§146Abraham thus fulfils the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen":7 "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."8 Because he was "strong in his faith", Abraham became the "father of all who believe".9

The author returns to his former argument, and shows that there was but one God announced by the law and prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father, and who, through His word, one living God with Him, made Himself known to men in both covenants. 1. God, therefore, is one and the same, who rolls up the heaven as a book, and renews the face of the earth; who made the things of…

Vain attempts of Marcion and his followers, who exclude Abraham from the salvation bestowed by Christ, who liberated not only Abraham, but the seed of Abraham, by fulfilling and not destroying the law when He healed on the Sabbath day. 1. Vain, too, is [the effort of] Marcion and his followers when they [seek to] exclude Abraham from the inheritance, to whom the Spirit through …

Chapter 23.—Of the Word of the Lord to Abraham, by Which It Was Promised to Him that His Posterity Should Be Multiplied According to the Multitude of the Stars; On Believing Which He Was Declared Justified While Yet in Uncircumcision. The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision also. For when God promised him protection and exceeding great reward, he, being solicitous abou…

After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram. This chapter contains one of the most important passages in all of Scripture: Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. This is the very foundation of justification by faith. The covenant ceremony with the divided animals is a solemn ratification, in which God alone passes between the pieces, sh…

What shall we say then that Abraham our father hath found? Paul proves from Abraham and David that justification has always been by faith, not works. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness — before circumcision, not after. Therefore Abraham is the father of all who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised. Faith was imputed to Abraham for righteou…

We teach that sinful man is justified before God (that is, absolved from all his sins and from the sentence of death) only by the grace of God, for the sake of Christ, through faith alone, without any merit of his own. For "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Christ took…

We believe a man to be not simply justified through faith alone, but through faith which worketh through love, that is to say, through faith and works. Not that the foundation and certainty of our salvation resteth upon works; for no man can do the works of God — for Christ hath said, "Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5) — but that faith without works is dead, and worketh…

'And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.' See Gal. iii. 8 and Gen. xii. 3 and Gen. xviii. 18. This is a notable passage. Paul says that the Scripture foresaw. But the Scripture is not a person that can foresee. It is God who foresees, but because God fo…