Early Christian Beliefs About Abraham

Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians Direct teaching

Abraham, styled “the friend,” was found faithful, inasmuch as he rendered obedience to the words of God.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

For Abraham was declared by God to be righteous, not on account of circumcision, but on account of faith.

Tertullian, On Patience Direct teaching

In short, Abraham believed God, and was accredited by Him with righteousness;

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

For if Abraham believed in God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, assuredly whosoever believes in God and lives in faith is found righteous, and already is blessed in faithful Abraham, and is set forth as justified;

Genesis 15:6 Background

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Galatians 3:6 Background

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Romans 4:3 Background

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Romans 4:9 Background

Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

Romans 4:11 Background

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas Supporting witness

What, then, says He to Abraham? “Because thou hast believed, it is imputed to thee for righteousness: behold, I have made thee the father of those nations who believe in the Lord while in [a state of] uncircumcision.”

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

For instance, on Abraham becoming a believer, it was reckoned to him for righteousness, he having advanced to the greater and more perfect degree of faith.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

And to Abraham, on believing, righteousness was reckoned.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Direct teaching

...f faith," Galatians 3:26, it becomes clear that what the heretic's effort erased was the mention of Abraham's name. For by faith the apostle declares us to be children of Abraham, and after mentioning him he expressly called us children of faith also. But how are we children of faith? And of whose faith, if not Abraham's? For since Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, Galatians 3:6, and since for that reason he deserved to be called the father of many nations, while we, who are even more like him in believing in God, are thereby justified as Abraham was, and thereby also obtain life, since the just lives by his faith, it therefore happens that, as in the previous passage he called us sons of Abraham, since he is in faith our common father, so here also he named us children of faith. For it was owing to his faith that it was promised that Abraham should be the father of many nations. As to the fact itself of his calling off faith from circumcision, did he not seek by that to make us the children of Abraham, who had believed before his circumcision in the flesh? In short, faith in one of two gods cannot possibly admit us to the divine arrangement of

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

...in us, being divine benevolence, and benevolence resulting in beneficence. And if it was counted to Abraham as righteousness when he believed, and if we are the seed of Abraham, then we also must believe through hearing. For we are Israelites, who are convinced not by signs, but by hearing. Therefore it is said, "Rejoice, O barren one, who does not bear; break forth and cry, you who did not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband," Isaiah 54:1. "You have lived for the fence of the people, your children were blessed in the tents of their fathers." And if the same mansions are promised by prophecy to us and to the patriarchs, then the God of both covenants is shown to be one. Accordingly, it is added more clearly, "You have inherited the covenant of Israel," speaking to those called from among the nations, who were once barren, being formerly without this husband, who is the Word, formerly desolate of the bridegroom. Now "the just shall live by faith," which is according to the covenant and the commandments, since these, which are two in name and time, given according to the divine arrangement, being one in power, the old and the

Tatian, The Diatessaron Background

... lick his sores. Luke 16:22 And it happened that the poor man died, and the angels carried him into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried. Luke 16:23 And while he was being tormented in Hades, he lifted up his eyes from afar and saw Abraham, with Lazarus in his bosom. Luke 16:24 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘My father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to wet the tip of his finger with water and moisten my tongue for me, for behold, I am burning in this flame.’ Luke 16:25 Abraham said to him, ‘My son, remember that you received your good things in your life, and Lazarus his afflictions. But now, behold, he is at rest here, and you are tormented. Luke 16:26 And besides all this, there is a great abyss set between us and you, so that those who would cross to you from here cannot, nor can they cross from there to us.’ Luke 16:27 He said to him, ‘Then I beg you, my father, to send him to my father's house, Luke 16:28 for I have five brothers. Let him go, so that they also may not sin and come to this place of torment.’ Luke 16:29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ Luke 16:30 He said to him, ‘No,

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

Galatians 3:6 since, also, he deserved for that reason to be called the father of many nations, while we, who are even more like him in believing in God, are thereby justified as Abraham was, and thereby also obtain life — since the just lives by his faith — it therefore happens that, as he in the previous passage called us sons of Abraham, since he is in faith our (common) father, so here also he named us children of faith, for it was owing to his faith that it was promised that Abraham should be the father of (many) nations.

Ignatius of Antioch, Connection to James 2:23 Supporting witness

And those that were of a stony heart have become the children of Abraham, the friend of God;

Tertullian, On Monogamy Supporting witness

For albeit it is subsequently that he is called a father of many nations, still it is of those (nations) who, as the fruit of the faith which precedes digamy, had to be accounted sons of Abraham.

Galatians 3:7 Background

Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Romans 4:12 Background

And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Galatians 3:29 Background

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Acts 3:25 Background

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.

Galatians 3:8 Background

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.

James 2:23 Background

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching

2. So, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains steadfast. For He said: “Lift up your eyes, and look from this place where you are now, towards the north and south, and east and west. For all the earth you see, I will give to you and your descendants, forever.” And again He says, “Arise, and walk through the length and breadth of the land, since I will give it to you;” yet he did not receive an inheritance in it, not even a footstep, but was always a stranger and a pilgrim there. Upon the death of Sarah his wife, when the Hittites were willing to give him a place to bury her, he declined it as a gift and bought the burial place (paying four hundred talents of silver) from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite. Thus, he waited patiently for the promise of God, and was unwilling to seem to receive from men what God had promised to give him, when He said again to him: “I will give this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.” If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his stay there, it must be that together with his descendants, those who fear God and believe in Him, he sh

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness

Marcion and his followers' effort to exclude Abraham from the inheritance is also futile. The Spirit, through many people and now through Paul, testifies that "he believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." The Lord also testifies to him, first by raising up children for him from stones and making his descendants like the stars of heaven, saying, "They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and will sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven," and again by telling the Jews, "When you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven, but you yourselves are cast out." Clearly, those who deny his salvation and imagine another God besides the one who made the promise to Abraham are outside the kingdom of God and are disinherited from the gift of incorruption. They disregard and blaspheme God, who, through Jesus Christ, introduces Abraham to the kingdom of heaven, along with his descendants, that is, the Church, which also receives the adoption and the inheritance promised to Abraham.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness

But our faith was also prefigured in Abraham, and he was the patriarch of our faith and, in a way, its prophet, as the apostle clearly taught when he says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “So, the one who gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Know therefore, that those who are of faith are the children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, announced beforehand to Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” For these reasons, the apostle declared that this man was not only the prophet of faith but also the father of those who believe in Jesus Christ among the Gentiles, because his faith and ours are the same: he believed in future things as if they were already accomplished, because of the promise of God; and similarly, we also, because of the promise of God, see through faith that inheritance stored up for us in the future kingdom.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness

These things were said not just for Abraham’s sake, but also to show that everyone who has known God from the beginning and foretold Christ's coming received revelation from the Son Himself. In the last times, He became visible and able to suffer, and He spoke with humanity so that He could raise children for Abraham from the stones and fulfill the promise God gave him, making his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. John the Baptist says, “For God is able to raise children for Abraham from these stones.” Jesus accomplished this by moving us away from the worship of stones, taking us from hard and fruitless thoughts, and establishing in us a faith like Abraham’s. Paul also confirms this, saying we are children of Abraham because of our similar faith and the promise of inheritance.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

...timonies to this effect. For Matthew the apostle—knowing, as one and the same God, Him who promised Abraham that He would make his descendants like the stars of heaven, and Him who, through His Son Christ Jesus, has called us to know Him, from the worship of stones, so that those who were not a people became a people, and she who was not loved became beloved—states that John, when preparing the way for Christ, said to those who were boasting of their relationship [to Abraham] according to the flesh, but who had their minds filled with all kinds of evil, preaching repentance that would lead them away from their evil actions, said, "O generation of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit befitting repentance. And do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able to raise children for Abraham from these stones." He preached to them repentance from wickedness, but he did not proclaim to them another God, besides Him who made the promise to Abraham; he, the forerunner of Christ, of whom Matthew again says, and Luke also, "For this is he that was spoken of by the Lord through the prophet: 'The voice of one cryin

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

For his seed is the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said: “For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham.” Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “But ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.” And again, in the same Epistle, he plainly declares that they who have believed in Christ do receive Christ, the promise to Abraham thus saying, “The promises were spoken to Abraham, and to his seed.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness

‘Behold, I am God,’ He says, ‘to the nation which called not on My name.’ For this is that nation which God of old promised to Abraham, when He declared that He would make him a father of many nations;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

Now God made promise of the earth to Abraham and his seed;

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed.

Genesis 17:5 Background

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Romans 4:13 Background

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Galatians 3:16 Background

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching

Thus Abraham, believing God, and first of all instituting the root and foundation of faith, when tried in respect of his son, does not hesitate nor delay, but obeys the commands of God with all the patience of devotion.

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness

in this imitating our father Abraham the patriarch, who, when he entertained the angels hospitably on a certain occasion, did not content himself with merely giving the order to his slaves to bring a calf from the herd, but did himself, though advanced in years, go and place it on his shoulders and fetch it in, and did with his own hand prepare food, and set it before the angels.

Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness

If we refer to those who were unhappy because they were childless, but who, after offering prayers to the Creator of all, became fathers and mothers, let any one read the accounts of Abraham and Sarah, to whom at an advanced age was born Isaac, the father of the whole Jewish nation: and there are other instances of the same thing.

Hebrews 11:8 Background

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:17 Background

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

James 2:21 Background

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

Genesis 22:3 Background

And Abraham rose up in the morning and saddled his ass, and he took with him two servants, and Isaac his son, and having split wood for a whole burnt offering, he arose and departed, and came to the place of which God spoke to him,

Judith 8:26 Background

Remember what things he did to Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he kept the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.

Deuteronomy 9:27 Background

Remember Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob thy servants, to whom thou sworest by thyself: look not upon the hardness of heart of this people, and their impieties, and their sins.

Joshua 24:3 Background

And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, and I guided him through all the land, and I multiplied his seed;

Genesis 26:5 Background

Because Abraham thy father hearkened to my voice, and kept my injunctions, and my commandments, and my ordinances, and my statutes.

Genesis 21:11 Background

But the word appeared very hard before Abraham concerning his son.

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...rought out bread and wine.” Genesis 14:18. Now he was a priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abraham. And that Melchizedek bore a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, speaking from the person of the Father to the Son: “Before the morning star I begot You; You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” This order surely comes from that sacrifice and descends from there: that Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, that he offered wine and bread, and that he blessed Abraham. For who is more a priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ? He offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and He offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, namely, His body and blood. And with respect to Abraham, that blessing which came first belonged to our people. For if Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, then surely whoever believes God and lives by faith is found righteous, and is already blessed in faithful Abraham, and is shown to be justified, as the blessed Apostle Paul proves when he says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. You know, then, t

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

For who is more a priest of the most high God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, to wit, His body and blood?

4 Maccabees 16:20 Typology

For whom also our father Abraham was forward to sacrifice Isaac our progenitor, and shuddered not at the sight of his own paternal hand descending down with the sword upon him.

Wisdom of Sirach 44:22 Background

With Isaac did he establish likewise, for Abraham his father’s sake, The blessing of all men, and the covenant,