Genesis — Chapter 15

I AM THY PROTECTOR, AND THY REWARD EXCEEDING GREAT. — God consoles Abraham who feared reprisals from the Babylonians and envious Canaanites. \"Protector\" = Hebrew \"magen\" = shield. Augustine (De Trinitate XV, 20): the promise \"I am thy reward\" means God Himself will be the beatifying object of Abraham's vision in heaven — fulfilling the deepest longing of the soul for God. Thomas Aquinas praying before the crucifix heard: \"Thou hast written well of me, Thomas — what reward dost thou desire?\" And he replied: \"None other than Thyself, O Lord.\"

AND ABRAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS REPUTED TO HIM UNTO JUSTICE. — The foundational text on faith and justification. Note: Abraham's faith here was not naked or formless (against Calvin), but clothed with the works of submission, obedience, reverence, charity, and other virtues (James 2:21). God \"reputed\" Abraham's faith — not imputed alien righteousness (against Luther), but reckoned Abraham's own faith as increasing his righteousness: for through these acts of faith he was genuinely and intrinsically more just than before. Paul (Rom. 4; Gal. 3) uses this text to prove justification through faith — meaning faith-informed-by-charity, not faith alone divorced from works.