Bible Study Lesson 5
The Righteousness of Abraham
from www.ocfellowship.org
Abraham is a very prominent person who is mentioned often in both the Old Testament and the New Testament for significant purposes. In this lesson we examine the subject of righteousness, especially in the life of Abraham. In Gen 17:5 we read, “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations”. The name Abraham means father of a multitude. Thus Abram and Abraham refer to the same person.
1. Does the Bible mention several examples where Abraham either sinned outright or showed a lack of faith? Gen 12:10-20; 15:7-8. Compare Gen 15:2-4 with 16:1-6; 17:15-19. Gen 20:1-14.
2. Why did God make promises of future blessings to the descendants of Abraham and his son Isaac? Gen 22:1-18; 26:1-5; Heb 11:8-9, 17-19.
Comment: Notice especially Gen 22:18; 26:5, but it is most significant that Abraham’s obedience was motivated by faith as shown in Heb 11. Yet Abraham did sin and it took years for him to grow in faith.
3. How does the Bible describe the word righteousness using the example of Abraham? Isa 51:1-2, 7.
Comment: In Isa 51:7 God states through the prophet Isaiah that people who know righteousness are “people in whose heart is My law”.
4. What does it mean to have the “law in your heart”? Ps 37:30-31; 40:8; 119:11; Prov 3:1-4; 7:2-3.
Comment: The verses above present similar thoughts about having the law in your heart, which may be captured from Ps 40:8, “I delight to do Your will, O my God.” God’s will is expressed in His law and in whatever else you firmly believe God is motivating you to do after prayer. This aspect of righteousness is summarized in saying that righteousness is delighting to obey God’s law. This is only possible if the person already has faith. Through many examples, Hebrews 11 teaches that faith motivates obedience to God, as it was with Abraham. In this way faith motivates a person to be righteous. This shows that the full depth of the meaning of righteousness is more than merely delighting to obey God’s law, and this will be explored below.
5. Did God tell Abraham that if there were only 10 righteous people in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He would not destroy it? Gen 18:17-32.
6. Does God help the righteous? Ps 34:19; Prov 13:21; 15:29; Ezek 14:12-20.
7. Is righteousness seen by the actual physical actions of obedience? Gen 18:19; I John 3:7.
Comment: Notice the warning not to let anyone deceive you about this! “He who practices righteousness is righteous.” A major difference between faith and righteousness is that faith is the motivating force, but not the doing, but righteousness is the doing, with delight and faith. Faith motivates righteousness.
8. Can anyone besides Jesus behave righteously 100 percent of the time? Eccl 7:20; Prov 24:16; Heb 4:15; I Pet 2:21-22.
9. If a person repents from sin and behaves in a manner to show that the repentance is genuine, is that person considered righteous? Ezek 18:20-23; 33:14-16.
Comment: In lesson 4 we learned that anyone who repents from sin demonstrates faith toward God and receives forgiveness from sin. We also learned that the word “turn” is a synonym for repent.
10. Is any person righteous without the active role by God upon that person? Ps 143:2.
Comment: In Ps 143:2 David wrote, “… in Your sight no one living is righteous.” This means that when God looks upon a person as righteous, the person’s behavior must show it, but God also has the responsibility of forgiving the person because of that person’s faith and repentance. This means that a person cannot be righteous without God’s involvement. Righteousness is a state of sinlessness, and without God this cannot be achieved.
11. How did God respond to Abraham’s faith or belief in the promise of God? Gen 15:5-6.
Comment: When the words “it”, “he” and “him” are used multiple times in one sentence, it is sometimes not so clear. Gen 15:6 reads, “And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and He [the LORD], accounted it [the belief or faith] to him [Abraham] for righteousness.” Briefly said, “God accounted faith to Abraham for righteousness”. One word is especially mysterious here, and that is the word accounted. We will seek other examples to see what accounted means, so that we may understand this better. No translation of the Bible always translates each Hebrew word the same way. The New King James Version (NKJV) sometimes translates the Hebrew word behind the translation accounted with the word counted or regards. Be on the alert for this in the next question.
12. Do the following examples of the word accounted (here translated from the Hebrew word as counted or regards) show treatment different from true reality? Job 19:11, 15; 33:8-10; 41:27.
Comment: God was responsible for allowing Job to have painful sores all over his body, and he was suffering and looked disgusting. Job tried to obey God and did have faith, but God allowed him to have this painful condition for a while. In Job 19:11 Job is talking about God. In Job 33 Elihu is talking to Job. In Job 41:27 God is talking to Job about a very powerful animal named Leviathan in verse 1. In all of these examples accounted (counted or regards) means to treat different from reality. In some ways Abraham did not behave in a righteous way, but God treated Abraham as if he was perfect in his righteousness, and God did that because of Abraham’s faith. To say that “God accounted faith to Abraham for righteousness”, means that “God treated Abraham as if he were perfectly righteous because Abraham had faith in God”. But Abraham did obey God most of the time, and Abraham was motivated by faith.
13. Does Jesus makes us righteous? II Cor 5:21.
Comment: Multiple uses of “he” and “him” can make this confusing. II Cor 5:21 reads, “For He [the Father] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. Without the forgiveness of our sins, we cannot be righteous (that is, in a state of sinlessness). No one can be perfectly righteous by himself. Jesus takes our sins upon Himself, so that we may become righteous. But this does not remove our responsibility for doing our part. As I John 3:7 reads, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” Both you and God are involved. It is a partnership.
14. Do some people brag about how righteous they think they are? Job 6:29; 27:6; 29:14; 32:1-2; Ezek 33:13; Luke 18:9-14.
Comment: Ezek 14:14, 20 shows that Job was indeed righteous in his behavior, but he should not brag about it because eventually he will sin and need God’s forgiveness to restore his righteousness.