Hi Vis, I hope all is well with you. The epistle of Yakob a.k.a James expounds much more than most seem to realize. The statement from Genesis 15 is treated, (much like Paul), as an earnest until the time appointed when the initial faith or belief is tested and brought to fulfillment or completion. In the case with father Abraham this was many years later when he was tested in Genesis 22.
James 2:20-24 ASV
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect;
23 and the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; [Genesis 15:6] and he was called the friend of God.
24 Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
Abraham was justified by works in that he offered up his son: this is, of course, not until Genesis 22, even though the statement that his belief was accounted unto him for righteousness came many YEARS before that in Genesis 15:6.
Note what I highlighted and underlined in the above: Yakob says that the statement from Genesis 15:6 was FULFILLED in Genesis 22 when he was finally TESTED. He passed the test: his faith was tested, that is when the statement from Genesis 15:6 was fulfilled.
From the many things I have seen and heard people say about imputed righteousness I do not believe it even means the same thing anymore to the modern mainstream.
I agree much more than some realize.
What test did he pass? What does Genesis 15 say to Abraham in the covenant made in Genesis 15?
Abraham is going to die......
Ge 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
The fulfness or completion of Abes faith in the covenant established in Isaac tested his faith in the resurrection from the death he dies in Genesis 15.
Gensis 15 concerns the seed of the fourth generation of his seed.
Children of promise Gen 17............
Isaac (1st) generation
Jacob (2nd generation
Levi (3rd generation)
Nu 18:20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
Nu 18:23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.
Nu 18:24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
Nu 26:62 And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
De 18:2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.
See acts 7:5
Concerning Abraham
Ac 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
It's all about the resurrection from the dead......
Heb 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.