6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Paul now turns to the Scriptures themselves to find substantiation for his argument, and chooses Abraham as an illustration. There is a greater significance in this choice than might first be realised. The pattern here is strikingly similar to that in Romans 4, where it is as if the Jews with whom he was in discussion were saying, 'We are suspicious of this new doctrine of yours, Paul. We stand by Abraham. What was good enough for him is good enough for us'. But this suits Paul perfectly. He proceeds to make Abraham a test case. 'All right', he says, 'take Abraham. What do the Scriptures say about him? They say, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Abraham was therefore justified not by works but by faith'. We should notice what Paul is doing in this: he is appealing to their religious past, to the spiritual heritage of their forefathers, to prove his point, and showing them, traditionalists as they were, that they were untrue to their own traditions. This is something that needs to be done, and should be done, in our situation today, when so many are clinging to the idea of salvation by works, in the mistaken belief that justification by faith is a new-fangled extremism held by fanatics, slightly disreputable and at variance with the best traditions of religious life in Scotland. Well, what do we think our forefathers did believe? This can be verified. Read the Westminster Confession of Faith!