Blameless (Gen 17:1)

Sermon: Mission Impossible? (Gen 17:1)
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2013

As we go through life, we will face challenges of various kinds, some of which may seem impossible, and our first response must not be to give up. On the other hand, we must also guard against being overly confident.

There were two backwoods hillbillies living across the river from each other, who feuded constantly. Beaufort hated Clarence with a passion and never passed up a chance to throw rocks at him across the river. This went on for years until one day the Army Corps of Engineers built a bridge across that river. Beaufort was elated; he told his wife that finally he was going to cross over and whip Clarence. He left the house but returned in a matter of minutes. His wife asked what was wrong, wasn't he going over the bridge to whip Clarence? Beaufort replied that he never had really seen Clarence up close and didn't realize his size until he started over the bridge and saw the sign... "CLEARANCE 8 FT 3 IN"

Our initial response when facing a seemingly impossible challenge must not be to give up. When God appears to Abraham and issues a demanding challenge, the patriarch may wonder: Is this Mission Impossible?

It happened when, in...

Gen 17:1 ...the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.

How would you feel? ...It was not the first time God expected something difficult from Abraham. Back in...

Gen 12:1 The LORD ...said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

That command, though, was different. It was certainly not easy, but at least it pertained to a specific task, difficult but doable. When, however, God says to Abraham, "Be blameless," He is not limiting His command to a single task. This is a life-long project and an unrealistic expectation, if ever there was one.

Abraham is the central figure in this opening book of the Bible, the one who will establish a doctrine of God that his descendants and others (like us) will study for generations.¹ Why would God set him up for failure by demanding the impossible? ...Please turn to Gen 17, and we will look at the whole of what God says to Abraham. Is it really...

I. Mission Impossible?

Gen 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

Here the LORD says that...

A. Abraham must be blameless.

Wait. Maybe God's demand is not unreasonable. Abraham is 99, on his last legs, and too old to do anything wrong. All he has to do is behave for another year or so before he dies, and he is home free.

As we look ahead in Genesis, though, we read a lot more about Abraham—his meeting with the angelic messengers who destroy Sodom, his passing off of Sarah as his sister, and his almost-sacrifice of Isaac (who is not even born until the following year).² Finally, in chapter 25, we read Abraham's obituary, where it says that,

Gen 25:7 Altogether, Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years.

When God appears in chapter 17, Abraham has a long time left to meet this requirement of being blameless.

Perhaps he will protest this unrealistic demand—stand up for his rights and negotiate with God for better terms. Let us read on.

Gen 17:3a Abram fell facedown...

This is not a very assertive response. It is, however, a very appropriate response when God appears.

Gen 17:3b ...God said to him, 4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

God identifies what He describes here as a covenant, an agreement or contract between parties that spells out the nature and terms of their relationship.³ God begins by stating His role in the covenant ("As for me" v. 4).⁴

• He promises that an old man with no descendants will father entire nations.
• He promises that a landless, wandering nomad will have a permanent deed to the most politically strategic real estate in the Ancient Near East.
• He promises that He will be Abraham's God and the God of His descendants, acting as their protector.

God then outlines Abraham's part in the covenant ("As for you" v. 9).

Gen 17:9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

God says that Abraham and his descendants are to practice circumcision, a surgical procedure God calls "the sign of the covenant." He further states that just as the covenant is permanent ("everlasting" v. 13, cf. 19), so the sign must be as well. In other words, circumcision is no less important today for Abraham's descendants than it was when God first commanded it.⁵

Is this, perhaps, what God intends when He demands that Abraham "be blameless"? Does God just mean Abraham should be careful to practice circumcision, his specific responsibility in the covenant?⁶ That would certainly make this demand easier to meet.

The command appears again, in Deuteronomy, where Moses exhorts the people of Israel who are about to enter the land God promised to them through the patriarch. God says to them,⁷

Deut 18:13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

Like Abraham...

B. Israel must be blameless.

Yet, the context in Deuteronomy is not circumcision but idolatry. Moses is warning the people not to let their commitment to God lapse. Apparently, being blameless has a broad, ethical connotation, one that encompasses more of life than just circumcision, which brings us back to the impossibility of this demand. How can God expect Abraham and later, his descendants, to live up to such an unreasonable standard?

To answer this question, we need to cast the net of our inquiry a little wider. Does this word "blameless" occur elsewhere in scripture in a similar setting? ...A survey of other passages reveals that being blameless is actually...

II. Mission Possible!

The word appears one other time in Genesis, back in chapter 6.

Gen 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

The context is similar in that it obviously refers to the ethical dimension of Noah's life. What is different is that it does not form part of a command, but is rather a description of Noah's character. He was blameless, so we cannot say that God is being unreasonable when He demands the same ethical quality in Abraham -it has been done before.⁸ Statistically, however, one person's behavior does not indicate a trend. Noah also had a way with animals that no one else has been able to duplicate (except, perhaps, Dr. Dolittle).

Apart from references to Noah and Abraham, the word does not appear again in Genesis, but it does occur in later books.⁹

• God calls Job "blameless."
• David claims to be "blameless," as does Paul.

Therefore, because...

A. Others have been blameless...

...God is not being unreasonable when He commands the same from Abraham.

Now we come to the uncomfortable part of the sermon. Noah, Abraham, Job, David, and Paul are all great men of faith. Does God have the same expectation of ordinary believers...of you? ...The answer is "Yes." God expects ordinary believers—including you—to be blameless as well. As we noted earlier, Moses commands all Israel in this regard, not just those who are pillars of faith. Likewise, Paul writes to the believers in Philippi,

Phil 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation...

Evidently...

B. You can be blameless.

This is "an extreme demand" (Wenham 1994:20) that God puts on His people, but do not think of it solely as a burden to bear. The psalmist and the sage extol the advantages of being "blameless," indicating that such a state is both possible for anyone who wants it and, perhaps more important, profitable for all who attain it, it is well worth the effort involved to reach.¹⁰

Ps 84:11 ...the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Prov 2:7 ...he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

You can be blameless. You can meet "the prerequisite for close fellowship with God" (Wenham 1987:170) and enjoy the benefits of that relationship.

This raises at least three questions to consider about being blameless.

• The first question about this state is: What does it mean for you to be blameless?¹¹

• It is not being sinless: Being blameless does not mean being incapable of sin or being without sin.

• Job was "blameless," in God's eyes as well as his own, yet he acknowledges his sin to his friends and, at the end, God chides him for arrogance in presuming to know better than his Maker.¹²

• David claimed to be "blameless" yet disobeyed God on more than one occasion and admitted his wrongdoing by confessing his sin.¹³

Being blameless is not being sinless. Rather...

• It is being sound: Being blameless means having an essential integrity that, at the core, a person is ethically reliable and whole-heartedly committed to God, despite occasional failure.¹⁴

• That was Noah, who "walked with God" (Gen 6:9).

• That was David, "a man after [God's] own heart" (1 Sam 13:14).¹⁵

• That was Abraham, who "was called God's friend" (Jms 2:23).¹⁶

Being blameless is being sound.

Being blameless is not being perfect, in that every detail of a person's life corresponds to some ideal standard. It is a completeness of character that manifests itself—and here is the key—in consistent and habitual patterns of right behavior. This attribute is not just for those few, truly great figures in the Bible. It is what God expects from all who would enjoy a relationship with Him, including you. Moreover, Paul indicates that being blameless is a reachable goal, and he exhorts his readers at Philippi in the passage I read earlier.

God recognizes that you are not perfect, but your devotion to Him should be and can be such an integral part of who you are that it permeates your being, colors your thinking, and manifests itself in the patterns of your behavior. That is what it means for you to be blameless.

• The second question about this state is: How can you become blameless?

When biblical writers use the word, they may also indicate what it requires to reach that state or what areas of a person's life progress toward that goal affects. By following their example and instructions, you can achieve this most worthy objective. The Bible mentions at least four requirements for becoming blameless.

• The first requirement to become blameless is perspiration (or effort): Becoming blameless is not a virtue you acquire naturally or easily. It requires conscious effort. You must decide that is what you want to be, then pursue a deliberate course that will get you there.¹⁷ Peter says,

2 Pet 3:14 ...make every effort to be found... blameless...

Becoming blameless requires perspiration.

• The second requirement to become blameless is practice: Whatever effort you exert, you must apply repeatedly. Only then will the characteristics associated with being blameless develop into habits of behavior rather than exceptions. The author of Hebrews writes,

Heb 5:14 [S]olid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Becoming blameless requires practice.

• The third requirement to become blameless is perseverance (or endurance): Related to practice is persistence. This includes both your striving to reach the goal, despite the obstacles you may encounter, as well as your commitment to maintain that position once you get there. James writes,

Jms 1:3 ...the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Being blameless requires perseverance.

• The fourth requirement to become blameless is perspective: Becoming blameless is not an easy goal, either to achieve or to maintain. You will encounter resistance, from within and without. You may get discouraged and wonder if it is worth the effort, given the difficulty involved. At that point, you need to step back and realize that you are engaged in more than personal development. Becoming blameless enhances...improves your relationship with God. It not only draws you closer to Him, it pleases Him as well.¹⁸ Solomon states that...

Prov 11:20 The LORD...delights in those whose ways are blameless.

Being blameless requires perspective.

By applying these four qualities—perspiration, practice, perseverance, and perspective—you can become blameless.

• The third question about this state is: How do you behave blameless?

Being blameless entails an internal transformation, but it is essentially the way others see you, how they evaluate your character. For that, they depend on the external manifestation of this internal transformation. The Bible mentions two areas of your public life where being blameless is obvious.

• First, it is obvious in your talk: Several passages associate being blameless with proper speech, especially speaking the truth. If people know that they can rely on what you say, that you are not antagonistic or deceptive;¹⁹ then whether or not they agree with you, they will be more likely to accept your words at face value and not assume that you have some hidden agenda.²⁰ James writes,

Jms 3:2b If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Being blameless is obvious in your talk.

• Second, it is obvious in your walk: More than words, the Bible associates being blameless with how you conduct yourself—your actions, which must be in conformity to God's direction. It is the primary way you demonstrate, and that others see, whether you are blameless or not.²¹

Ps 119:1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD.

Being blameless is obvious in your walk.

So, how well does the Patriarch do in this quest for excellency? Toward the end of his life, Abraham offers a personal evaluation. He does not state that he has been blameless, but in chapter 24 he does allude to God's demand from chapter 17, saying that he has indeed walked before the LORD.²²

When God said to Abraham, "be blameless," was He making an unrealistic demand? ...No. Was He setting Abraham up for failure? ...No. When God expects the same thing of you, is it Mission Impossible? ...No. Here are two final thoughts about being blameless.

• First, being blameless is not easy, but it is a reachable goal.

• Many believers have done it, and you probably know some. They are not perfect, but they possess an ethical maturity that manifests itself in what they say and do, It is this soundness of character God calls "blameless," and it is a reachable goal.

• Second, being blameless is not optional; it is a required goal.

• It is what God expects from all those who belong to Him and who claim to serve Him. It is the alignment of your character with God's character. It is also what He wants others to see in you. Do people see that in you? They should, because being blameless is a required goal for all believers.

So, are you blameless?

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.