“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (Hebrews 11:17-19).
One way the Bible word “faith” is used incorrectly today is when it denotes the idea that faith is irrational. (i.e., You are either a thinker or a believer, but you cannot be both.) Being bizarre and irrational—according to this incorrect definition—is an indicator of great “faith”.
The testing of Abraham’s faith demonstrates the flaws of this mistaken understanding of this important Bible term.
Abraham had waited twenty-five years for Isaac, his son of promise. Yet, when Isaac was a lad (probably a preteen or teenager), God vigorously tested Abraham’s faith. He was commanded to travel for three days to Mount Moriah and there offer up his only-begotten son of promise. If Isaac died, all of God’s promises concerning Isaac would die with him.
Rather than use his mind to concoct a way to creatively “obey” God’s command without his son dying, Abraham’s faith thought and thought until he concluded (logizomai, the Greek forefather of our English word “logic”) that if he obeyed God’s command to kill Isaac, Jehovah had the power and ability to resurrect his son and thus fulfill all His promises concerning his seed/son. Therefore, he told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5, emphasis added).
If Abraham’s faith had been bizarre or irrational, he would never have traveled to Mount Moriah. He did, and he and Isaac traveled home together, just as Abraham’s faith had concluded they would.
