From Faith to
Faith
Noah and Abraham
by Steve Santini
When one considers that Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written to both the saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus as the family of God in heaven and on earth, Genesis, written by Moses, reaches beyond the mere factual unto the spiritually typological.
Genesis in its meaning refers to things made. Paul, in Romans, chapter one, before writing of the degradation of masculine and feminine relations, writes:
Because that which may be know of God is manifest to them;
for God hath shewed it to them. For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
(those that hold the truth in unrighteousness) Romans 1:19,20
God’s eternal power has and is directed towards bringing forth a family composed of completed souls as figurative feminine and perfected spirits of Christ as figurative masculine. The Godhead from which this desire flows is composed of the Father, the feminine Holy Spirit, and their offspring, Christ.
Adam was made a living soul by the breath of the Holy Spirit. The ultimate destiny of soul was and is to be joined to the spirit of Christ.
Since Abel, who was the first righteous spirit, God has sent this spirit of Christ into chosen souls to move mankind unto his ultimate purpose of a family. (Of course, Jesus, as “the” Christ, was the full embodiment of the spirit of Christ.) Moses, who was one of these individuals born with the spirit of Christ, wrote Genesis as a foundation for the mystery of Christ and the church. His writing was also a portrayal of the Father’s persistent desire to bring forth that family. His writings are the first oracles that Paul speaks of in the book of Hebrews.
It was this mystery of Christ and the church that Paul, as a chosen one, made fully known in his ministration. So it is not surprising that Paul, as that prophet foretold by Moses, introduces Romans by referring to Moses’ record of things made in Genesis.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Rom. 1:20
A main subject in Moses’ book of Genesis is the faith of Abraham. It is to this subject of Abraham’s faith directed towards righteousness and accounted to him as righteousness that Paul writes of in his early chapters of Romans. In verse seventeen of chapter one of Romans, Paul writes of faith to faith. He precedes this verse with the following:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek Rom. 1:16
There are two sources of faith. One is from above down through those in whom the spirit of Christ has been implanted and the other is faith unto that faith which has been or is delivered by those in whom the spirit of Christ resides. These in whom the spirit of Christ resides are termed saint of which Paul was one with the gospel of Christ. Jude was aware of this faith delivered by the saints and wrote of it in his letter exhorting the church to contend for this fellowship of salvation. It was Abraham’s faith unto this righteousness of union of saints and faithful in the promise of Christ Jesus that they preached that made him the father of faith.
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Rom. 4:3 (In the Greek, believe is the verb form of the noun faith)
To understand the two sources of faith one needs to examine the scripture. Noah, it is written, was a preacher of righteousness. From the context of the record in Genesis, Noah’s preaching of righteousness had much to do with correcting the misapplication of relations between masculine and feminine. This misapplication was not so much between masculine and feminine of the flesh but more so the misapplication of spiritual masculine and feminine souls. The son’s of God and the daughters of men had come together and were not supposed to come together until after the blood sacrifice of God’s only begotten son, Jesus Christ. (This may explain why Abraham eventually was so willing to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac. If Isaac were the Christ then the country Abraham passionately sought would have become fully available through his blood in that time.) Not only was Noah a preacher of righteousness but also he was righteous as declared by Ezekiel’s writings. (Ezekiel 14:13-16)
According to Biblical chronologists Abraham was born several years after Noah died. Although he did not have any personal contact with Noah, Abraham certainly heard about Noah’s preaching through his older family members. He may have even heard Noah’s preaching through Shem, Noah’s son and Abraham’s grandfather eleven generations removed yet who was still living in Abraham’s time.
The nineteenth century British Biblical
scholar, E.W. Bullinger, in his book, A Great Cloud of Witnesses has
said that the Greek word in Hebrews chapter eleven for the heavenly country that
Abraham sought is used six times in scripture. He says in all of the five other
places “it is rendered his own country, referring to Jesus’ parental
home of Mary and Joseph.” The word has
its emphasis more on the kinsmen within a country than on the geographical
bounds of that country. The listed patriarchs, including Noah and Abraham, in
Hebrews chapter eleven sought a homeland with a spiritual family without then
present fulfillment. They looked for what Paul found when the mystery was
revealed to him and in a precursory type or “shadow.” What existed under Paul’s
ministration after the sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
Christ about two millennia ago was the foundation for things to come.
In regard to Noah and Abraham as types for
sources of faith, Hebrews 11:7-9 is revealing.
By faith Noah,
being warned of God of things not seen yet, moved with fear, preparing an ark
to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world and became heir
of righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go
out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; he
went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of
promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise:
One needs to notice the differences in faith and heir-ship
between these statements regarding Noah and Abraham to gain understanding of
the faith delivered by the saints and the faith of the souls of men.
The words, by faith, that introduce
these sentences is the Greek word pistei. It is in the dative case
without a corresponding preposition making the translation, by faith,
appropriate. In the first sentence in the phrase, became heir of
righteousness which is by faith, regarding Noah the words by faith
differ from those that introduce each sentence. Here faith is preceded
by the preposition kata. Basically, kata means down from a higher
plane especially when used with an object in the genitive case. When kata’s
object is in the accusative case, as it is here, it emphasizes the horizontal
effect of the downward action.
The word became in the phrase in
the Greek texts is in the aorist tense. The aorist tense in the Greek is
difficult to translate into English since there is no corresponding tense that
gives the full import of its usage. The aorist tense conveys a one-time action
that has a continuing impact of force from the initiation of the action through
the future. It could be translated that Noah was made righteous with a
continuing effect, rather than that he became righteous. The downward action is
the faith of Christ downward through Noah. It was this faith of righteousness
from above that had an effect with Abraham and, even today, has a horizontal
effect through time.
Next one needs to examine the differences
between the Greek word for heir regarding Noah and the Greek word for heir
regarding Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Greek word for heir regarding
Noah is kleronomas while the word heir regarding Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob is sunkleronomas and should be translated as it is in other
places as joint heir. From the reading of this sentence in the King
James Version of the Bible it appears at first that Isaac and Jacob were the
joint heirs with Abraham yet when the sentence is studied in the Greek it seems
most likely that Paul was saying that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were joint heirs
with Noah who was an heir.
First, in the phrase, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs (sunkleronomas-joint heirs) with
him of the same promise, the first with is meta rather than sun.
Meta means mixed with and sun means in association with, as being
beside. The second with and its object him are not in the large
majority of Greek texts. All three, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were mixed
together each as joint heirs. They were joint heirs with the heir ship of Noah.
They are to possess the land with all others of like faith in which the promise
delivered through Noah and other saints is to take full effect.
In what time frame is this promise to take full effect? Enoch, the
seventh from Adam, and a saint, according to Jude prophesied about this time.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold the Lord cometh with (en-in) ten thousands of his saints. Jude 14
Paul also wrote of this time when he was addressed those joint heirs
through faith in his gospel of Christ.
When he shall come to be glorified in his
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among
you was believed) in that day. II Thess.1:10
As with the example Enoch, who was translated or ascended so that he
did not experience death, all saints, broken forth out of due time like Paul as
he writes of himself, return to their heavenly home either in death, as
did Moses and Paul, or in life, as did Enoch and Elijah. Then at one time all
saints will come
forth out of heaven. They will be joined on earth with those of alive in
faith and eventually to those who have been resurrected as a result of faith.
Together, as heirs and joint heirs, they will posses the land of the heavenly
promise sought by Abraham.
The Father in his love for man and his desire for a family has
reiterated this message through his saints for millennia. He sent his premier
saint, his only begotten son Jesus Christ, to make a firm mark in the souls of
his faithful apostles and in all souls through his message repeated by them.
Now, the question is; when the saints as the Melchisedec priesthood come forth
from heaven will they find the like faith of Abraham on this earth? I believe
so.
Copyright, 2004, Steven G. Santini,