06/25/2024 – Day 023 – Genesis 12 – 15 / Post #2 of 2 / Chapter 15 – God’s Covenant with Abram (Abrahamic Covenant)
This is true of any reading, here are some sample questions we can pose to the group, or better yet, answer select question(s) to generate group discussion:
- That does the text reveal about God’s character?
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us?
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study?
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)?
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point?
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere.
- What did you find convicting and inspiring at the same time? Share with us how the Spirit of God is working within you as a messenger, both within and outside of our fellowship group.
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times.
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Just one key verse in our chapter, I would like to share the footnote commentary to open up discussion amongst us:
“And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:6
15:6. “Here is the simplicity of salvation. We trust in the Savior and God imputes (freely gives) the righteousness of Christ to our account, without any works on our part. Good works issue from our faith, confirming that we truly are born of God (see Ephesians 2: 8,9)”
So, let’s look at these Ephesian verses:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not by works, so that no one can boast.”
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Here is a great summary article from John Piper on the Abrahamic Covenant:
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-covenant-of-abraham
Here is a theme that stands out to me, noted by John Piper in his last sentence under the “Conditions of the Promise” section:
“The Covenant of Abraham and the New Covenant under which we live today are one covenant of grace, because in both gracious promises are made to sinners who receive them through faith—a faith which banks so completely on the wisdom and power and love of God that it inevitably obeys his commands.”
I agree. Why? I was saved by accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. That faith was a gift from God, it did not originate with me. If a fellow Christian disagrees with me, that it was instead strictly an act of my own free will, then he or she would logically also disagree with the premise above that both covenants are covenants of grace. I would counter the argument on “strictly an act of my own free will”, in that it has become an act of “works”, not faith, and we aren’t saved by “works”.
Soli Deo Gloria!