Genesis 15 Handout

1. And he believed the LORD, and the LORD[b] reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:6)

‫ֽיהו֑ה וַַּיחְְׁש בֶ ֥ ָה ֹּל֖ ו צְדָ ָ ֽקה‬
ָ ‫ְו ֶהא ִ ֱ֖מן ַּב‬
“He believed in the Lord. And he considered him as righteousness.”

You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and
gave him the name Abraham; and you found his heart faithful before you, and made with him a
covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the
Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite; and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are
righteous. (Nehemiah 9:7-8 )

For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness.” Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.
But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as
righteousness. (Romans 4:3-5)

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” so, you see, those
who believe are the descendants of Abraham.  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would
reckon as righteous the gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying,
“All the gentiles shall be blessed in you.”  For this reason, those who believe are blessed with
Abraham who believed. (Galatians 3:6-9)

Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the
altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and by works faith was brought to
completion.  Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was
reckoned to him as righteousness,”[c] and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person
is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:21-24)

2. “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.”
(Gen 15:7)
vs
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
slavery…” (Exod 20:1; Deut 5:6)

3. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed
between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…(Gen 15:17)
vs
And those who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they
made before me, I will make like[c] the calf when they cut it in two and passed between its
parts:  … and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf  shall be handed
over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. Their corpses shall become food for the
birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth. (Jeremiah 34:18-20)