In Romans 4:16-17 Paul clarified that the Christian’s faith in God is the work of God’s grace, and he quotes from Gen. 17:5. Already God had made Abraham the father of many nations, but Abraham had not yet experienced in his being and in history the fullness of this blessing. The whole Christian faith and life is wrapped in this great, glorious and gracious reality of the “already and not yet.”

Within Reformed theology there is an emphasis on the “already, but not yet” aspect of the Christian faith and life. It’s an emphasis, though, that is not merely within Reformed theology but more importantly Scripture. Our Triune Lord has already accomplished all his promises (Gen. 17:5; Ex. 2:23-25; 1Kings 8:56; 2Cor. 1:20; Eph. 1:3-14; Rom. 6:1-15). God chose his people in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy (Eph. 1:4). We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk or live in (Eph. 2:10). The Christian is God’s work, not his or her own work. Yet, the definitiveness of God’s work means the Christian is enabled to work on the holiness that God has already secured definitively for him or her.

Even prior to Sarah’s pregnancy and the birth of Isaac, the only son of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah, God declared to Abraham that he had already made him “the father of many nations” (Gen. 17:5). None of what Abraham and Sarah would experience as the objects of God’s gracious and merciful blessing was uncertain. God was not depending on them. God’s relationship to them is not accurately expressed as him “wanting them to experience his blessing, if only they would trust in him, and obey him.” No, mercifully and graciously the salvation of God’s covenant people is chiefly about who God is, and therefore what he has done, is doing and will do for, in and through them.

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