"Wrong again. If that were true, then there was no further need for Abram to be circumcised & do his part in the covenant. You have no idea - none - about how a covenant works."
Gotta love your ad hominems. It reveals your judgmental aberrations & logical fallacies toward me & your ignorance of the cultural, historical & chronological meaning of what it means to literally 'cut a covenant' at that time in that culture & missing the obvious in Gen 15 as well as what is said in Romans 4 & a multitude of other passages throughout Scripture. We will see who has no idea how a covenant works. Let the readers decide.
This is no small matter in Scripture but the very fabric of God's character & the unfaithfulness of man's character & His providing for salvation in Christ is the crux. Scripture from Genesis to Revelation speaks of it.
Romans 4:4-12, 20-22 Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an OBLIGATION. However, to the one who does not work, but BELIEVES in Him who JUSTIFIES THE WICKED, his faith IS credited (imputed) as righteousness. And David speaks LIKEWISE of the BLESSEDNESS of the man to whom God credits righteousness APART FROM WORKS:
7“BLESSED are those whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. BLESSED is the man whose sin the Lord WILL NEVER COUNT AGAINST HIM.”
9Is THIS BLESSING only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? WE HAVE BEEN SAYING that Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness.
IN WHAT CONTEXT was it credited? Was it AFTER HIS CIRCUMCISION OR BEFORE? It was NOT AFTER BUT BEFORE.
11And he received THE SIGN OF CIRCUMCISION AS A SEAL of the righteousness THAT HE ALREADY HAD BY FAITH WHILE HE WAS STILL UNCIRCUMCISED. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are NOT circumcised, in order that righteousness might be CREDITED TO THEM.
12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had BEFORE he was circumcised.
20Yet he did not waver through disbelief IN THE PROMISE OF GOD, but was strengthened in his faith & gave GLORY TO GOD, being fully persuaded that GOD WAS ABLE TO DO WHAT HE HAD PROMISED.
THAT IS WHY--“it was credited to him as righteousness.”
The crediting of righteousness to Abraham was based on his faith in believing God would keep & fulfill His promises to Abraham. He saw God as faithful to do what He had promised. He knew he was an old man & Sarah an old woman beyond bearing age already. So he recognized it would have to be one of his descendants to see the fulfillment of these promises & not just any offspring but one who alone could bless all the nations of the world.
This was the seed promised to Adam & Eve, who would defeat the devil. This was the Redeemer Job had written about & was looking forward to meeting in the resurrection of the dead. This was the Lord who was coming to judge the world, that the prophet Enoch spoke about, the 7th from Adam. (Jude 1:14,15)
Abram was also well aware of the global flood that destroyed all the wicked & people in the world at that time & God's promise & covenant with Noah then, to not destroy the world with water again.
The rainbow was THE SIGN of the Noahic Covenant. It was not the covenant but the visible outward SIGN that God would KEEP HIS PROMISE never to destroy the world by a global flood again. Again this is a matter of faith in the trustworthy of God to keep His promise.
Almost the same language is used of the Abrahamic covenant & that circumcision was also the visible outward SIGN of the covenant that God promised to Abraham BEFORE THIS OCCURRED, showing the righteousness credited to Abraham's account before God was fully 24 YEARS EARLIER & was long before Abraham was circumcised & could not nullify nor cancel nor make of no effect this crediting apart from any works. It was the gift of God.
Gen 9:12-15 And God said, “This is the SIGN OF THE COVENANT I am making BETWEEN ME & YOU & every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have placed My rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of My covenant with you & with all the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth & the rainbow appears in the clouds,
I WILL REMEMBER My covenant between Me & you & all living creatures: Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
You seem to have missed this 24 year time frame, as well as the parallel to the Noahic covenant, which also was unconditional & unilateral & based also on the promise of God.
In Acts 7:1-4 Abram received his first call (more on this later) & God's promises to him. In Gen 12 Abraham was 75 & received it a second time.
Abraham spent time in Egypt then moved back to the promised land & God again reiterates a 3rd time the promises of the covenant. (Gen 13:14-18) In Gen 14, Abraham had to defeat several armies that has taken his kin & their possessions. He got them all back & then met Melchizedek, the prince of Salem (peace) & the king of righteousness as well the the priest of God Most High.
He BLESSED Abram & said this to him: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth & blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then In Gen 15, God reiterates the promises of the covenant now a 4th time, being more specific.
Abraham realized God was with him & God was the One who delivered Abram's enemies in his hand. God had also done this with Pharaoh of Egypt & God had blessed him with greater possessions when he left there.
It must be getting through now that God was starting to fulfill these promises & that God was faithful & trustworthy to carry these out. Except one major promise had not been done & he & Sarai had already passed the age for it to naturally happen: the promise of an offspring.
Now God appears this 4th time & reassures Abram. This is the first time in Scripture, that the oft repeated phrase is used: 'The word of the LORD came to...' showing Abram received direct revelation from the living God. In this passage God says it TWICE.
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
We must never forget. Nothing in this life should be our portion or that we should hold onto, including our own selves. God is to be our portion in this life. He is the One who shields us from evil & harm.
He is the One who watches over us, to bring about good for those who love Him with all their being. God is the One who is our very great reward in this life because He is life itself! (Psalm 73:24-26; John 6:68)
Abram is reminded of the meaning of his name once again in the midst of this presently unfulfilled promises of God: 'exalted father.' Abram needs clarification.
1) O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless & the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.” So God gets specific.
2) The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I KNOW THAT I WILL POSSESS IT?”
God answers him specifically once again. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir."
Then the LORD took Abram outside & said to him, “Look up into the sky & count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
It was at that time, that Abram fully believed that despite the impossible circumstances, God would somehow do it because He promised He would & that God had proved trustworthy & was truly watching out for him. He had a shield for life & knowing the living God was indeed His great reward.
'Abram believed the LORD & it was credited to him as righteousness.'
And to further show Abram that God was caring for him God added, '“I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” Again & again God reminds Abram of this promise that God was going to do for Abram.
Abram believed God & now he had right or righteous standing before God. Yet he wanted to know: "how can I know that I will possess it?”
And here is the Abrahamic 'cutting of the covenant' that was done in that time in that culture & those doing it knew what it meant. Here are some websites by Bible teachers explaining what all this meant back then, so we can understand it, rather than maligning another person's intelligence & character.
5. Abraham's Call and God's Covenant (Genesis 11:26-17:27) | Bible.org
The Abrahamic covenant – What is it?
Growing Christians Ministries
"While the covenant ceremony of Genesis 15, with its slain animal corridor, may seem quite unusual to us today, it was not unusual then. As already mentioned, covenant confirmations were normally associated with "cutting rite" ceremonies."
"In Jer 34:18-20, we read, "The men who have violated My covenant & have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces."
"The leaders of Judah & Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests & all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air & the beasts of the earth."
"Here we see that not only passing between the parts of a slain animal was typical practice for confirming or "cutting a covenant," but we see from verse 20 the essential meaning in such a ceremony. Symbolically the parties were saying that if either side broke the covenant, they deserved to die like the sacrificial animal or animals."
"So what may have at first seemed unusual & confusing about the events of Genesis 15 now becomes clear. What was unusual about this covenant ceremony, however, was that Abraham was strictly an observer. He did not pass between the pieces, nor did God & Abraham walk through the pieces together."
"God
alone passed between the parts of the sacrificed animals. This was very significant. God was confirming that His covenant with Abraham & his descendants was an
unconditional covenant."
"This was not a joint venture. It was a unilateral covenant. When God's presence, symbolized by the smoking oven & flaming torch, passed through that corridor of slain animals, God was saying in effect that His covenant with Abraham & his descendants would stand, REGARDLESS of their continued faithfulness & obedience to the commands of the Lord."
"Why did God choose to use the symbols of the oven and the torch to reveal His presence? The smoking furnace or fire pot represents God's holiness--He is a God who must judge sin. The blazing torch speaks of God's guidance--He is a God who directs His people. Whenever God makes a covenant with man, both aspects of God's character are involved: His judgment of sin because man is sinful & His guidance because man needs to be led.
God's covenant with Abraham & his descendants would involve judgment. Over the years God has judged & disciplined the Jewish people--from their time in Egypt right down to the present time. But God's guidance has faithfully led & preserved the Jewish people for 4000 years--& will continue to do so."
Deut 32:9-11 But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance. "He found him in a desert land & in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
"Certainly there's an application here for the Christian as well. Judgment is involved in God's covenant with us. Our sins are eternally forgiven because of the cross of Christ, but as children in God's family, God must judge and discipline us for our sins, and put us "through the furnace" to refine us and purge out the impurities. But the burning torch is there as well! The Lord is always there to guide us. Aren't you glad about that?"
"In verses 12-16, God promised Abraham that the covenant & its blessings would be fulfilled--but not immediately. The horror of the thick & dreadful darkness that came over Abraham when he fell asleep was a dramatic accompaniment to the news that his descendants would experience bondage & slavery in Egypt for 400 years. God assured Abraham, however, that there would be a great Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt & that they would return to the Promised Land. Just as God promised, Abraham died in peace at the good old age of 175 (v15)."
"Under bondage & suffering in Egypt, his descendants were forged into a nation before God brought them out with great possessions (v13-14). All these promises literally took place.
Exodus 12:35,36 tells us that "the Israelites asked the Egyptians for silver & gold & for clothing... and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians."
God meant what He said when He promised to give the land to Abraham's descendants & although there was a delay in the fulfillment, those promises were never withdrawn or denied or canceled.
God always has good reasons for His delays. In this case, one of the reasons is given: "The sin of the Amorites has not reached its full measure" (v16). The Amorites were a major tribe in Canaan. Their lifestyle was evil & the worship of their false gods included many depraved practices, such as sacrificing children.
God patiently allowed the Amorites many years to turn from their evil ways, but they never repented. They were finally judged when, at God's command, Israel conquered & finally took possession of the Promised Land.
In order to show mercy to a wicked Canaanite tribe, God actually delayed His promises to His people, Israel! "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise...He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Pet 3:9)
"The lesson for us is obvious. God has reasons for His delays, but remember that His delays are not necessarily His denials. We need to remember this when we're feeling discouraged or doubtful. When it comes to promises given in His Word, God's delays are
never denials! Remember, God's confirmed promises are
sure & He has many good reasons for His delays."
"Now, what about the "crows"? In verse 11 we see that birds of prey--most likely crows or ravens or some kind of vulture--came down upon the carcasses of the ceremonial animals & Abraham had to drive them away.
Why did the Holy Spirit include that particular detail in Scripture? Was it just to record the facts of what actually happened, and thus give the account more historical authenticity? There may be a spiritual lesson here for us to appreciate & put into practice.
In Scripture, birds sometimes represent satanic activity. In the parable of the sower, the Lord Himself explained that the birds which ate the seed represented the action of Satan. (Mark 4:15). The birds of prey in Genesis 15 may be another spiritual picture of satanic activity.
These unclean birds attempted to tear & devour the sacrificial animals, the VISIBLE PART of the sacred covenant-confirming ceremony. They had to be driven away! While God could have prevented the birds from disturbing the ceremony, or driven the vultures away Himself, He gave Abraham the responsibility to care for the VISIBLE SIGNS of the covenant."
So let's look at God's 2nd mention of this covenant of promises to Abram in Gen 12.
Gen 12:1-5 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country & your kindred & your father’s house to the land that
I WILL show you. And
I WILL make of you a great nation &
I WILL bless you & {
I WILL} make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I WILL bless those who bless you & him who dishonors you
I WILL curse & in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him & Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, & Lot his brother’s son & all their possessions that they had gathered & the people that they had acquired in Haran & they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord APPEARED to Abram & said, “To your offspring
I WILL give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Heb 11:1-3,6,8,9 Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for & the CERTAINTY OF WHAT WE DO NOT SEE. This is WHY the ancients were commended.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was NOT made out of what was visible. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists & that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
By faith Abraham, when CALLED to go to a place he would LATER receive as his inheritance, obeyed & went, WITHOUT KNOWING where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the PROMISED LAND as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac & Jacob, who were heirs WITH HIM OF THE SAME PROMISE.
(to be continued)