Genesis 15:6

And he believed in the Lord,.... The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are, "in the Word of the Lord;'' in the essential Word of the Lord, in Christ the Lord his righteousness; he believed in the

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

He believed in the Lord, i.e. he was fully persuaded that God was able to fulfil, and would certainly fulfil, the promise made to him concerning a child, and especially concerning the Messias, who should come out of his loins by that child, and that both himself and all people should be justified and blessed in and through him. He counted it to him, or reckoned, or imputed, as this word is translated, ,22, for righteousness, i.e. for a righteous and worthy action, as ; and further, in respect of this action and grace of faith, whereby he relied upon God for the promised Seed, and upon the promised Seed too, he pronounced him a just and righteous person notwithstanding his failings, which even this history acquaints us with, and graciously accepted him as such; which sense is easily gathered from St. Paul’ s explication and accommodation of this passage, ,18,22.

Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Ver 6. And he believed.] When thus the promise was repeated. So needful it is, that the word should be often preached, and the sweet promises of the gospel beaten to the smell; that God’ s "name being as an ointment poured out, the virgins may love him," believe in him, and "rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." And he counted it to him for righteousness.] This imputative righteousness the Papists scoff at, calling it putative, or imaginary. This the Jews also jeer at to this day; as their fathers did of old, so do they. For being asked whether they believe to be saved by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, they answer, that every fox must pay his own skin to the finger. But is not Christ called in their law, "Jehovah our righteousness?" And how so, but by means of that imputation so often hammered on by the apostle? adding after all, that what is said here of Abram, "is not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus," &c. If Adam’ s sin be mine, though I committed it not; why should it seem so strange, that the merit of Christ’ s entire obedience should by the like means be mine, though I wrought it not? See Romans 5:19 2 Corinthians 5:19. "If he hath wronged thee aught, reckon that to me," said Paul to Philemon, concerning Onesimus; saith Christ to his Father concerning us. And - to stop the Papists’ mouth - if another man’ s faith may benefit infants at their baptism, as Bellarmine affirmeth; why should it seem so absurd that believers should be benefited by Christ’ s righteousness imputed?

(6) He believed in the Lord (in Jehovah) . . . —We have here the germ of the doctrine of free justification. Abram was both a holy man and one who proved his faith by his works; but nevertheless the inspired narrator inserts this reflection, not after the history of the offering of Isaac, but in the account of this vision, where all that Abram did was to believe, and for that belief’s sake was accounted righteous before God. For the definite conclusions deduced from this verse by St. Paul see Romans 4. The quotation there is from the LXX., and gives the general sense, but the correct rendering of the Hebrew is that given in our version.

Verse 6. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.] This I conceive to be one of the most important passages in the whole Old Testament. It properly contains and specifies that doctrine of justification by faith which engrosses so considerable a share of the epistles of St. Paul, and at the foundation of which is the atonement made by the Son of God: And he (Abram) believed האמן heemin, he put faith) in Jehovah, ויחשבה לו vaiyachshebeita lo, and he counted it-the faith he put in Jehovah, to HIM for righteousness, צדקה tsedakak, or justification; though there was no act in the case but that of the mind and heart, no work of any kind. Hence the doctrine of justification by faith, without any merit of works; for in this case there could be none-no works of Abram which could merit the salvation of the whole human race. It was the promise of God which he credited, and in the blessedness of which he became a partaker through faith. See at the close of the chapter; See Clarke on Genesis 15:19; see also on "Romans 4:13", &c.

6. he believed in the Lord] Abram believed (1) in God’s protection (Genesis 15:1), (2) in the fulfilment of the promise of a son (Genesis 15:4), and (3) of innumerable descendants (Genesis 15:5). It is this trust to which St Paul refers (Romans 4:18), “who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be.” “Believed in,” i.e. “believed,” “trusted,” as with the same Hebrew construction, Exodus 14:31, Jonah 3:5. In the Ep. to the Hebrews (Genesis 11:8; Genesis 11:17) Abram’s faith is not illustrated from this, passage, but from his leaving his country (chap. 12) and from his sacrifice of his son (22). and he counted it to him for righteousness] A short pregnant sentence of abstract religious thought. The word “righteousness” (ṣ ?edâqâh) occurs here for the first time in Scripture. It denotes the qualities of the man who is “righteous,” or “right with God” (see note on ṣ ?addîq, Genesis 7:1). To the Israelite, “righteousness” implied the perfect obedience of the law. The writer records that, at a time when there was no law, Jehovah reckoned the faith of Abram, shewn in simple trust and obedience, as equivalent to the subsequent technical fulfilment of legal righteousness. The trustful surrender to the loving will of God is represented, in this typical instance of the father of the Israelite people, as, in Divine estimation, the foundation of true religion. For the phrase, cf. the reference to Phinehas, Psalms 106:31, “and that was counted unto him for righteousness.” For the argument based by St Paul on this verse in connexion with the doctrine of the justification by faith, see Romans 4:1-25; Galatians 3:6 : cf. James 2:23.

6. He believed — “Hebrews, and he trusted in Jehovah, and he counted it to him righteousness,” or it was counted, (one counted,) so Sept., followed by Paul in Romans 4:3.