Genesis · chapter 15 of 50
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Genesis 15 tells how the Lord appears to Abram in a vision, tells him not to fear and promises him an heir and offspring like the stars of heaven. Abram believes, and God counts it to him as righteousness. Then God confirms the promise of the land with a solemn covenant: he announces that Abram's descendants will be enslaved four hundred years, and a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the halved animals.
Genesis 15 is the chapter where the Bible first explains how a person is accepted by God: by believing his promise. Abram has gone years without a child, and God answers his doubt with a promise and a covenant. The apostle Paul uses this chapter in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 to teach justification by faith.
After these things, the word of the Lord comes to Abram in a vision: fear not, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great. Abram answers frankly that he has no children, and that his heir will be Eliezer of Damascus, a servant of his house. The Lord tells him that this man will not be his heir, but one who will come from his own body. He brings him outside and tells him to look at the stars and count them, if he can: so shall his offspring be. Abram believed the Lord, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
The Lord tells him that he brought him out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give him this land to possess. Abram asks how he will know that he will inherit it. God tells him to bring a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, a turtledove and a young pigeon. Abram brings them, cuts the animals in two and lays each half opposite the other, though he does not cut the birds. Birds of prey come down on the carcasses, and Abram drives them away.
As the sun is going down, a deep sleep falls on Abram and a great dread overwhelms him. The Lord announces that his offspring will be sojourners in a land not theirs, enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years, that he will judge the nation that enslaves them and that they will come out with great possessions. Abram will die in peace, and in the fourth generation they will return, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. When it is dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the halved animals. On that day the Lord makes a covenant with Abram and gives him the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, with the list of the peoples who live in it.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord tells Abram not to fear, because he is his shield and his reward will be very great. God answers Abram's fears with a promise of his presence: his greatest reward is God himself.
God brings Abram outside and tells him to look at the stars and count them if he can, because so shall his offspring be. It is a visual image for a faith that does not yet see the fulfillment, and that can lift its eyes every night.
Abram believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. It is the central verse of the chapter: righteousness before God is received by trusting his promise, not by merit, and Paul cites it in Romans 4 and Galatians 3.
A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the halved animals. In ancient covenants the parties would usually pass between the pieces; here only God's presence passes, which shows that the fulfillment depends on him.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Not to fear, because he was his shield and his reward would be very great. — Genesis 15:1
Answer: Eliezer of Damascus; God said the heir would come from Abram's own body. — Genesis 15:2-4
Answer: The stars of heaven, which cannot be counted. — Genesis 15:5
Answer: The Lord counted it to him as righteousness. — Genesis 15:6
Answer: Four hundred years, until God judged the nation that enslaved them. — Genesis 15:13-14
Answer: A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between them. — Genesis 15:17
Genesis 15 teaches that faith is not the absence of questions. Abram sincerely voices his doubt and God answers with promises, not rebukes. In a group you can encourage bringing honest questions to God, knowing that he listens and answers in his own way and time.
It also teaches that salvation is received by trust, not by merit. Abram did nothing to earn righteousness: he believed. Ask what things you still trust your own effort for in order to feel accepted by God, and what changes when you rest in what he has already promised and done for you.
Genesis 15 ends with a sealed covenant and a promised land that is still far off. In Genesis 16 Sarai, impatient with the wait, will propose a human solution that brings consequences, and Ishmael will be born.
It means God regarded him as righteous, that is, in right relationship with him, because he believed his promise. The New Testament, in Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6, uses this verse to teach that salvation is by faith and not by works.
It was a covenant ritual in the ancient world: the parties passed between the halved animals to seal their commitment, as if saying that whoever broke it should suffer the same. Here only God's presence passes through, which is why the covenant is a promise that God himself guarantees.
It shows that God is patient: he does not judge nations at once but gives time. Israel's entry into the land centuries later is presented as judgment on a wickedness fully accumulated, not as an arbitrary act.