The Scripture behind the Scripture
In Thee Shall All Nations Be Blessed
Genesis 12:3 promises Abraham that in him all families of the earth will be blessed. Paul calls it the gospel preached beforehand in Galatians 3:8, and Peter cites it in Acts 3:25.
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”Genesis 12:3
“And 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.”Galatians 3:8
“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.”Acts 3:25
In its own place
In its own place. Genesis 12 records God's call of Abram, the turning point after the scattering of the nations at Babel. God tells Abram to leave his country and kindred for a land God will show him, and makes a sweeping promise, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. In its original setting this is the foundational promise of the covenant with Abraham, the seed from which the whole story of Israel grows. God chooses one man and one family, not to the exclusion of the nations but for their sake, for the ultimate goal is that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. After the judgments of the early chapters of Genesis, this promise signals God's plan to bring blessing back to a fallen and scattered humanity through Abraham and his descendants. The particular election of Abraham serves a universal purpose. The promise is repeated to Abraham and the patriarchs, and it sets the trajectory of the whole Bible, that through Abraham's line God will bless all peoples.
Where the New Testament takes it up
This is a direct quotation, and Paul makes a striking claim about it. In Galatians 3:8 Paul writes that the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. Paul calls the promise itself a preaching of the gospel in advance, understanding that the blessing promised to all nations through Abraham is nothing less than justification by faith, now realized in Christ. He argues that those who are of faith are the true children of Abraham and heirs of this promise, and that the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Peter, in Acts 3:25, reminds his hearers that they are the children of the covenant God made with the fathers, saying to Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed, and he tells them that God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him first to bless them by turning them from their iniquities. Both follow the sense of the Greek. The apostles read the Abrahamic promise of worldwide blessing as fulfilled in Christ, through whom the nations are justified and brought into the family of faith. Paul in particular sees the whole gospel of justification of the Gentiles by faith already contained in seed form in God's word to Abraham.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Paul identifies the promised seed of Abraham through whom the blessing comes as Christ himself. The blessing of all nations, foreseen from the call of Abraham, is fulfilled in Jesus, in whom people of every family on earth are justified by faith and made children of Abraham. What God spoke to one wandering man became, Paul says, the gospel announced ahead of time, for the deepest content of the promise was the justification of the Gentiles through faith in Christ. Peter tells his hearers that Jesus is the one sent to bless them by turning them from their sins, the very blessing the covenant promised. So the ancient promise reaches its goal at the cross and the empty tomb, from which the blessing flows out to all the families of the earth. In Christ, the God who chose one family keeps his word to bless them all.
Questions people ask
Why does Paul call this the gospel preached beforehand?
Because he sees the promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham as containing, in seed form, the justification of the Gentiles by faith. Paul says Scripture foresaw this and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham, now fulfilled in Christ.
Who is the seed through whom the blessing comes?
Paul identifies the promised seed of Abraham as Christ. The blessing of all nations is realized in Jesus, through whom people of every family are justified by faith and become children of Abraham, and Peter names Jesus as the one sent to bless by turning people from their sins.