It was what Abraham didn't do (kill his son) that was credited to his righteousness, or it was rather what he did do (trust and obey God) that was credited to him as righteousness, but it all involved doing something that expressed harmony with God's will.
The Jews call such deeds mitzvot, God's commandments, by which observant Jews live, and of which there are many (613 listed in the Torah alone!), and half of them roughly are acts of omission (abstinence, such as fasting) while the rest are acts of commission (mercy and philanthropy, etc.). But they fit perfectly in the example of Abraham.
The Jews believe (and I think Orthodox and Catholic believers can understand this) that by obeying God's commandments listed in the OT (and another seven rabbinical ones), they are credited righteousness in God's eyes (i.e. made acceptable to God), just as it was credited to Abraham, hence the Abrahamic faith.
You can twist and turn the words as you please, giving someone "credit" for doing something right or not doing something wrong is still earned. Of course, God is not obliged to give us credit for anything, so technically speaking there is no contract and there is no wage, but it is obvious that in the Bible God creates conditional covenants with conditional rewards and punishments, and God even obliged Himself to reward us for obeying His commands.
In the Binle, God makes "if then" promises and pledges. If you eat this, you will live, if you believe in Me, you will live...I will not let you go if you believe in Me...etc.
So, it's not just credit; it's not just faith. It's the works in harmony with God's will regardless if one believes or not and not just any works that God rewards. Thus, if I water my flowers every day does not warrant rewards, but if I do acts of mercy, even if I don't believe, it is still doing God's will even if I don't realize it, because being merciful is in doing God's will.
Kosta, Abraham was credited with righteousness because of faith here:
Gen 15:6 : Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Now, this was before Isaac was even born, as the context makes absolutely clear. The story of what Abraham DID that you are referring to happened in Genesis 22, many years later. Therefore, your correlation doesn't match at all. It WASN'T action at the place "The Lord Will Provide" that made Abraham righteous, it was faith well before that.
The Jews believe (and I think Orthodox and Catholic believers can understand this) that by obeying God's commandments listed in the OT (and another seven rabbinical ones), they are credited righteousness in God's eyes (i.e. made acceptable to God), just as it was credited to Abraham, hence the Abrahamic faith.
Well, the Jews REJECT CHRIST!!! :) I will leave it to the Catholics and the Orthodox as to whether they can understand THAT! :) Christ does NOT teach that righteousness is earned by works. Instead, He says:
John 6:28-29 : 28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" 29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
Do the Jews you are apparently following trump Christ here? :) Do you still believe that you are "made acceptable", i.e. saved, to God by the physical works you do?
Of course, God is not obliged to give us credit for anything, so technically speaking there is no contract and there is no wage, but it is obvious that in the Bible God creates conditional covenants with conditional rewards and punishments, and God even obliged Himself to reward us for obeying His commands. (bold added)
AH-HA!, FK exclaimed. :) This is the first admission I can think of wherein an Apostolic acknowledges that God owes a debt to man for performance. We have been screaming this from the mountaintops as being Apostolic error for years, always to denial. But, at least you have the intellectual honesty to admit the belief.
In the Bible, God makes "if then" promises and pledges. If you eat this, you will live, if you believe in Me, you will live...I will not let you go if you believe in Me...etc.
You are right, those are the words in some cases. And, based only on those verses, I can see that a reasonable person COULD think that God was offering a quid pro quo with these. However, to accept that one MUST disregard the TOTALITY of scriptures and only focus in on one interpretation of those verses. The scriptures in toto, including the Gospels, and especially including Christ's own words, preach a faith-based salvation. The verses you refer to are true statements based on the God-promised completion of the good work that He began in each of His children.
So, it's not just credit; it's not just faith. It's the works in harmony with God's will regardless if one believes or not and not just any works that God rewards. Thus, if I water my flowers every day does not warrant rewards, but if I do acts of mercy, even if I don't believe, it is still doing God's will even if I don't realize it, because being merciful is in doing God's will. (bold added)
Well, that is PLAINLY a works-ONLY salvation model. As I warned earlier, this is exactly what can happen if one rejects the historicity of the Bible. The "message" can be deemed anything the person wishes it to be because there are no obstacles, anything goes. So, if one wants to reject all the scriptures requiring faith, then that is fine because they don't meet some sort of test set by the person who already has HIS message picked out. All of those verses are false since the Bible is only a product of fallible men doing the best they can. You have often referred to unicorns on Jupiter, and with all due respect I would have to put this in the same category. If your faith really is works-only, then you truly are a lone wolf Christian.