Not for His Sake Alone

One of the better known stories of the Old Testament is the time God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It plays an important role not just in Christianity, but in Judaism and Islam. It’s also a prime subject of study for philosophers, such as when Kierkegaard used it as an example of an existential leap into the darkness.

I’ve heard many talks and sermons on it, and inevitably the question comes up: why? Why would a loving God ask a faithful man to do such an awful thing? The other gods of the time demanded child sacrifices; this God was supposed to be different! How could He command something He would later condemn in the Law?

Often when people speak on it, they focus on two things: first, where God says “now I know.” Abraham offered up Isaac as a demonstration of love, to prove his faith to God. Second, they focus on how this foreshadows God’s later offering up His own Son for our sins, when Abraham’s descendent, Jesus, would be crucified on our behalf.

These things are right and biblical. But this morning as I was reading Romans 4, another element struck me. It’s one I don’t recall ever having heard before.

In Romans 4, Paul is explaining how Abraham is a model of faith, and how his salvation came not through circumcision but through faith. Circumcision was obedience, but it was not salvation. Salvation was by grace alone through faith alone. For example, Paul writes:

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shared the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…

Romans 4:16 (ESV)

At the end of the chapter, Paul reminds us that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. And then we get this delightful passage:

But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord…

Romans 4:23, 24 (ESV)

I say “delightful” because of the way I read Scripture. Many people think the Bible was written to them personally and that God speaks to them personally through it. I find this to be sloppy thinking. It makes us prone to think that when we open our Bibles on a bad day and read God making a specific promise to a specific person, that promise must be what God is “saying” to us that day. But when God promised Hannah a child, He was not also promising one to you. He may give you one, and He is the God who can and does give children, but the point here is about His character, not you.

And when God promised to give Israel in exile hope and a future, He was not also promising it to you. If you are in Christ, you do have hope and a future, make no mistake! But Jeremiah spoke those words into a specific context, and you, dear reader, are not in that context.

These are absolutely the words of God, and they are incredibly important for you to read. But we must recognize we are just eavesdropping on conversations God has had with other people over the centuries. As the Spirit says through Paul later in Romans:

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:4 (ESV)

That’s why I get excited when I see little glimpses that God really does have you and me in mind. When Paul says “it was counted to him” was written not just for Abraham’s sake but for ours, he is saying this to the Christians at Rome. But they apply just as much to us today. God said this so that believers in every age would hear it. God said these words of Abraham not just so Abraham could hear them, but so that you, today, could read them.

And this brings me to my point about the offering of Isaac. If God’s intent in pronouncing Abraham’s faith as righteousness was to say something important to believers in every age, I have to wonder if that wasn’t part of the point in commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac all along. So this means the testing of Abraham wasn’t for Abraham’s sake alone, or for God’s sake alone, or for Christ’s sake alone. It was also for our sake. Before God could tell us that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness, God had Abraham demonstrate that faith for us.

I don’t think I’m saying anything new or earth-shattering here, but I think it’s an important point to keep in mind. When we evaluate this historic event, this event that is so important to many religions and philosophies, we must keep all the elements in mind. Abraham was being tested by God. This testing proved Abraham’s faith. And the proving of that faith was in part to teach the world that righteousness comes by faith and not by works.

And don’t miss the role of grace here! Abraham is not earning God’s approval such that faith itself becomes a work. What God asked of Abraham, He also provided. Isaac was a gift from God, more so than most children. He was a miracle. God led Abraham to this moment, provided what He asked, and then even gave it back to Abraham. We often focus on how the ram was given as a sacrifice in place of Isaac. It is a gift. But there are two gifts here: the gift of the new sacrifice and the receiving back of the old sacrifice. God gifts Isaac to Abraham twice. (And what’s more, as the New Testament book of Hebrews makes clear, Abraham had no doubt that He would.)

So the next time you hear the story of Abraham offering Isaac, remember God had many purposes in mind. Why did God ask Abraham to offer his son? Not just to foreshadow Christ, and not just to prove Abraham’s faith, but to teach you, here, today, that righteousness comes by faith, and that God graciously gives all He requires of us.