THE

PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1855.

Miscellaneous Articles.

"FRIEND OF GOD," OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF FAITH AND A HOLY LIFE.

AMONG the Old Testament saints who are honourably mentioned by the sacred writers, Abraham alone was distinguished by the appellation, "Friend of God." He is called God's friend twice in the Old Testament Scriptures. Once by Jehoshaphat, when praying for deliverance from the Moabites and Ammonites. "Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever?" (2 Chron. 20: 7.) The other was by God himself, when encouraging his people to trust in him in view of the Chaldean invasion. "Thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend." (Isa. 41: 8.) In the New Testament, the Apostle James refers to this appellation, and associates it with the name and history of that patriarch, in such a manner as to show that God intended to have it transmitted to us, not as an empty and valueless title, but as illustrative of the excellence of faith and a holy life. "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." (James 2: 23.)

The term is one of endearment. It denotes affection and confidence. Some critics translate the original word "my beloved." others, "my loving one." It expresses Abraham's fervent, unwavering devotion to God, and God's tender and special regard for him. There was a reciprocal flowing together of heart to heart, the one sending up to heaven its warm, devout, and confiding affections, the other sending down in return the gracious and glorious manifestations of love and mercy. In what follows, our design will be to show the ground of this friendship, and what benefits resulted from it to Abraham, and to others through him.

PART I.-Why was Abraham called the friend of God?

Abraham was called God's friend primarily and chiefly because of his faith in Christ. This is clearly deducible from the passage already quoted from the Apostle James. "The Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and [or therefore] he was called the friend of God." The particular instance of faith here referred to, in which the Scripture is said to have been "fulfilled," was his offering up his son Isaac (vv. 21, 22). This was one of its acts, and it served to endear him to the Almighty. But the basis of that act and of all those other manifestations of its power and excellence which rendered his name so illustrious, must be looked for in that glorious object of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom he trusted, and through whom alone his friendly intercourse with God commenced. Before noticing, therefore, the particular actings of his faith, we must contemplate the origin of its existence in the soul, the divine principle from which his life of faith proceeded, the moving cause which gave to his faith its heavenly character, and enabled him so uniformly to do those things which "pleased God." And here, we repeat, our only answer is, that he looked forward to the promised Messiah, and with a divinely implanted faith, trusted in him as the Lord his righteousness, and by thus accepting the terms of reconciliation which God had revealed to sinners, he became his friend. Without this, there could have been no friendship between them. With it, he possessed the elements of a devout and holy life, especially of that life of faith, which, in its development. and growth was characterized by those strong and heroic acts which in a pre-eminent degree "gave glory to God."

CHRIST THE OBJECT OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH.

That Christ was the object of Abraham's faith, will appear from the history of the case. When God called him out of Chaldea, he gave him this promise, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12: 23). Year after year rolled on, and he remained childless. On one occasion, God appeared to him and said, "Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." Abraham ventured to remind God of his promise, and to inquire concerning its fulfilment. The Lord "brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them, and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." It is then added, "And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). This is the record alluded to by the Apostle James, which we have just quoted. The immediate object of Abraham's faith was that he should have a numerous seed. But as this promise was made to confirm a preceding one, we must look to that in order to learn its full import. If he should have a numerous seed, then he should

have a son from whom they would descend; and especially there would descend from him the Messiah, through whom would flow the blessing contained in the original promise, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Hence, while he believed all that God revealed to him, and set a high value on all the blessings which he promised, the central point towards which his faith was directed, was the Messiah, whose advent was essential to the fulfilment of that original promise which related to the redemption of a fallen world. This is evident, 1. From the Apostle Paul's exposition of that promise. This we have already quoted, as found in Genesis 12:3; but as it is repeated in Genesis 22: 18, with some change of phraseology, we advert to it again. In the first instance, the words are, "In thee,"-in the second, "In thy seed." Paul connects the two together, and says (Gal. 3:16), "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to thy seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." This exposition of Paul was designed to explain the very words recorded in Gen. 15th, and referred to by James as the reason for Abraham's being called the friend of God. "Even as Abraham believed God," says he (v. 6), "and it was counted to him for righteousness." Thus we have the authority of an inspired expositor for asserting that the object of Abraham's faith was Christ.

2. It is further evident from the fact, that the same Apostle describes that promise as the preaching of the gospel to Abraham. "The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen. through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." (Gal. 3: 8.) As there can be no Gospel (except a spurious one), in which Christ is not the sum and substance, we infer that that promise had reference to him, as the author of the blessings contained in it; and hence that Abraham's faith had respect to Christ as its essential and main object. And further still, that promise is said to have been made, because of God's purpose to "justify the heathen through faith," meaning no doubt their faith in the Redeemer : which clearly shows that its very essence consisted in its being a revelation of divine mercy to sinners through Jesus Christ.

3. The Apostle Peter applied the promise made to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed," to the advent of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 3: 25, 26.) As that promise was then fulfilled, it follows, that Abraham's faith in the promise looked forward to Gospel times, and rested on the Messiah, whose mediatorial reign would constitute the glory of the latter day.

4. The history of Abraham's devotions, proves that he exercised faith in Christ. They were performed by the erection of altars, and the offering of sacrifices. Those altars and sacrifices were typical of the person and work of our Redeemer; the altar typi

fying his person and the sacrifices his work. We have no reason to doubt that Abraham viewed them in this light; and hence, that his daily life, was a life of faith in the Son of God. "He called on the name of the Lord;" i. e. on the Messiah. This was the interpretation of the early Jewish expositors; and its truth is confirmed, both by Peter and Paul, who apply the same phraseology to Christ. (Acts 2: 21; Rom. 10: 13.)

5. Our Saviour's declaration (John 8: 56). "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad," referred no doubt to his faith in God's promise of the advent of Christ, and of the glory of the Church under the New Testament dispensation. What particular period in Abraham's life is here alluded to, we cannot certainly determine. Probably he was favoured with these precious and joyful views more than once. But the time above all others, when Christ was revealed to him, under circumstances most adapted to make his joy abound to the utmost, was that alluded to by the Apostle James, for illustrating the faith, on account of which he was called the friend of God. It was that trying hour, when he and his beloved Isaac had ascended Mount Moriah. On his being accosted by his son, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" he responded, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." His faith, at that moment was not joyful, but it was genuine. He saw in the painful command he was then executing, a type of future blessings, to be procured by the sacrifice of Christ. And soon after, when the extraordinary transaction was concluded, by the appearance of a ram in a thicket which he was to offer up as a burnt offering, instead of his son, his faith in the Divine promise, which was now turned almost into vision, produced the most joyful and ecstatic emotion. As a record of his faith, he named the place "Jehovah Jireh," the Lord will provide; i. e., he will provide in due time a glorious substitute for sinners, to be offered up in their stead, as "an offering and a sacrifice to God."

6. Paul adduced the faith of Abraham, as an illustration of the doctrine of justification by faith, and quotes for this purpose, the same passage (Gen. 15: 6), which we have alluded to in our previous remarks. "What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." (Rom. 4: 3.) There can be no doubt, that when Paul speaks of our justification by faith, he means faith in Christ. But what relevancy would there be in adducing Abraham's faith, as an example of justifying faith under the New Testament dispensation, provided his faith rested on a different object from that of believers in Gospel times? The inference is conclusive, viz.: that the faith of Abraham had respect to the promised Messiah.

In closing this part of our subject, we may remark as a logical inference from the preceding, that "believing God," and "believing in God," as these phrases occur in Scripture, are essentially

the same, as believing in Christ. When God the Father is mentioned as the object of saving faith, our faith respects Him, as promising to send his Son to redeem sinners, or as having sent him already. Thus Paul (Rom. 4: 23-25), having spoken of Abraham's being justified by faith, proceeds to say, "It was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." Here, though God the Father is mentioned as the object of our faith, the connection shows that this faith is identical with faith in Christ. It is "God in Christ," who is "reconciling the world unto himself." (2 Cor. 5: 19.) Accordingly, when the Bible speaks of God and of Christ, as the object of our justifying faith, it is the same faith receiving and resting upon God in Christ, and Christ in God. "Ye believe in God," says our Saviour, "believe also in me:" i. e., if ye believe in him intelligently and scripturally, ye will believe in me, for he sent me, and has testified of me-yea, he is essentially one with me; "and no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him; but whosoever hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me."

Reader! do not deceive yourself by supposing that you can believe in God with any such belief as will be especially valuable to you as a sinner, and yet deny Christ. We rejoice that you are not an atheist. Who would not be glad to escape the charge of being a "fool?" (Ps. 14: 1.) But though a belief in God's existence and attributes is important to you in this life, by throwing around you some moral restraints, and thus contributing to make you a good citizen, it is insufficient to meet your spiritual necessities as a fallen being. It provides no way of deliverance from the curse of God's holy law, under which you lie in consequence of

Abraham "believed God"-he "believed in God;" but he was not a Deist, nor a Pantheist. His religion possessed another and different element. He believed in God as the "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;" i. e., he had faith in the Messiah. And so must you have in order to be saved. Faith in Christ is essentially the same now, as it was then. The chief difference is, that we view him from a different stand-point. Abraham believed in a Redeemer who was yet to come, we in the same Redeemer as already come. He contemplated him in prophecy; we, in the gospel history. He looked forward to the vicarious sacrifice of the Lamb of God;" we look back and behold him as having performed the wonderful act; as having "finished the work which the Father gave him to do." And as his faith in Christ made him a friend of God and an heir of heaven, so it will be with you.

ABRAHAM'S RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.

The question by what process Abraham became a believer in