CAREFUL INTERPRETATION

I was asked recently about Genesis 17:4, 6, concerning the nations coming forth from Abraham. Is "the nations" a reference, an allegorical reference, to the fact that the Gentiles would be blessed by Abraham? In order to answer we must use two very important principles in hermeneutics: (1) good observation, and (2) examining carefully the context of a passage.    The "nations" here have to do with the many tribes that were spawned from Abraham. God told him that He would "multiply him exceedingly" (v. 2). And, that he would be "the father of a multitude of nations" (vv. 4, 6). This came about literally if one carefully reads 25:1-11. Through his second wife, Keturah, he had many other children, who then had more children. Also, his other children came through several concubines, and through Ishmael (the son of Hagar), as listed in 25:12-16.    However, God made it plain that through Sarah, Abraham would have seed (descendants) "after him" (17:7-10). The "after him" (Abraham) is a direct reference to the children who would come from his true wife (not a concubine) Sarah. "God said, 'but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant; for his descendants 'after him'" (v. 19).    Question: "Well, are the nations not the children of Abraham, as mentioned by Paul in Galatians 3:7-8?"    Read carefully! Paul takes note that the "nations shall be blessed in" Abraham (v. 8; Gen. 12:3). Paul is not making an allegory when he writes that we are sons of Abraham "by faith" not by lineage. He concludes: "So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer" (v. 9). Noting carefully what Moses and Paul write in a technical sense: (1) Many nations will physically come forth from Abraham; (2) the nations will be blessed by Abraham; but (3) the seed (the descendants) of Abraham, as Moses is using the idea, happens to be those who come "from Abraham" through Sarah-Isaac-Jacob.    Granted, the idea is close when Paul says we are "sons of Abraham," but he is very careful by adding, "by, through faith." This is certainly a spiritual idea but it is not "spiritualizing" or "allegorizing." An allegory is made when one creates a new idea and replaces an old thought. In other words, to allegorize, would be to say that Israel means the church, or, the church means Israel!    The apostle Paul takes his thought further by writing "In Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Gal. 3:14). Paul makes it clear that the ultimate seed of Abraham is Christ. He writes: "When God spoke to Abraham and to his seed, He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as referring to many, but rather to one, 'And to your seed,' that is Christ" (v. 16). He elaborates by adding that the ultimate seed is Christ "the seed to whom the promise had been made" (v. 19). I hope this helps. – Dr. Mal Couch