God and his Promise to Abraham

Abstract

This chapter points out various expressions of the process of re-interpretation in the first century A.D. as various groups and authors grappled with the question of what God's promise meant to them. In different ways, these various groups attempted to appropriate the Old Testament narratives of the promise to Abraham. And they were roughly contemporary and almost certainly independent applications of the same material. By comparing the Abraham narrative in its various interpretations, the author establishes a firm ground to distinguish between tradition al material and Paul's adaptation of it in Rom 4: I3-22. Since it is concerned with this common tradition, it would be arbitrary to divide Jewish interpretations from Christian interpretations. The chapter finally establishes to what extent Paul shares material in his picture of Abraham with other contemporary interpreters.Keywords: Abraham; Christian interpretations; contemporary interpreters; God's promise; Jewish interpretations; Old Testament; Paul; Rom 4: I3-22