Sunday, October 16, 2011

A question for Old Testament scholars

I was reading in Galations 3 and Paul says in verse 8, 'And the Scriptire, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed."' (ESV)

I don't think I understand the gospel in the context of what God said to Abraham.

1 comment:

Dave Lamb said...

God's covenant and blessing was with a particular man, Abraham, and through him, his family, and through his family, the nation of Israel which ultimately descended from Abraham. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel is special, the "chosen", different from all other nations. Yet, right there at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis, there is an expression of a more universal covenant, one that extended beyond Israel to all people. Paul's point in Galatians 3 is that the key to entering into that covenant is belief in Jesus, just as Abraham believed in God.