Abraham was justified before men？

Abraham’s Faith on Display in Genesis 22

How is it justification before men, when Abraham and Isaac were the only ones on the mount, and according to Genesis 22, how were they justified before men? How would you interact with that?

Excellent question. I've been asked this a ton. Genesis 22 is super important because we see that James 2 tells us that Abraham is being obedient to God. Was not Abraham justified by his works when he offered up his son Isaac?

Witnesses, Assurance, and Hebrews 11

And so how do we say that this is a vindication before men? I would say, Shane, you need to go read all of Genesis 22. Because when you do that, you do see more people with Abraham. There was two travelers with him and his son, and he says something remarkable to the two travelers.

Because Abraham knows God told him to go sacrifice his son, and he says to the two travelers, basically, y 'all stay here, and we will come back to you. Now, Hebrews 11 says that he had faith in God, even to resurrect Isaac from the dead, essentially.

And so he's putting his faith on display to them, regardless of what they know is going to happen. All they see is Abraham's faith saying he knows with certainty, full assurance that him and Isaac are going to come back.

So those are two witnesses, I would say. And then the third witness is Isaac himself. This is an experience Isaac would never forget, right? And so it keeps going, Eli. Hey, Isaac, remember that time we went fishing?

Yeah,.

Dad. Remember that time you almost sacrificed me? Oh, yeah, I remember that. Actually, I'm reminded as the way you answered, I know that I think it was Paul. I don't remember where, but he is making reference to the Exodus and the wanderings in the wilderness and the disobedience of the people of Israel.

And he says to his current audience, these things were written for you so that in a very broad sense, we are witnesses to the genuineness of Abraham's faith, right? You.

Three Witnesses and the Establishment of Truth

Got some more spice to add in there. Oh, you got to have this. You got the salt, the salt bay, the justification bay. I'm so sorry. No, no, you're good. So what we're seeing set up with the three witnesses is a picture of how truth is established by three or more witnesses that would come later in the law.

So we have that, but we're not done because we also have a theophany where the angel of the Lord speaks from on high, but to man's level and says this amazing statement. Now I know that you fear God. So when in this conversation, I also entertain the church of Christ asking me this question a lot of times is, do you think God was learning Abraham's faith in this moment that he truly feared man?

Or was he speaking on the human level, which is what we're talking about. That's what James two is talking about, right? And so John Calvin brings us out in his commentaries, how God is speaking on man's level.

Faith, Works, and the Just Shall Live by Faith

God is witness that true living faith will manifest itself out to the world. What we see old and new Testament is the just shall live by faith, right? But we keep going, baby, because this was in the Pentateuch, right?

So millions of Jews would be seeing Abraham's living faith put on display in the story. And that is the application James two is also making to Christians.