“And he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Gen. 15:6 (NKJV)
In case you need to be refreshed as to whom this refers, it is Abram. Before his name change, when he first met God, he believed in Him and He called Abram righteous. There was no law to tell Abram what to do or how to live. When you read in context, one sees exactly what God told Abram. Abram was childless and was planning to make his servant Eliezer of Damascus his heir. God said, “No,” and told him he would have a son as his own offspring and heir and other offspring as numerous as the stars he could see. That is what Abram believed God about and God knew he did.
Let us consider who was the writer recording this incident. Abram was justified by faith in God. In other words he simply believed God was God and telling him the truth. The law was not involved at all but this account was written by the law giver himself, Moses. Moses makes no attempt to excuse Abram or editorialize on the statement. This says to me that Moses understood how a person becomes righteous. It is not by the law but by believing the Word of God is enough. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, and I believe he knew it was impossible to keep the given laws. The law was designed to show man it is impossible to make ourselves righteous. In the Old Testament no one was justified by the law; they were justified by the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. These sacrifices were a “type” of Christ. He fulfilled the law of Atonement when He died on the cross for the sins of man. He was raised from the dead to finish giving us eternal life. You can find all this in the Bible. Praise God!!!