What Does it Mean to be Justified? Part 1

By John Foll, written 04/04/2019 to 04/05/2019, 4/12/2019.
© Copyright 2019 John Foll

"Justification has to do with the law. The term means making just. Now in Romans 2:13 we are told who the just ones are: 'For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.' The just man, therefore, is the one who does the law. To be just means to be righteous. Therefore since the just man is the one who does the law, it follows that to justify a man, that is, to make him just, is to make him a doer of the law."

- E. J. Waggoner, from the book: Living by Faith, Chapter: Being Justified. This book was written by both E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones.

Let’s state these propositions again:

For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

The just man is the one who does the law.

To be just means to be righteous.

The just or righteous person does the law.

Therefore to justify someone is to make them a doer of the law.

To justify someone is to make them righteous.

The term justification by faith is used many places in the Bible, so we need to understand what it really means. It is important since it is used so many times. True faith takes the Bible as it reads and accepts it as the truth, because it is the word of God. Those with true faith believe and trust God and take Him at His word. Therefore the first step in order to get righteousness by faith is to believe the word of God, the Bible. Without the belief that the Bible is the word of God, no one can have the faith that is needed, which Abraham had, to be made righteous by God and be saved. The condition of salvation is to believe – to believe that Jesus and His Father can save you. John 3:16-17. You must also believe their word, the Bible. God doesn’t make mistakes, and you can trust His word, the Bible. This is what we are doing here, taking the Bible as it reads.

Jesus advocated believing the Bible as it reads. Note what He said here: “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And He [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’” Luke 10:25-26 NASB. Jesus answered the lawyer with a simple question, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’ What Jesus said here is actually quite profound! Is it really that easy to understand the Bible? Is it really just that simple? Surely it can’t be that easy, is it? Yes, you bet it is! How come so many other people have trouble understanding it, with different people teaching this and different people teaching that? It is not hard to understand the Bible if you simply read it and believe it as it reads. It is really just that simple. This is where many of the problems come, because many cannot believe it as it reads - without someone interpreting it with a meaning other than its apparent plain meaning. Jesus’ tells you how you can know what the Bible means, and how you can have eternal life: Read the law - how does it read to you? (And the rest of the Bible too.) Read it with prayer and you can understand what it means. It is really just that simple!

* Note there are places in the Bible that are highly symbolic – in these places you must prayerfully study them, allowing the Bible to interpret itself, and it will if you want to understand it.

Why then do so many people get confused about what the Bible means or want to argue about it? Because many people are used to hearing humanistic explanations of the Bible. Whenever they find texts that trouble them, because it brings them guilt or because it is something they don’t want to do, they may ask their trusted pastor or teacher to explain it to them. This is because they don’t want to accept the plain teaching of the Bible or they don’t want to do it, and there are teachers who will give them their own erroneous ideas on what it means - to calm their fears and quiet their conscience. Or they have tried many times and failed at doing what the text says, so they conclude that it is not possible to obey God or be good. But the truth doesn’t contradict itself. If you read the Bible, after praying and asking the Holy Spirit to give you an understanding of it, wanting to obey God, then you will have no problem understanding it - especially for the things you need to hear the most, when you need to hear them. Pray for understanding and then believe the Bible as it reads.

Now that we have the proper method of understanding what the Bible means, let us go back to our proposition again:

To be justified is to be made a doer of the Law.

To be justified is to be made righteous.

Wow! Many people who believe that we are saved by grace alone, which is righteousness by faith, believe that when God justifies someone, that it is purely symbolic - they believe that they are made righteous only in the eyes of God. I.e. they are only righteous in the record books of Heaven. They are not wrong in believing that they are saved by grace or righteousness by faith. But many of them believe that no change is made or needed on the part of the sinner, allowing the person who is "justified" to be stuck in an endless round of sinning and bad habits, or they teach that it is not necessary or even that it is bad to try to be good, saying that this is "works." This is not the gospel message at all, but ‘another gospel.’ Works are bad when they are self-righteous acts, done to earn favor with God or man, without God's help - for those who try to earn their salvation by themselves. But it is clear that to justify someone is to make them righteous as Waggoner stated. Another way of stating this proposition is that only those who are made righteous by God or just are the doers of the Law – only these are just before God.

If you have faith you will be made righteous.

If you have faith you will have peace:

Let us take this quote from Paul and run with it:

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1 NASB. What does this tell us? If we have been made righteous by faith, then we will have peace. We added the new understanding of what being justified means to bring out its complete meaning.

Does our theme text of Romans 2:13, which Waggoner interprets as meaning that the one who is justified is made a doer of the law, contradict Paul’s other teachings?

Some have argued that Romans 2:13 contradicts Galatians 2:16, but is this true?

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16 KJV. 

This text on the surface appears to contradict Romans 2:13. But let’s break this down to understand why they are not contradictions of each other.

We have the testimony of Peter that agrees perfectly with Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:13, that it is not the hearers of the Law but the doers of the Law who will be justified: Listen now to Peter’s testimony: “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." Acts 5:32 NASB. Here Peter plainly teaches that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God – this is how we become born again or born by the Spirit, by obeying God. See John 3:3, 5. Here is the testimony of Jesus regarding this: ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.’ John 14:23 NASB. It is clear that if someone loves Jesus, they will keep His word (which is to obey Him), and He and the Father will dwell in them through the presence of the Holy Spirit – This is how you become born again. This agrees perfectly with Romans 2:13, because it is only those who obey God (or those who want to obey Him) and Jesus, who will receive the Holy Spirit and be born again. John 3:3, 5. There is more to this subject, but we will not deal with all of it here. We have already covered many of these concepts in our previous articles and books that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, and helps us to obey God (if we want Him too). Only those who choose to obey God (who want to obey Him), will be given the Holy Spirit and be made righteous. But they have not the power to make this choice to obey God, unless the Holy Spirit first convicts them of sin and they want to obey Him. Jesus declared, “And He, when He [the  Helper or the Holy Spirit] comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;” John 16:8-10 NASB.

When the Bible says that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified - what are we to make of it? When we try to do good works or to keep the law we are unable to do it in our own strength, so we cannot be justified or made right by ourselves, because we are never perfectly right or just by ourselves, and never can be by ourselves. – Because Jesus said there is only one who is good: God alone! Matthew 19:16. The second stanza in the song Rock of Ages states this so eloquently: “Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know? These for sin can not atone. Thou must save and thou alone.” We cannot atone for any of our sins that we have made! No never! But if we are made ‘just’ or ‘righteous’ by God, then we are righteous indeed! This is wholly the work of God, not us.

The answer is that Galatians 2:16 does not contradict Romans 2:13.

Galatians 2:16 is talking about those who are trying to keep the law in their own strength (no one is good but God alone - Mark 10:18), while Romans 2:13 is talking about someone who wants to obey God, who makes a choice to want to obey Him, they ask God to give them the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), and God gives them the power to obey Him through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Acts 5:32. Thus only those who have faith that God can make them righteous, will be made righteous by Him through the Holy Spirit! So both Galatians 2:16 and Romans 2:13 are about being made righteous by God.

When the prophet Habakkuk and the apostle Paul wrote: ‘The just shall live by faith,’ what did they mean? See Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 8:36; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 4:2.

Habakkuk and Paul meant that those who have faith will live by it and thus will be made righteous.

To sum up what we have learned here:

Those who have faith will be made righteous, because they will be given the desire and the ability of making the choice to obey God, and thus receiving the Holy Spirit, because no one is good but God alone. It means that those who have faith will get the Holy Spirit! – It is the Holy Spirit alone who can make anyone righteous. And they must want to obey God to get the Holy Spirit in full. Acts 5:32. And they must be born again to be able to enter the kingdom of Heaven, John 3:3, 5, which is to be born of the Holy Spirit. So the only way you can be righteous and saved and enter Heaven, is if you want to obey God and are filled with His precious Holy Spirit! Wow!

You may think that we are reasoning here in a loop, but this is how it is laid out in the Bible. Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? We are putting together texts from the Bible here that you have probably never heard used together before. Have you? We are exhorted by the Bible to put the lines of truth together to get a greater gestalt or a better understanding of it. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:” Isaiah 28:10 KJV. This is what we are doing.

Conclusion:

The just shall live by faith.
The righteous shall live by faith.
Those who have faith in God will be just.
Those who have faith in God will be righteous.
Those who have faith in God will be made just.
Those who have faith in God will be made righteous.
Those who have faith in God will have the Holy Spirit.
Those who have faith in God will be doers of the Law.
Those who have faith in God will obey Him.
Those who have faith in God will please Him!
Those who have faith in God will have peace.
Those who have been made righteous by faith will have peace.
Those who have faith in God will be saved!
Those who have faith in God will be born again!
Those who have faith in God will enter the kingdom of Heaven!

Salvation is from the Lord! He alone can save. He must save, and Him alone. So why not trust Him?

Wow! These are powerful concepts here! Think about all of this again and again – let it sink in until you get it! These are most wonderful truths! Fresh! Full of life, love and joy and power! They will impart to you eternal life if you accept and do them.

May the faith of Abraham, the grace of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen.

Now for the song for today:

Rock of Ages

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09 The Test of Faith: Editor’s Notes (The Everlasting Covenant)

Theme Text from the article by E.  J. Waggoner from The Everlasting Covenant: 09 The Test of Faith, from The Present Truth, July 2, 1896:

So “it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I. And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Gen. 22:1, 2.

Please read this article now before reading our notes on them: http://whiteraimentevangelismfaith.blogspot.com/2018/08/09-test-of-faith-everlasting-covenant.html

Editor’s Notes by John Foll:

This is such an amazing story, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son on a mountain in the land of Moriah! From a human standpoint, Abraham was asked to sacrifice his own eternal life! Or ‘to put a knife to his own throat,’ as Waggoner put it! And he was asked to sacrifice the eternal life of everyone in the world. Would he continue to believe God’s promise, that he would personally have a possession in the land of Canaan, which could only happen for him through the * Resurrection, and that from one born to him would all the nations of the world be blessed? Or would he lose his faith in God’s promise? This was the test!

* We will post an article soon on this called: “Abraham's Promised Possession of Canaan Could Only Come Through the Resurrection”. E. J.  Waggoner already covered the fact that Abraham was asked to sacrifice his own eternal life, and that Abraham could only gain the promised inheritance through the resurrection, but we want to go through it again and ‘make it plain’ in a separate article.

How many people are willing to go through the test of faith like Abraham went through? Without faith it is only natural to question how God could save the world through Jesus, if Jesus had to be born through Isaac, the child of the Promise, but then Isaac was slain! How could this even be possible? But this is not the path of faith!
 
How many are really willing to do whatever God asks, regardless of the cost to themselves? This was the strongest test that any human being has ever been asked to do by God, which was put on Abraham, but thank God he passed the test for all of humanity! Did you know that what Abraham did here was for all of humanity? Abraham was a type of ‘Christ’ here or a type of the ‘Father.’ What would have happened to God’s promise to save the world through the offspring of Abraham, if Abraham had failed? God would have still found a way to keep His promise, but Abraham would have lost out, and it would have brought dishonor upon God. John the Baptist said, ‘God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones.’ Matthew 3:1-2, 9; Luke 3:2-3, 8. Another words, God can raise up someone faithful to Him from the very rocks if needed, like Abraham. How God would have kept His promise to Abraham, if Abraham had failed, we cannot tell. Would Abraham believe that God is love, pure, just and holy? Would he believe God’s promise to him of eternal life, through the offspring of his son Isaac, if he obeyed God’s command to sacrifice his son? But by faith Abraham did not fail! Yes he did believe! WOW! That is faith! Thankfully Abraham passed the test! This is why he is called the father of the faithful or the father of them that believe. Romans 4:11-16.

Abraham passing this test shows everyone that God does indeed keep His promises, and that He will save all to the uttermost who put their trust in Him for salvation! What God did for Abraham He can do for you too, and for everyone else who puts their full trust in His mighty power and promises to save! The blessing of Abraham passing this test has been passed down to mankind, through God being able to keep His promise directly and literally to Abraham, that through his offspring (of Isaac) all nations of the world would be blessed. Genesis 22:15-18. Does this really matter? You bet it does! This was when God sent His only Son Jesus to this world to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16, 17), and when Jesus showed us how to live, have peace, and be full of love and joy and have eternal life! The result is an object lesson in faith, and that Abraham trusted God enough to be willing to sacrifice his own eternal life to obey God! Wow! Do you see now why it was so important for Abraham to pass this test? It was so Jesus could be born through the offspring of Isaac and die on the cross for our sins! What is the big deal about Him being born through Isaac? It is because God promised it to Abraham! So what is the big deal about whether God kept His promise to Abraham or not, for us today? You had better believe it was a big deal! In this world of evil and shades of grey in between good and evil, great hypocrisy and lies, it is a most wonderful thing to have someone to believe in who is perfect in love and purity, who always keeps His promises. So where would we be now if Jesus had not been born and died for our sins? Where would we be now if we couldn’t trust God to keep His promises?

Isn’t Abraham’s struggle in passing the test of faith similar to what Jesus went through? Jesus had a great struggle too in the Garden of Gethsemane over the fate of all sinners. It tested His resolve to save humanity, and the fate of the entire world hung in the balance! What if His sacrifice hadn’t been accepted by the Father? What if He had sinned even once? Perhaps these were some of the thoughts that Jesus struggled with before and after He came to this earth as a babe, grew up, was baptized and went through that great struggle in the garden and won it, and went through with His great sacrifice to save us, praise God! This in some ways was like Abraham’s struggle to sacrifice his son, only much more severe! Matthew 26:36-46; Luke 22:44-46. Jesus sweat great drops of blood during His great struggle in the garden of Gethsemane!

At the beginning of the world Jesus was asked by the Father to sacrifice His life for the sins of the world, which was like asking Him to sacrifice His own eternal life, because He could have failed in His mission when He was asked to die! Revelation 13:8; John 3:16, 17; Ephesians 1:3-4. Jesus was tried and tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15. He could not have been tried and tempted in all points like we are without sin, if there was no possibility of His failure. Think on that! The Father asking Jesus to die on the cross for our sins was like Abraham telling is son that he was the sacrifice, and putting him on the altar and getting ready to slay him. Isaac could have easily overpowered Abraham, who was quite old when this story took place! So Isaac cooperated with his father to be the sacrifice, like Jesus did when he cooperated with His Father to be the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world! Beautiful parallel! Jesus had eternal life and power within Himself, and could have changed His mind, and backed out of His Father’s plan to save the world if He had wanted to. But like Isaac he cooperated with His Father to be the sacrifice! He could have called 10,000 angels or 1 Trillion angels to save Himself from the cross, and could have easily slain all of His accusers and those who nailed Him to the cross. He had the power to do this! But He did not, because He loves you and me!

He could not have saved you and me, if He had saved Himself. The priests and rulers said, ‘He saved others, but He cannot save Himself.’ “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” Matthew 27:41-43 KJV. Little did they realize the truth behind their mocking statement! - He wasn’t trying to save Himself, but all of mankind! There was no way to save Himself from the death on the cross, and save us too! Oh how most of us, if we had been in this position and had the power He had, would have really given it to our accusers and to the ones torturing us, and would have let them have it and destroyed them all! But thankfully Jesus was not like us! What Jesus did, especially after all of those unholy taunts that were hurled at Him, showed His infinite love and pity for us! The test for Jesus to get revenge on His torturers and abusers would have been very great, considering His Godly power and ability of issuing payback and punishment! This was Satan’s goal in all the abuse that was heaped upon heap upon Jesus.

It has been said that Jesus died ‘the second death’ of unrepentant sinners, to pay the price for our sins, for Him who knew no sin! He died as someone who will die who is lost, without hope. We deserve to die as a lost sinner without hope, but Jesus took our place so we don’t have to, if we believe in Him. He died the death that we deserve, in our place, just like the ram that God gave to Abraham to die in the place of his son Isaac too! Beautiful parallel!

From a human standpoint, all hope was cut off for Jesus when He died, and so His disciples and the world thought. But Jesus had to lose His life in order for God to keep His promise to Abraham! He had thought He was cut off from His Father when He was dying on the cross and said, ‘My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken Me?’ Matthew 27:46 KJV. From a human standpoint, all hope was apparently cut off to Abraham too, by God’s request that he sacrifice his son Isaac! Abraham was probably tempted with the thought that if he sacrificed Isaac’s life and God didn’t resurrect him back to life, then he would lose his son and the promise of eternal life for himself, and for everyone else in the world! Think about that!

Abraham had to have great faith to do what God had asked him to do. Abraham had to believe the promise of God, against the command of God! Wow! God’s command seemed contrary to His promise. If he had taken his own son’s life that would have been murder, which is sin! Wow! What a test! Jesus could not save the Jews from the hated Roman government rule if He died. This was what the Jewish nation was expecting from the Messiah. But He did die. From a human standpoint at the time of His death, He had failed in His mission, but from God’s promise and plan He had succeeded! His goal at this time was the salvation of the whole world from sin, suffering and death – for all who would believe, not saving the Jews from the Roman rule! So the hopes of those who hoped in Jesus died when He died, or so they thought. But it was only through His death and resurrection that He is able to forgive our sins and impart eternal life to us! It was only through His death that God was able to keep His promise to Abraham!

“And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.’” John 12:23-25 NASB. This was not only what Jesus taught His disciples to do, it is also what He did Himself! He lost His life for our sake, and gained His own life back again and thus helped us gain eternal life too! Don’t you love Him? He had to trust in the Resurrection, just like Abraham did and we do. But He is the Resurrection and the Life! John 11:25; 10:17-18. From a human standpoint, it was foolishness for Christ to die on the cross for our sins! “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV. But thank God, Jesus did just that – dying on the cross for our sins! Otherwise we would have no hope. So Jesus went through a very great struggle to save humanity, and won it for our sakes! Amen.

So now we see more clearly why Abraham had his big test of faith, where God asked him to sacrifice his only son. It was a type of what God and Jesus went through, when Jesus agreed to die on the cross for our sins, all the way until His death on the cross! Note what Abraham told Isaac, when Isaac asked him where the lamb for the sacrifice was: he said, ‘God will provide.’ Genesis 22:7-8. And that is exactly what God did! Genesis 22:10-13. God provided! What faith this was! God did provide, not just the ram caught in the thicket to die in the place of Abraham’s only begotten son Isaac, but He also provided His only begotten son Jesus too, as ‘the lamb of God’, to die in the place of every believing sinner in the world, including Abraham and Isaac too! Praise His name forever! Amen!

May the grace of God, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen.

© Copyright 2018 John Foll


Blog Edited by John Foll.

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List of Articles

If you were blessed by this article, why not read all of it starting from the beginning of it?
Click here to read Part 1 of the Everlasting Covenant.

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From the Editor: “The Everlasting Covenant” has had a very great impact on my life! These articles, with its stories from the Bible, led me to fall in love with God, there is no other way of putting it. The thing I was needing the most in my life was given to me after I learned how much He loved me in “The Everlasting Covenant” by E. J. Waggoner.

It is my prayer, dear reader, that God will richly bless you, as you learn more and more about His great love for you as presented by E. J. Waggoner in “The Everlasting Covenant”, as we continue to present more articles from it.

May the grace of God, and the priceless, precious fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you, as you go down this journey of falling totally in love with God! Riches beyond measure await you, if you will just get to know Him and His great love for you!


Listen to these articles at:  https://www.whiteraimentevangelism.org/recommended.


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07 The Covenant Sealed (Part 1) (The Everlasting Covenant)

Now we come to a record which opens up the promise in the most wonderful manner. More than twenty-five years had passed since God first made the promise to Abraham. * Doubtless the time had been prolonged by the false step that Abraham took through listening to the reasoning of his wife. More than thirteen years had passed since that time. But Abraham had learned the lesson, and now God appeared to him again.

* Abraham was seventy-five years when he left Haran (Gen. 12:4), and the promise was first made known to him before he left Mesopotamia. Acts 7:2.

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.” Gen. 17:1. The margin has it, “upright, or sincere.” As in 1 Chron. 12:33, 38, the meaning is, single-hearted. God told Abraham to be sincere before Him, and not double-hearted. When we recall the story recorded in the preceding chapter, we see the force of this injunction. We see also the force of the statement, “I am the Almighty God.” God would let him know that He was fully able to perform His promise, and that therefore he should trust Him with a perfect or an undivided heart.

A New Name

“And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” Gen. 17:3-5.

The name Abram signifies “Father of height.” Abram’s father was a heathen, and the name may have had some reference to heathen worship in high places. But now a syllable is added, and it becomes Abraham, “Father of many peoples.” In the change of name in the cases of Abraham and Jacob, we have a hint of the new name which the Lord gives to all who are His. See Rev. 2:17; 3:12. “And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Isa. 62:2.

This giving to Abraham a new name did not indicate any change in the promise, but was simply a token to Abraham that God meant what He said. His name should ever afterward be a reminder to him of the promise. Some have thought that the giving of this new name marked a change in the nature of the promise to him; but a careful consideration of the promise as previously recorded will show that this cannot be. Abraham was just the same after his new name that he was before. It was while his name was still Abram, that he believed God and his faith in the promise was counted for righteousness. It was while his name was Abram that God preached the Gospel to him, saying, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

We may not make any distinction in the promises of God to Abraham, saying that some of them were temporal, and only for the fleshly seed, and that others were spiritual and eternal. “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, … was not yea and nay, but in Him is yea. For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.” 2 Cor. 1:19, 20, R.V. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Gal. 3:16. Note that the promises, no matter how many they are, all come through Christ. Note also that the apostle speaks of Abraham, and not of Abram. He does not say that some were made to Abram, and some to Abraham. And this point is still more emphatic when we read the words of Stephen, “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran.” Acts. 7:2. Although he was then known as Abram, the promise was the same as when he was known as Abraham. Every reference to him in the Bible, even to the first promises, are with the name Abraham. This is why we have referred to him only as Abraham.

The Lord continued, after telling Abraham of the change in his name, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Gen. 17:7, 8.

Let us take up the different parts of this covenant in detail. The central part of it is the promised land, the land of Canaan. It is the same as in the fifteenth chapter. The promise is to give it to Abraham and his seed. The covenant is the same that was made there; but here we have it sealed.

Notice that it is an “Everlasting Covenant” that the Lord made with him.

It is the one everlasting covenant, which is so often spoken of in the Bible. It is “through the blood of the everlasting covenant” that men are made perfect in every good work to do the will of God. Heb. 13:20. Moreover, the land promised in this everlasting covenant, was to be

“An Everlasting Possession,” for both Abraham and his seed.

Mark well that Abraham himself, as well as his seed, was promised the land for an everlasting possession. It is not an inheritance that is simply to be the possession of his family forever, but both Abraham and his seed together were to have it for an everlasting possession.

But a land can be held for an everlasting possession only by those who have everlasting life.

Therefore in this covenant we find the promise of everlasting life. It could not be otherwise, because when the covenant was first made, as recorded in the fifteenth chapter, Abraham was told that he should die before the land should be given for a possession; and Stephen said that God did not give him so much as to set his foot on. Therefore it could be his only through the resurrection; and when the resurrection takes place, then there will be no more death. For “we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Cor. 15:51-53.

So we see that the making of this everlasting covenant with Abraham was simply the preaching of the everlasting Gospel of the kingdom, and the assuring to him of a part in its blessings. The promise to Abraham was a Gospel promise, and nothing else, and the covenant was the everlasting covenant, of which Christ is Mediator. Its scope is identical with that of the new covenant, in which God says, “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Heb. 8:10. But this will appear more plainly as we proceed.

A Covenant of Righteousness

The Lord said to Abraham after this restatement of the covenant with him and his seed, “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and thee.” Gen. 17:11. Now if we turn to the Epistle to the Romans we shall learn much more of the meaning of this transaction. We must have the Scripture before us in order that we may consider it understandingly, and so we will quote it at length.

“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also; and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:1-13.

The subject of the entire chapter is Abraham and justification by faith. The apostle takes the case of Abraham as an illustration of the truth presented in the preceding chapter, namely, that a man is made righteous by faith. The blessing that Abraham received is the blessing of sins forgiven, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. See verses 6-9. Therefore when we read in Gen. 12:2, 3, that in Abraham all the families of the earth should be blessed, we know that the blessing referred to is the forgiveness of sins. This is positively proved by Acts 3:25, 26: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

This blessing came to Abraham through Jesus Christ and His cross, even as it comes to us. For “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; … that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Gal. 3:13, 14. So we find that the blessings of the covenant with Abraham are simply the blessings of the Gospel, and they are brought to us through the cross of Christ. Nothing was promised in that covenant except that which is to be gained through the Gospel; and everything that the Gospel contains was in it.

Circumcision was given as the seal of this covenant. But the promise, the covenant, the blessing, and everything, came to Abraham before he was circumcised. Hence he is the father of the uncircumcised as well as of the circumcised. Jews and Gentiles are alike sharers in the covenant and its blessings, provided they have the faith that Abraham had.

In Gen. 17:11 we are told that circumcision was given as the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham. But in Rom. 4:11 we are told that it was given him as a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith. In other words, it was the assurance and the seal of the forgiveness of sins through the righteousness of Christ. Therefore we know that the covenant, of which circumcision was the seal, was a covenant of righteousness by faith; that all the blessings promised in it are on the basis of righteousness through Jesus Christ. This again shows us that the covenant made with Abraham was the Gospel, and that only.

A Grant of Land

But in this covenant the central promise was concerning land. All the land of Canaan was promised to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession. And then the seal of the covenant, —circumcision, — was given, — a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith. This shows that the land of Canaan was to be possessed only by faith. And here we have a practical lesson as to the possession of things by faith. Many people think that a thing that is possessed by faith is only possessed in imagination. But the land of Canaan was a real country, and was to be actually possessed. Possession of it was to be gained, however, only through faith. This was indeed the case. By faith the people crossed the river Jordan, and “by faith the walls of Jerico fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” But of this we shall have more hereafter.

The land of Canaan, which was promised in the covenant, was to be had through the righteousness of faith, which was sealed by circumcision, the seal of the covenant. Read now Rom. 4:13 once more, and we shall see how much was involved in this promise. “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” This righteousness of faith we are told in verse eleven was sealed by circumcision; and circumcision was the seal of the covenant which we have recorded in Gen. 17. * Therefore we know that the promise of land, which the covenant with Abraham contained, was nothing less than the promise of the whole earth. As we come to the fulfillment of the promise, we shall see more plainly how it can be that the promise of the land of Canaan included the possession of the whole earth; but the fact may be briefly indicated here.

The covenant in which that land was promised, was, as we have seen, a covenant of righteousness. Its basis was the righteousness of faith. It was an everlasting covenant, promising an everlasting inheritance to both Abraham and his seed, which meant for them everlasting life. But grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life only through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal life can be had only in righteousness. Moreover, since the promise was to Abraham, as well as to his seed, and Abraham was assured that he should die long before the inheritance was bestowed, it is evident that it could be gained only through the resurrection, which takes place at the coming of the Lord, when immortality is bestowed. But the coming of Christ is at “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts. 3:21. Therefore we are shut up to the fact that the inheritance of righteousness, which was promised to Abraham for an everlasting possession, to be had through the resurrection, at the coming of the Lord, was the “new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” for which we look according to the promise of God.

By E.  J. Waggoner —The Present Truth, June 18, 1896

* Editor’s Note: As E. J. Waggoner said earlier, “Therefore when we read in Gen. 12:2, 3, that in Abraham all the families of the earth should be blessed, we know that the blessing referred to is the forgiveness of sins.” ‘All families of the earth should be blessed’ is a reference to the Gentiles of the earth being blessed through Abraham. Since the Gentiles were to be found throughout the earth, who God wanted to bless through Abraham’s seed, Christ, then this blessing of the land would be nothing less than the whole earth, to be given to all of the children who are heirs of the promise with Abraham. Note what Jesus’ commanded all of His disciples to do, known as the great gospel commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NASB. Jesus’ command with its promise has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled, and Christianity has spread throughout the world, and is still being preached to all nations, kindreds and tongues. To reiterate Waggoner’s point that the grant of land to be given to Abraham and His descendants by faith (which includes Gentile Christians) is given after the resurrection, note what John writes here in Revelation about the New Jerusalem: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.” Revelation 21:23-24 KJV. The nations of the saved, who come from the various kingdoms and locations around this world where the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was preached to them, share in the everlasting possession with Abraham. This promise is only for all of his true descendants by faith.

Blog Edited by John Foll.

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From the Editor: “The Everlasting Covenant” has had a very great impact on my life! These articles, with its stories from the Bible, led me to fall in love with God, there is no other way of putting it. The thing I was needing the most in my life was given to me after I learned how much He loved me in “The Everlasting Covenant” by E. J. Waggoner.

It is my prayer, dear reader, that God will richly bless you, as you learn more and more about His great love for you as presented by E. J. Waggoner in “The Everlasting Covenant”, as we continue to present more articles from it.

May the grace of God, and the priceless, precious fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you, as you go down this journey of falling totally in love with God! Riches beyond measure await you, if you will just get to know Him and His great love for you!

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