Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:

[pinky]

This is a cut and paste from another thread so as not to derail it......as well it seems to be an important verse in some eschatology so perhaps it is a subject unto itself......which is why I started a seperate thread.

I think we all know how this verse is interpreted.

Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

.................

..............please consider what Paul says....

Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Can you see how Paul is telling us that Gen 12:3 is speaking of the Gospel?

.........Gen 12:3 is prophetically speaking of Jesus!

It is about JESUS.



"I will bless those who bless you......."
This speaks to Christ.

[embankmentlb]

I believe that is true. It is sad that only a hand full took it to heart.

[pinky]

Hello Embankmentlb.

I am hoping that the lack of response to this thread is due to the fact that those who have read this ARE taking it to heart........and perhaps re-evaluating what we have been taught about this verse.........in light of what Paul says.

God bless,
pinky

[NotMyOwn]

This seems to be a twofold promise. First it is a promise the all Abraham's physical descendants will be blessed. Acts 3:25, "It is you who are the sons of the prophets and if the covenant which God made with your forefathers, saying to Abraham, And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Secondly, it is a promise to the Gentiles, (Pauls listeners) in Galatians 3:8, as you suggested, who are Abrahams spiritual descendants.

[Equipped_4_Love]

YES -- GOOD POINT!!! I absolutely agree with that.

I noticed the same thing a few months ago, while reading through Galatians. Another interesting point is what Paul says in the first part of this sentence:

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith......

(1) the spiritual seed of Abraham coming from all nations
(2) Scriptural foreknowledge of God's plan to redeem man through Christ. He is basically saying that everything in Scripture points to the work of Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of Christ which is spoken about by Paul:

[pinky]

Hi Welder4Christ.

Pleasure to meet you.



Something that you said that I would like to draw attention to....

(2) Scriptural foreknowledge of God's plan to redeem man through Christ. He is basically saying that everything in Scripture points to the work of Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of Christ which is spoken about by Paul:

Yes, yes,yes! This is so true!

The mystery of Christ, who is the Word made flesh.....the mystery of scripture..........it is ALL about JESUS!

He is also the 'key' to proper understanding of prophecy....


Rev 19:10...........for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.


The spirit of prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus......... the Testimony of the Gospel......... the Cross.

THIS is the central focus of ALL the blessed promises and prophecies.

Jesus!

Hallelujah!

The Glory is His and His alone.


God bless in His precious Name,
pinky

[apothanein kerdos]

Genesis 12:3 speaks both of the Jews and Jesus. Nothing states that the first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled or is no longer applied.

History has proven that those who mess with the Jews only find corruption, but the nations or people that help the Jews find great honor and admiration among their own people. If nothing else, a simple look at history proves that this passage is speaking about the Jewish people and is a two-fold promise; one is for protection of the Jews while the other is the coming of Christ.

To be fair, all prophetic Scripture in the OT, in fact, all Scripture in the OT, points to Christ somehow. So to say that's the only meaning is to negate the literal meanings in the OT. We must remember there are both literal and Christological meanings, both of which are legitimate and apply to today.

[Equipped_4_Love]

Genesis 12:3 speaks both of the Jews and Jesus. Nothing states that the first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled or is no longer applied.

History has proven that those who mess with the Jews only find corruption, but the nations or people that help the Jews find great honor and admiration among their own people. If nothing else, a simple look at history proves that this passage is speaking about the Jewish people and is a two-fold promise; one is for protection of the Jews while the other is the coming of Christ.

To be fair, all prophetic Scripture in the OT, in fact, all Scripture in the OT, points to Christ somehow. So to say that's the only meaning is to negate the literal meanings in the OT. We must remember there are both literal and Christological meanings, both of which are legitimate and apply to today.

YES!!! I absolutely agree with this.

In terms of the Galatians verse, I think it's apparent that it is referring, not only to Abraham's physical descendants, but also His spiritual seed. Through him, all nations will be blessed...yes, Jesus Christ was the messiah of Israel, and came through the geneological line of Abraham, and it was He who redeemed all of mankind. This is the geneological aspect of it.

Even so, the heathen were justified, not because of their physical relation to Abraham, but because they were of the spiritual seed of Abraham -- spiritual descendants through faith in Christ.

Truly, it all points to Christ.

Col. 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

[BroRog]

I don't think the passage refers to anyone other than Abraham himself. To "bless" Abraham is to share his faith and his outlook. To "curse" Abraham is to disagree with his faith and to disagree with his POV. I wish Abraham well because I believe God has the power and will take the opportunity to bless Abraham again at the resurrection of the dead. And just as Abraham believed that God could raise the dead and give Abraham an eternal blessing, I also believe the same thing. Those who bless Abraham will be blessed in the same way Abraham was blessed, i.e. with eternal life.

[Walstib]

What thread is it from? I am not sure I know what interpretation you mean.

I'm confused as I have always seen it as BroRog described with literal success for Abraham as he lived his life as well. The second part speaking of the genetic forefather of the mother of Jesus. Through (what is the right word for that, through does not seem quite right) whom Jesus came to bless every man at the cross.

[pinky]

Genesis 12:3 speaks both of the Jews and Jesus. Nothing states that the first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled or is no longer applied.

Just for some clarification, when you speak of the first part of the prophecy that may not have been fulfilled, what are you speaking of precisely? I'm not sure.

Thank you in advance,
pinky

[apothanein kerdos]

Just for some clarification, when you speak of the first part of the prophecy that may not have been fulfilled, what are you speaking of precisely? I'm not sure.

Thank you in advance,
pinky

God's protection over the seed of Abraham.

To say that this only refers to Abraham or only to Christ is to rob verse 3 of its context. The context deals with Abraham being made into a "great nation," meaning that all of his physical descendants would be enjoined to the covenant as well.

Thus, whoever blesses the Jews is in turn bless in some fashion and whoever curses the Jews is in turn cursed in some fashion.

For instance, if this was only to Abraham or if this was only in reference to Christ's coming, then we must wonder why Isaac repeated the blessing sans "blessing to all nations" in Genesis 27. We even see Balaam, under the Spirit of the Lord in Numbers 24, saying that the "blessed/cursed" portion of the blessing applied to all of Israel.

So yes, the "all nations shall be blessed" refers solely to Christ. The first part, however, is repeated at least twice in the Bible and both times refers to all of Israel.

[BroRog]

God's protection over the seed of Abraham.

To say that this only refers to Abraham or only to Christ is to rob verse 3 of its context. The context deals with Abraham being made into a "great nation," meaning that all of his physical descendants would be enjoined to the covenant as well.

Thus, whoever blesses the Jews is in turn bless in some fashion and whoever curses the Jews is in turn cursed in some fashion.

For instance, if this was only to Abraham or if this was only in reference to Christ's coming, then we must wonder why Isaac repeated the blessing sans "blessing to all nations" in Genesis 27. We even see Balaam, under the Spirit of the Lord in Numbers 24, saying that the "blessed/cursed" portion of the blessing applied to all of Israel.

So yes, the "all nations shall be blessed" refers solely to Christ. The first part, however, is repeated at least twice in the Bible and both times refers to all of Israel.

Genesis 12:3 talks about blessing Abraham. I don't see where it talks about blessing his children, seed, Jews or anyone else.

[apothanein kerdos]

Genesis 12:3 talks about blessing Abraham. I don't see where it talks about blessing his children, seed, Jews or anyone else.

So we're to ignore the rest of Scripture? We're to put Scripture in a vacuum?

Okay, let's put it to the test - the Great Commission is only to the disciples. The 10 Commandments are only for Israel. John 3:16 is only to Nicodemus. See, it doesn't work - we have to place Scripture in its broader context. When Genesis 12:3 is placed in the broader context (with two passages that directly refer to it) we see that it's made for the entire Jewish people.

[BroRog]

So we're to ignore the rest of Scripture? We're to put Scripture in a vacuum?

Okay, let's put it to the test - the Great Commission is only to the disciples. The 10 Commandments are only for Israel. John 3:16 is only to Nicodemus. See, it doesn't work - we have to place Scripture in its broader context. When Genesis 12:3 is placed in the broader context (with two passages that directly refer to it) we see that it's made for the entire Jewish people.

Perhaps you might tighten up your argument a bit because I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

The verse in question is Genesis 12:3. Let's start there.

And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

The verse contains three occasions of the second person singular pronoun "you." We find the antecedent to the pronoun in verse one.

Now the LORD said to Abram . . .

From this we know that the predicate of "I will bless those who bless you" is Abram. Nothing is mentioned about the Jews or Israel here. God will bless those who bless Abram, and God will curse those who curse Abram.

At the third occasion of the pronoun "you", at the second half of the verse, God declares that "in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." This promise is repeated again in Genesis 22:18

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. Genesis 22:18

In Galatians 3, Paul argues that since Abraham found justifiedness in view of his faith, "it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham." In that same argument, he asserts that the latter half of Genesis 12:3 refers to the salvation of the Gentiles.

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations will be blessed in you." Galatians 3:8

And in that same argument, Paul also asserts that Genesis 22:18 refers to Christ.

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16