Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham,saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

                                                                                                                 Galatians 3:6-9 

I love reading this passage. It’s really hard to miss the emphasis that Paul makes about righteousness and friendship with God as coming from faith. There are four points of emphasis, all identifying faith as the key to righteousness and spiritual blessing.

(1) Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to Him as righteousness. Abraham believed God by taking Him at His word. From the announcement of the promised child Isaac (Genesis 15), to his willingness to move to a foreign land (Genesis 12), to his compliance in taking his son up a mountain to be sacrificed (Genesis 22), Abraham was obedient to God because he trusted God to do what He promised He would do. But his faith was far from perfect. The Bible records Abraham’s acceptance of the promised Isaac, yet he and his wife turned to human effort in an attempt to “help” God fulfill His promise (Genesis 16). Like Abraham, none of us live in perfect faith. However immersing ourselves in the Word of God will assist us in being a people who believe God.

(2) Be sure that those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Our faith is our assurance that we belong to God. Consider the following:

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 

                                                                                                                                   John 1:9-12 

It was God’s will to send Jesus into the world so that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:17). Jesus bore the burden of the sins of all humanity (1 John 2:2) making it possible for fallen people to not just be saved, but redeemed, being declared children of God and sons of Abraham. This is all done as we live by faith in what Jesus has already accomplished on our behalf.

(3) Abraham received the gospel some 2,000 years prior to the birth of Christ. When God told Abraham that “All the nations will be blessed in you”, he was foreshadowing the cross of Jesus where God’s righteous judgment intersected His mercy and grace. There would now be no distinction between Jews and the rest of the world. Through Christ all people can receive the gospel and it is for those who receive it by faith alone and not by works. Consider the following:

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone…                                                

                                                                                                                 Romans 9:30-32 

The emphasis that Paul is making is that faith in Jesus is the means in which God justifies mankind. The Jews, mentioned in Romans, had stumbled over this truth by making justification by works of the Law. We stumble too when we make the same mistake.

(4) Finally, Paul reminds us that God’s blessings are not earned either. They are established when we believe in Jesus. “So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer.” Scripture doesn’t say that we might be blessed if we believe in Jesus rather it says we are blessed. This is communicated with clarity in the following statements, one from the old covenant and one from the new:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought
nor cease to yield fruit.

                                                                                                               Jeremiah 17:7-8

…just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.

                                                                                                                 Romans 4:6-8 

Faith in Jesus brings righteousness, sonship with God, justification, and blessing and all of these things are established completely apart from works. Are you a son of Abraham?

Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 

                                                                                                                     Romans 4:4-5