Genesis 15, Matthew 15

DateVersionReading Plan
January 15, 2025ESV (2016)OT/NT Plan 2025 – 2027

Genesis 15

The LORD told Abram that He would be his shield and reward him, but Abram asked what he would be given since he was childless and without heir. The LORD told Abram that his offspring would be as many as the stars in heaven. The narrative then shifts to the Abram’s trust in God, that righteousness was counted to Abram “due to his faith in what God says and not based on the actions that he performed.” (ESVEC)

Abram asked God how he was to possess the land and God had Abram bring Him several animals. Abram did so and cut them in half (except for the birds), laying each half over against the other. The ESVEC explains the event:

…it is possible that the ritual symbolises God’s presence among Abraham’s descendants (represented by the slaughtered animals). If this is the case, then the ritual anticipates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt when God came to dwell among the people (cf. Exod 13:21–22; 14:24). This interpretation corresponds well with God’s remarks in verses 13–14.

A smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between the pieces and the LORD made a covenant with Abram, telling him the boundaries of land and nations that he would be given.

Key Takeaways and Application

God’s faithfulness is in full display in this chapter. Abram was without a child and heir, but God assured that He would make of Abram a great nation. Every promise God establishes will be fulfilled, from the growth of nations, the building of the church and the security of salvation in Christ among the elect.

Matthew 15

The chapter depicts a number of events and teachings of Jesus—tradition vs. God’s commandments, what truly defiles a person, the healing of a Canaanite woman’s daughter and the miraculous feeding of the four thousand—but it was Jesus’ confrontation of the Pharisaical tradition that seemed particularly noteworthy. Adherence to the additional rules establish by the Pharisees had gone so far as to nullify God’s word regarding the honoring of one’s mother and father. Jesus rightly and sharply calls them hypocrites and that they reflect Isaiah’s words in 29:13 in honoring God with their lips while their hearts are far from Him.

Key Takeaways and Application

It is easy to read these verses and claim immunity from establishing traditions that undermine or thwart God’s Word, but this would be out of ignorance of our sinful proclivities. The ESVEC provides a helpful and convicting approach to the text that is worth quoting in whole:

A faithful response begins not with admiration of Jesus’ demolition of the Pharisees but with confession of personal sin. Anyone can trust one’s own traditions. Anyone can dabble with legalism. Anyone can add a rule here and there. Anyone can dream that one’s own obedience wins God’s favor. Protestants criticize the Roman church for its extrabiblical traditions, and rightly so, but Protestants love their customs too, and favorite authors and creeds may gain deuterocanonical status over time. Tradition tends to nullify God’s Word. It worms its way to supremacy by functioning as the authoritative interpretation of the Holy Word. All traditions tend to do this, and therefore Christians should always subject their traditions to biblical analysis.

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