Father of Believers | The Institute for Creation Research

Father of Believers

"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

The key New Testament doctrine of imputed righteousness, received through saving faith in the Word of God, is foreshadowed beautifully in the life of Abraham. Because of his strong faith, demonstrated again and again in difficult acts of obedience, Abraham has been called "the father of all them that believe" (Romans 4:11). Our text verse is quoted four times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3, 22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23) and is made the basis of the great gospel theme of salvation and righteousness. This is obtained, not by one's good works, but by imputation, and is received through faith in the gracious promises of God through Jesus Christ. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure . . . to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all" (Romans 4:16). Just as "Jerusalem which is above . . . is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26), so faithful Abraham is "the father of us all." Spiritual Jerusalem speaks of salvation by grace, rather than by law, and Abraham testifies of righteousness through faith, rather than by works. And yet, 12 of the 40 verses of Hebrews 11, the great "faith chapter," deal with the outward evidences of Abraham's inner faith.

There is still another reference to Abraham's spiritual seed: "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7). As Abraham's spiritual children, therefore, we also ought to believe God's Word at whatever cost, demonstrating the reality of our faith to the world--as did father Abraham--by obeying God. HMM

The Latest
ACTS & FACTS
Pervasive Genome Functionality Destroys the Myth of Junk DNA
In 2001, the first rough draft of the human genome was published in a collaborative effort between private industry and the public sector.1,2...

NEWS
Happy Labor Day 2025
“For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:9) Labor Day was...

ACTS & FACTS
The Age of Reptiles Myth
We hear about the Age of Reptiles, also called the Age of Dinosaurs, almost as early as we can understand the idea. Even kindergarteners might be taught...

ACTS & FACTS
The Tiktaalik Missing Link Myth
In 2004, the paleontological community—and the world—was presented with what many evolutionists considered to be a dyedin- the-wool missing...

ACTS & FACTS
Archaeopteryx, Myth of a Transitional Fossil
In 1860, one year after the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, a wonderfully preserved fossil feather was discovered in...

ACTS & FACTS
Busting the Myth about Lucy
by Brian Thomas, Ph.D., and Chris Rupe, Ph.D.* Most folks consider our ape ancestry as established science, with Lucy as the main link. However,...

ACTS & FACTS
Evolutionary Vestigial Features: Worse Than Myth, a Scam
Due to teachers’ influence during the formative years of young people’s lives, they can be a powerful force in spreading evolution to new...

ACTS & FACTS
Blind Cavefish Unmask the Convergent Evolution Myth
Within the ever-expanding theory of evolution, there is a system of specialized language designed to identify each major interpretative concept. Some...

ACTS & FACTS
A Booming Generation
And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, and answered them after the advice of the young men.…And...

ACTS & FACTS
Darwin's Galápagos Finches: The Myth of Natural Selection
A group of birds known as Darwin’s finches (genus Geospiza) lives in the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles west of Ecuador....