‘We have Abraham for our father’

“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Matthew 3:7-9; cf. Luke 3:7-8).

John the Baptist appears on the religious scene in the early first century and begins to preach in the wilderness around the Jordan River district in Palestine, proclaiming the imminent return of God, the Kingdom of God, and the coming of the Messiah. We get a sampling of his preaching in Matthew 3:2-12, Mark 1:4-8, and Luke 3:3-18. Part of this preaching is a call to repentance in preparation for the coming judgment God is bringing. But why does John invoke Abraham in doing so?

One of the most common misconceptions about Christianity and the Bible is that Judaism is a merit-based religion and that first century Jews thought that they had to earn their salvation by good works. This is not the case and the Bible nowhere advocates such a position. First century Jews believed God had elected Israel by grace and that they had been redeemed by that grace. Their response to that redemption by grace was to follow the Law (Torah) both out of love and a commitment to the covenant between them and God. First century Jews did not think that they had to follow the Law in order to earn their salvation with God. Our modern idea that Jews believed that they had to perform good works in order to be saved is a 16^th century misreading of Paul based on the theological disputes between Protestant Reformers and Roman Catholics. The Jews believed in God’s unmerited favor and that at some point in the future God would vindicate them, they would be justified, and that all of God’s people would be saved. The question they had was how does one tell in the present who will be vindicated in the future? How does one tell who is a part of God’s people, who is a member of true Israel, the family of Abraham? Obviously, not everyone would be vindicated in the future. Not pagan Gentiles. Not apostate Jews. Not “sinners”. The answer was that one could tell who was a member of God’s people by the “works of the law”.

“Works of the law” refer to those distinctive aspects of the Jewish law that separated them from pagan Gentiles: circumcision, dietary laws, ritual cleanliness, and table fellowship requirements. These were demarcations that set true Jews, true children of Abraham apart from everyone else. They were like cultural membership badges that identified who you were. Jews didn’t perform these customs in order to earn salvation; they did so in order to show that they were saved. The closest analogy is that of Baptism: baptism does not save a person but it is a public presentation that one is saved. Paul’s argument in Romans and Galatians is that “works of the Law” are not the badges of membership for God’s people, but faith in Christ is. It’s faith in Christ that demarcates people as being saved. One does not have to become a Jew and adopt Jewish cultural distinctives in order to be identified as a part of God’s people. This was Paul’s argument about justification by faith.

Up until this point, if a Gentile wanted to be identified as a member of God’s people and a child of Abraham, their conversion would have to be marked by circumcision, dietary laws, etc. Gentiles who did not adopt these cultural practices were called “God-fearers” and excluded from general fellowship. Those Gentiles who did meet the full conversion customs (including ritual cleanliness) were brought into God’s people by the purification ritual of immersing in water, i.e. baptism.

And this brings us back to John the Baptist and his very unusual practice. Along with his proclamation of judgment and his call to repentance, John was baptizing Jews just as if they were Gentiles. This was highly unusual at the time, and it’s probably the reason why he earned the epithet “the Baptist”. John is treating Jews as if they were Gentiles in need of purification to be a part of the family of Abraham. He is saying in the verses above that Jews should not be depending upon their ethnicity and their lineage from Abraham as the guarantee that God will spare them when he returns in judgment. Being an authentic Jew is not the determining factor for God. One cannot rely on family and culture for participation in God’s family.

So if John the Baptist is recorded in the Gospels warning his contemporaries not to depend upon their ethnic association with Abraham for salvation, what is the application for us today? Simply put, you cannot depend upon the faith of your parents and family to insure personal salvation. Growing up in a Christian home does not automatically give you salvation. Similarly, being baptized as an infant does not mean you are saved. Furthermore, growing up in a church does not equate with salvation. You cannot depend upon your association with Christian culture (including going to church, listening to a sermon, and owning a Bible) and expect to be saved. One can only expect to be counted amongst God’s people if they respond to the Gospel by repentance and faith in Christ.