And do not think that you can say among yourselves 'Abraham is our ancestor,' for I tell you that out of these very stones God is able to raise descendants for Abraham!
You look at the outward appearance of things! Let any one, who is confident that he belongs to Christ, reflect, for himself, again upon the fact--that we belong to Christ no less than he does.
Now it was to Abraham that the promises were made, 'and to his offspring.' It was not said 'to his offsprings,' as if many persons were meant, but the words were 'to thy offspring,' showing that one person was meant--and that was Christ.
That, by union with Christ Jesus and through the Good News, the Gentiles are co-heirs with us and members of one Body, and that they share with us in God's Promise.
It was faith that enabled Noah, after he had received the divine warning about what could not then be foreseen, to build, in reverent obedience, an ark in which to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world, and became possessed of that righteousness which follows upon faith.
And therefore God, in his desire to show, with unmistakable plainness, to those who were to enter on the enjoyment of what he had promised, the unchangeableness of his purpose, bound himself with an oath.
Listen, my dear Brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich through their faith, and to possess the Kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?