4:3 What was it that was counted unto Abraham for righteousness?
4:3 What was it that was counted unto Abraham for righteousness?
Abraham simply believed in God, personally and completely, and it was this faith that was credited to Him for righteousness (CP V5 and 9 with Ga 3:5-6). Abraham was not declared righteous for anything he did, but because of his absolute faith in God.
Abraham believed all that God said, and he did all that God told him to do (CP Gen 12:1-5; 15:1-6). Abraham did not know where God was taking him when He told him to leave his home, his kindred, and his country in Gen 12:1-5, he just obeyed in faith (CP He 11:8-10).
By faith Abraham knew that he was only a pilgrim on earth and that he was only sojourning in Caanan, the earthly promised land. He knew that Caanan was not the end of his pilgrimage; that it merely pointed to "a better country, that is, an heavenly" where God had prepared a city for all those who would be justified by faith in Jesus (CP V14-16; 13:14 with Ga 3:8).
There are many more scriptures testifying to Abraham's faith in the Bible but those included here will suffice for the purpose of this exercise. Let us go back now for another look at Gen 12:1-5 (CP Gen 12:1-5; He 11:8-10).
Christians should take careful note of how Abraham responded to God by faith here, because like Abraham, every believer in Christ is also called by God to leave their home, their kindred and their country, in the sense of being separated from worldly things, to follow Jesus (CP Mt 10:37-39; 16:24-25; Mk 8:34-38; Lu 14:25-27, 33).
The City of God is New Jerusalem, which is clearly identified in scripture as the Bride of Christ, where all the saints of God, Old Testament and New Testament alike, will go to live with Jesus for all eternity (CP Rev 3:12; 19:7-9; 21:2-3, 9-10, 22-27).
This clearly refutes the teaching in the contemporary Church that the Church itself is the Bride of Christ.
See also comments on 2Cor 11:2; Eph 2:15-16(B), 4:13, 5:25-32; Rev 19:7-9, 21:2 and 22:17 and author's study The Bride of Christ in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1).