Abraham is the father of faith (Rom.4:16; Gal.3:6-9). The background is in Genesis 12:1-3; 15:13-16; 16:1; 17:17; 22:1-2.
- Faith obeys without knowing everything.
- 11:8. Faith clings to what Luther called ‘the naked voice of God’. We do not always understand why God has commanded what He has – Gen.2:16-17; John 4:46-50; 9:6-7. It is this that upset Naaman – 2 Kings 5:10-14.
- Richard Cecil once told his daughter to throw her beads into the fire. She was upset and confused by this command from her father, but obeyed. He then bought her some better beads.
- Faith views life as a pilgrimage.
- 11:9-10; 1 Peter 2:11. A tent has no foundations. See Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.
- Abraham and Sarah believed when a birth seemed most unlikely.
- 11:11-12. The NKJV and the ESV have Sarah in view but the NIV has Abraham as the main one in view. Genesis 18:9-15 shows that people can have true faith, and know some uncertainty. Sarah was 90 when she gave birth to Isaac
- Faith especially looks to the resurrection.
- 11:17-19. This command seems cruel. Yet James 2:21-22. John Murray: ‘Faith severed from obedience is presumption, just as formal obedience severed from faith is self-righteousness.’
- Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead – Gen.22:5 (notice the implied ‘we’). A miraculous birth and a figurative ‘resurrection’ point to Christ.