The historical record of Abrahamβs life doesnβt seem to point to him as a man of great faith, but instead as a man of a weak and doubting faith.
By:Β Dr Eliezer Gonzalez
In the Bible, Abraham is a foundational figure, and he is particularly renowned for his great faith. Thatβs why the apostle Paul says of Abraham that: he is the father of all who believe (Rom. 4:11)
A little later in the same passage, writes that Abraham is father of all those who,
have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.Β 17Β As it is written: βI have made you a father of many nations.β He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believedβ¦Β (Romans 4:16β17)
In the book of Hebrews, the βfaith chapterβ highlights the heroes of faith. Among them, the faith of Abraham is highlighted more than that of any other Biblical hero. It is said of him that,
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,Β obeyed and went,Β even though he did not know where he was going.Β 9Β By faith he made his home in the promised landΒ like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.Β 10Β For he was looking forward to the cityΒ with foundations,Β whose architect and builder is God.Β 11Β And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,Β was enabled to bear childrenΒ because she[b]Β considered him faithfulΒ who had made the promise.Β 12Β And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashoreΒ (Hebrews 11:8β12)
Something doesnβt seem to quite add up about the faith of Abraham.
The problem with all of this is that the historical record of Abrahamβs life doesnβt seem to point to him as a man of great faith, but instead as a man of a weak and doubting faith. The reason why we donβt easily realise this when we think of Abraham is because we filter and view his life through the narrative ofΒ Hebrews 11. But that actually wasnβt the reality of Abrahamβs life. Let me show you.
God called Abram (who was later called βAbrahamβ) while he was living in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, as Stephen informs us inΒ Acts 7:2β3:
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 βLeave your country and your people,β God said, βand go to the land I will show you.β
InΒ Genesis 12:1β3, the call of Abraham to go βto the land I will show youβ (v.1) had happened earlier, in Ur. The pluperfect tense is used, i.e. βThe LORD had said to Abramβ¦β I can understand Abramβs hesitancy. Leaving everything behind, to go and live in tents in a wild and untamed land wasnβt too appealing to a civilised and wealthy man. So he didnβt. he went to Haran instead. Haran was another nice city like Ur.
Abram stayed in Haran for many years. Why didnβt he simply obey God and go to Canaan? This doesnβt have the hallmarks of a man with great faith?
We see hesitancy, doubt, and fear, even into Abrahamβs old age.
When Abram finally arrived in the Promised Land, he was disappointed to find that it was in famine. When you live off the land, famine threatens your life and the life of those whom you love. How would he survive?
Instead of having faith in God, Abram left Canaan and went to Egypt. There in Egypt, he landed in even bigger trouble, when he found that the king of Egypt wanted Abramβs wife for himself! Again, he takes matters into his own hands, and he lies about who Sarah is, saying that she is his sister. When Pharaoh takes Sarah, God afflicts him, and Pharaoh realises the truth. It is Pharaoh, a completely pagan king, who rebukes Abram for lying and for deceiving him! (Gen. 12:10β20)
In Genesis 15, although God had promised him a son, Abram took matters into his hand and nominated Eliezer, his servant, as his heir (v.2). That doesnβt sound like something a great man of faith would do, does it? So God told him that his plan was no good, and that he himself would give him a son (vv.4β5.)
In Genesis 16, Abram participates in his wife Saraiβs plot to let Abram sleep with her servant Hagar, so that they could have a child that way. It was another human plan! It was another display of a lack of faith! God was so disappointed with Abram that he told him to have himself circumcised as a permanent reminder not to trust in flesh, but to trust instead in God (Gen. 17:9β14,22β27.)
Genesis 20 seems like a rewind of Genesis 12. Same story, different king. Itβs true that God keeps bring us, again and again, to the same situations in our lives, so we can grow in the areas we most need to grow. By now, Abram was very old. In fact, he was almost 100 years of age. Yet he still hasnβt learnt to trust in God!
Eventually, when Abraham was 100 years old, the Lord fulfilled his promise and Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah. It almost seems that the Lord fulfilled his promise despite Abrahamβs faith.
The only clear response of faith that one can find in Abrahamβs story is when the Lord tested Abrahamβs faith by asking him to offer his son as a sacrifice. Abraham responded without hesitation, although in the end, the Lord himself provided a sacrifice (Gen. 22:1β19.)
Abraham never gave up.
Despite this apparent lifetime of failure, Abraham βwas called a friend of Godβ (James 2:23.) The Lord himself said of him that,
Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions (Gen. 26:5.)
Above all,
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Rom. 4:3; see Gen. 15:6.)
The faith of Abraham wasnβt so great, but Godβs faithfulness was.
Obviously, βbelieving in Godβ and βfaithβ do not mean what we usually think they mean. Apart from the one episode at the end of Abrahamβs life we see little evidence of the kind of quality that we would normally call faith. Instead, we see hesitancy, doubt, and fear, even into Abrahamβs old age.
However, there is something else we see in Abrahamβs life. Despite his many failures, he is always receptive to the voice of God, and to his work in his life. Abraham never gives up. Despite his stumbles, Abraham always comes back to his relationship with God.
In the end, the story is much more about Godβs grace than about the faith of Abraham. Yet if we are going to talk about Abrahamβs faith, perhaps the best way to understand such faith is βendurance.β On the one hand, God had to put up with a lot from Abraham. Yet, more importantly, Abraham always stuck with God, through all his mistakes. That was the faith of Abraham.
Article supplied with thanks toΒ Dr Eliezer Gonzalez.
About the Author: Dr Eli Gonzalez is the Senior Pastor of Good News Unlimited and the presenter of theΒ UnlimitedΒ radio spots, andΒ The Big Question. Sign up to hisΒ free online course called Becoming a Follower of JesusΒ to learn about Jesus and His message.
Feature image: Photo byΒ Joseph ChanΒ onΒ Unsplash