In Genesis 15.5-6, we read about God drawing Abraham's attention towards the stars and saying his descendants will be as the number of them, and then we are told that Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Was Abraham justified by faith (“righteousness” “accounted” to him) at that moment?
There are a least 2 issues here that people raise. One is that Abraham seemed to already have been a believer, and it would seem that he was already justified by faith. The other is that the revelation of a great number of descendants does not seem like the revelation that would result in justification if believed.
I believe one should consider what Romans 4 and Galatians 3 has to say about Abraham to help in answering these questions.
But it has been pointed out that the Hebrew in Genesis 15.6 indicates that the statement that Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” took place in the past—at some unknown time in the past, probably before God called Abraham out of the country of his family to go to Canaan, for why would Abraham had obeyed God as an unbeliever? That's a reasonable argument to place Abraham's justifying faith before the star count revelation. The only possible alternate view would be that Abraham believed in the God of creation, but did not yet have the faith that results in justification. The belief that he did have about God was such that when God called him, he went. It would be like Cornelius who feared the God of Israel and prayed to him, but he wasn't “saved” until Peter was sent to him, and said the words by which he would be saved. Could this have been the case with Abraham?
If Abraham was saved in connection with the star count, what was it about that revelation that his believing it would result in justification? It would seem that whether in the past before he was called or at the star count revelation, his belief in God that result in justification would have to be in something salvation related. But that gets into the issue of what was the content/ object of the faith by which one is saved. Was it concerning the future Messiah being the “Savior of the world,” as the Samaritans recognized about Jesus in John 4?
Romans chapter 4 talks about Abraham's faith and justification, and it needs to be addressed concerning what is being looked at concerning Genesis 15.5-6. We read, “For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:3
In that chapter, we also read, “16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” Romans 4:16-25
In the above text, it is obvious that the star count was not just about the people that descended from Abraham, but all nations. He would be the father of many nations, and that was according to what was spoken. We read in Galatians 3:7, “only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” The star count looked to those who count as Abraham's spiritual sons by faith. We also read, “26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ...29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:26, 29 The star count was the spiritual descendants of Abraham, descendants by faith in his “Seed” that would come, being Christ: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16
Did Abraham understand all of this, concerning the true meaning of the star count, and that that star count would be because of his “Seed” (Christ), and that all who believe in that Seed would be justified? Romans 4 seems to connect the star count with Abraham's faith and consequent justification: “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." Romans 4:20-22
If Abraham was justified at that point in time, it must have been that understood something about the true meaning of the star count, and that it would be through the future “Seed” by which all, including himself, would be justified.
Just as a note...Jesus did say that Abraham “saw his day...”: 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. John 8:56
Galatians 3 speaks of the blessing of the Abraham Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3) which comes upon all nations by faith, and this was the gospel...: “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'" Galatians 3:8 Could Abraham have understood this, that his future Seed would be the means of justification by God, for he and all who believe in that Seed, being Christ? Could it be at the star count revelation in Genesis 15:5 that he understood the promise in Genesis 12:3 and that was when he was justified. Romans 4:2-22 seems to place his justification at the time of the star count revelation when he was “fully convinced” of what God had promised. And Jesus said that Abraham saw His (Jesus') day.
I know that some will have trouble believing Abraham wasn't justified before the star count revelation—they will argue that he had to be saved some time before God called him to go to Canaan, before Genesis chapter 12. But could he have had the faith similar to Cornelius, before Peter came to him and spoke to him “words by which” he was “saved” (Acts 11:14)? Cornelius was a man who feared God with his whole household, before Peter came to him.
The only solution I could offer to support the view that Abraham was saved prior to the star count revelation, possibly as far back before the calling to go to Canaan, and make sense with the connection Romans 4 makes between the star count believed, and it being accounted to Abraham as righteousness, is that the faith by which Abraham was justified in the past was the basis for his faith at the star count revelation—that faith he later had was an extension of and consistent with the faith he had in the past, by which he was saved. I don't know if that makes sense, because it seems the text connects his justification with his faith in the star count, but it is the only way I could think of explaining it.
But it seems more natural to connect his justification to the revelation in Genesis 15:5. It was with that revelation that he came to understand and “see” Christ, his “Seed” as the means of the star count descendants that would come from him. Those who would believe like Abraham in the Seed/ Christ would be justified just as Abraham was: Abraham would be their father and they would be sons: “he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised [the gentiles], that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision [the Jews] to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. 13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:11-13
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