's statement in verse 8 is very interesting. If asked "what is the gospel" we would say something like it is the good news that we can receive forgiveness and new life through faith in Jesus because of what He did on the cross. Now this is all true, but here Paul says the gospel is "All nations will be blesses through you". The Jews tended to have a narrow view of God's plan, they saw Israel as the be all and end all of God's plan. Now Israel is central to God's plan, but not in that way. God's plan was that His blessing should permeate throughout the earth from Israel. Now in Christ, this is being achieved.
We should also realise that God's plan is that others are blessed through us. Our purpose today is to bring God's blessing to others.
Abraham's life was based on faith. He was called by God and given a promise that he could not fulfil himself, so he had to receive it by faith. Paul argues that God always foresaw that His plan would be fulfilled by faith. It was the Christians who were fulfilling the Law and the Prophets, not the Judaisers.
Paul's statement in verse 8 is very interesting. If asked "what is the gospel" we would say something like it is the good news that we can receive forgiveness and new life through faith in Jesus because of what He did on the cross. Now this is all true, but here Paul says the gospel is "All nations will be blesses through you". The Jews tended to have a narrow view of God's plan, they saw Israel as the be all and end all of God's plan. Now Israel is central to God's plan, but not in that way. God's plan was that His blessing should permeate throughout the earth from Israel. Now in Christ, this is being achieved.
We should also realise that God's plan is that others are blessed through us. Our purpose today is to bring God's blessing to others.
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