Gary Ray Branscome
“For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and
in Him
Amen, to the glory of God by us.” (2Corinthians
Salvation has always been,
and always will be, through Christ and faith in Him alone. There is “no
other
Name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts
Throughout history, that
same promise has been given to God’s people. Adam had the promise of a
descendant (Christ) who would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis
In the third chapter of his
epistle to the Galatians, The Apostle Paul points out that Abraham was
saved
through believing God’s promise. He then goes on to tell us that
salvation has
always been through faith in that same promise (compare verse 6, 8 and
13-22).
Now that may not be obvious in Genesis, because each time God’s promise
to
Abraham is mentioned only part of it is recorded. However, in
explaining that
promise, Paul brings the parts together quoting from Genesis 15:6,
Now the fact that Abraham
was only given one promise is significant. However, the words, “all the
promises
of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, to the glory of God through
us,” tell
us that all of God’s promises to us are parts of that one promise, the
promise
of God’s grace in Christ Jesus (2Corinthians 1:20). In other words,
when we
trust in Christ all of God’s promises are ours. We do not need faith in
each
specific promise, the only faith we need is faith in Christ. If our
faith is in
Him, all the promises of God are ours. If our faith is not in Him, we
can
expect only God’s condemnation and wrath.
However, if all the promises
of God are ours in Christ, then why don’t we have everything that is
promised? In
answering that question we need to consider the fact that one of the
most
important promises (the promise of eternal life) is ours now, even
though we
will not experience the fullness of that promise until this life is
over.
Therefore, even though all of God’s promises are ours now, we may not
experience everything that is promised just yet. In some matters, God
may not
think that is would be good for us to have what is promised just yet.
Or, we
may fail to ask. Or, we may be double-minded.
Some people claim to trust
in Christ for salvation, but trust in works to make them “obedient”.
That is
double-mindedness. We may want to do what is right, but as long as we
are
sinners we are not obedient, for it is impossible to be obedient
without doing
everything that the law requires (James 2:10, Galatians 5:3). The
words, “Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,” tell us
that it
is faith (not works) that makes us righteous [i.e. obedient] in the
sight of
God.
WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF
FAITH
Because all of God’s
promises to us are parts of one promise, the promise of His grace in
Christ
Jesus, all of God’s promises need to be understood in the light of what
the
Bible says about faith in Christ.
When it comes to promises
that directly relate to faith and salvation, we have little difficulty
seeing
the connection between faith and what is promised. For example: we have
little
difficulty seeing how the promise, “Whosoever believeth in Him should
not
perish, but have everlasting life,” relates to faith in Christ (John
Consider for example the
promise found in Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in
the counsel
of the ungodly.” Upon reading those words our sin-darkened hearts are
quick to
assume that what is promised (God's blessing) can only be acquired by
performing the required work. Yet, nothing could be further from the
truth. In
fact, anyone who tries to gain this blessing by their own works is
walking in
“the counsel of the ungodly,” for the Bible warns us against trusting
in works
(Jeremiah 17:5). What we need to understand is that only those who have
had
their sins washed away by the blood of the lamb are sinless in the
sight of God
(1John 1:7 and
MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE
What
I have just said applies to all the promises in the Old Testament that
were
connected to a sacrifice. Many people fail to understand why the law
required
these sacrifices. Because their thinking is locked into a works
mentality they
cannot see how those sacrifices were really a matter of grace, not
works.
Those sacrifices were never
something required to make people righteous. On the contrary, they were
instituted as a way of getting people to confess their sin and seek
God’s
mercy. The words, “I wanted mercy, not sacrifice,” tell us that
sacrifices were
instituted for one reason, and one reason only, namely, to impress upon
God’s
people the importance of seeking His mercy (Hosea 6:6, Matthew 9:13 and
12:7).
God used those sacrifices as
a way of giving those who brought them His promise of forgiveness.
Without that
promise those who were burdened with guilt might have despaired (as
Judas did),
or looked to works for assurance of salvation. Instead, God used animal
sacrifice as a way of leading them to trust in His mercy (Psalm 13:5,
Psalm
147:11).
When these sacrifices were
carried out as God intended, the person bringing the sacrifice went
away
assured of God’s mercy. At the same time those sacrifices prepared the
way for
Christ by creating a culture in which the idea of blood atonement made
sense.
Today, animal sacrifice has
been abolished. However, we are saved by trusting in the same promise
of God’s
mercy that those living before the time of Christ trusted in. The law
did not
change the way of salvation. The way of salvation confirmed by God at
the time
of Abraham, was not nullified by the law, which came four hundred and
thirty
years later, so as to make the promise of no effect. (Galatians 3:17).
Therefore, when we trust in Christ we are saved by believing the same
promise of
God’s mercy that all of God’s people who lived before the time of
Christ
trusted in (Psalm 13:5).
Once we have been cleansed
from sin through faith in Christ, a multitude of blessings open up to
us. For
example, because we have been cleansed of sin we are the apple of God's
eye,
and He wants what is best for us (Zechariah 2:8, Psalm 17:8, Romans 4:8
and
Therefore, when it comes to
the promise, “Whatever you shall ask in My name, that will I do, that
the
Father may be glorified in the Son,” what is promised only belongs to
those who
trust in Christ (John 14:13, 2Corinthians 1:20). Therefore, those who
are truly
praying in Christ’s name are not those who outwardly say “In Christ’s
name,”
but those who believe that God loves them, and will hear their prayers
because
of Christ and the forgiveness that is theirs in Him (John 16:26,
Galatians
3:22, 1John 1:7).
The same holds true for the
promise, “And all things whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing,
you shall
receive” (Matthew
Similarly, when it comes to
the promise, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much,”
it is faith in Christ that receives the promise (James
Because many Christians fail
to understand that Biblical faith is faith in God’s promise of
forgiveness in
Christ, some speak of faith in Christ as if Scripture played no part in
it.
However, the Bible makes it clear that our faith is not in Christ apart
from
Scripture, but in Christ as He is revealed in Scripture. And, the
promises of
God are the foundation stones of that faith (Romans
“Our faith is but a little spark
of faith, which only begins to render unto God His true divinity. We
have
received the first fruits of the Spirit, but not yet the tenths.
Besides this,
reason [i.e. the carnal mind] is not utterly killed in this life.”
(Luther's
Commentary on Galatians, page 128)