Genesis 22:12
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
In my opinion, this verse is misunderstood by a few different theologies. I don’t mean to say I have a monopoly on theological interpretation, but rather, it’s by the methodology of hermeneutics, or interpretation, that we can discern what is being said in a passage. This means we must seek to understand the relationship between the audience and author, the cultural context of the day, as well as the grammar of the original language. These are just a few of the very many “contexts” we must seek to understand to rightly divide the word of God, as commanded in 2 Timothy 2:15.
So, if we are to apply Scripture to our lives, it is important that we seek to understand what the passage or verse is saying? And misunderstanding a passage leads to a misapplication of its principle. And that is what often happens with this verse in Genesis.
The Open Theist View
To some, this verse teaches Open Theism, which explained by John Frame in No Other God: A Response to Open Theism, says that “if God absolutely knew the future, human beings could not truly be free. Therefore, God does not know absolutely everything about the future. Open Theism holds that the future is not knowable to God. Therefore, God knows everything that can be currently known, but He does not know the future.”
Open Theists hold that God is telling Abraham that He didn’t know if Abraham was going to go through with the sacrifice of Isaac. God knew what Abraham could do, but not what Abraham would do...at least until after Abraham took the action. And it would be at that point when God reveals His open knowledge, of if Abraham would actually be obedient or not. And since seeing Abraham take action, God is then telling him, “now I know that you fear me.” This means, to the Open Theist, that God didn’t truly know if Abraham was going to be obedient, or if Abraham truly trusted in God.
There are many problems with Open Theism, which I’m not going into in this article, but suffice it to say that the problems lie within Scripture and within logic. Regarding logic, if God doesn’t know the future, then He isn’t a maximally great being. In other words, the Ontological Argument for God couldn’t be found in Jehovah seeing as a God that does know the future is greater than a god that does not. Regarding Scripture, we find other passages that clearly reveal that God does know the future, such as Psalm 139:4 “For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.” And Isaiah 46:9-10 “9 Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”
If Open Theism is true, then it’s a very big problem. We couldn’t trust in our eternal life, we couldn’t trust the battle of Armageddon, we couldn’t trust the casting of Satan into the Lake of Fire, or any part of eschatology, for the simple reason that if God doesn’t know the future, then we can’t trust what He told us in the Scripture regarding what will come to pass.
Thankfully that isn’t the God of the Bible.
The Lordship View
Another misunderstanding of Genesis 22:12 is found within Lordship Theology. As Dr. Charlie Bing reveals, there are various nuances of Lordship Salvation, but a general definition is sufficient, and like him, I will use the definition provided by Kenneth Gentry, who is a Lordship advocate, in his book The Great Option “The Lordship view expressly states the necessity of acknowledging Christ as the Lord and Master of one’s life in the act of receiving Him as Savior. These are not two different, sequential acts (or successive steps), but rather one act of pure trusting faith.”
So, what is being said is that there is no distinction between being a Christian and being a disciple. Or that there is no such thing as progressive sanctification whereby one becomes a Christian and then later in their spiritual life decide to let Jesus rule their life choices. Rather, to Gentry, this is a one-time, simultaneous action that occurs at regeneration. Many other teachings within Lordship are that if one is a “genuine” or “true” Christian, they will bear fruit to reveal the genuineness of their conversion. So, if someone professes to be a Christian but doesn’t obey, and doesn’t have Jesus as Lord of their life, then they aren’t a genuine believer, or they haven’t genuinely believed.
Back to Genesis 22:12, the Lordship will take this verse and say that Abraham revealed to God that he was a genuine believer. Not necessarily that God didn’t know whether Abraham was saved or not, but that by Abraham’s actions, obedience, Abraham proved his justification before God and man. And with this understanding, the Lordshipper will then apply that principle and say “if you are a genuine Christian, there must be evidence in your life that a change has taken place. If not, then there’s good reason to question your salvation.”
This misunderstanding of Genesis 22:12 leads to a misapplication in the life of a person who then has to constantly look to their works to see if they believed in the Gospel message. There are many problems with this interpretation that I explain in both books I’ve written, Investigating Lordship Salvation and A Biblical Sketch: Free Grace Theology. I’ve also produced many videos on the problems with Lordship Salvation and Calvinism that I’d encourage you to check out.
A Free Grace View
So, if Genesis 22:12 doesn’t teach Open Theism, and it doesn’t teach Lordship Salvation, what does God mean when He says “now I know thou fearest God”? Remember, Isaac is probably an older teenager at this point in history, so Abraham had already trusted God by leaving everything he had in Ur, and went to the promised land. Abraham had trusted God to the point that God made what’s known as the Abrahamic Covenant because of how Abraham had faith in God. The same trust was seen in his belief of God’s judgment to come against Sodom and Gomorrah. And let us not forget that when Abraham and Isaac left to hike Mount Moriah, Abraham told the people left behind that he and Isaac would return. Through all these years prior to this event, God clearly knew that Abraham trusted in God because he lived a strong faith-filled life, though at times was riddled with struggles.
The Hebrew word for “know” is yada and can carry the meaning of knowing by experience. When I first saw my wife and discovered her name, I could say I knew her. But since being married for over 21 years, my knowledge of her grew from mere factual information to experiencing and doing life together with her. So, I know her on a deeper, more experiential level. This is what Genesis 22:12 reveals, that God didn’t factually “know” Abraham feared Him, but rather, God “experientially” knows. Being willing to give up his most prized possession for God truly showed how strong his faith in God really was. Yes, Abraham left Ur to find land. Yes, Abraham pled with God to spare Lot and his family. Yes, Abraham trusted God for descendants. But this was the ultimate test of faith, nothing could be more difficult of a test then the sacrifice of, not only a child, but of a promised child of God conceived by miraculous measures. And through obedience, Abraham revealed how strong his faith truly was. Now God yada, experienced, how much Abraham trusts and reveres God.
Applying Genesis 22:12 to Our Lives
If I were to make an application of this verse from this principle, it’s that we experience God the greatest when we make the greatest sacrifices. What is it that you and I know we need to give up in order to get closer to God? What is it that we need to do to make our faith more a priority? It’s sacrificing the answer you give to those questions that we can experience God in a more intimate way.
Another application would be that the level and depth we know someone is dependent upon how much we experience life with them. I know my wife much greater than I know my friends. How much do we truly know God?
Conclusion
So, what does God mean in Genesis 22:12 when He says “now I know thou fearest God”? That God had experienced the greatest act of obedience any human being could perform and it revealed the strength of Abraham’s faith, not its genuineness.