Are We Judging Abraham Wrongly?

Modern believers routinely condemn Abraham for decisions Scripture never rebukes — his deception of Abimelech, his taking of Hagar, his apparent failures of nerve in Egypt. In this episode of Out of the Question, Andrea Schwartz speaks with Mark Rushdoony, president of the Chalcedon Foundation, about his September 2026 *Arise and Build* essay, "Abram Did Not Fully Understand Yet Believed God, Do We?" Rushdoony argues that this judgmental posture stems from two related errors: a moralistic reduction of Scripture to character lessons, and an antinomian dismissal of the Old Testament as no longer authoritative for Christians. When the law is set aside, all that remains is mining biblical narratives for virtues and vices — what R.J. Rushdoony called "confessing other people's sins."

The heart of the conversation is the covenant ceremony of Genesis 15, where God alone passed through the split sacrificial animals in fire and smoke while Abraham watched. Rushdoony identifies this as the moment Jesus referenced in John 8:56 — Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoiced. It was a vision of substitutionary atonement centuries before the cross, and yet Abraham still received no specific answers about when or how God's promises would be fulfilled. His faith rested not in a detailed roadmap but in the character of the God who made the covenant. The episode draws a sharp contrast between this kind of faith and the consumer-based Christianity that treats the gospel as a benefits package and then questions God when providence brings suffering. True faith, as Abraham exemplified, produces obedience even in the absence of full understanding — and sanctification is the lifelong evidence that regeneration is real.