The Father of our Faith
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou
shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be
called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many
nations have I made thee.
Genesis 17:4 (Spoke 1, Cycle 1)
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace;
to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only
which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham;
who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a
father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though
they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the
father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy
seed be.
Romans 4:16ff (Spoke 1, Cycle 3)
| Spoke 1 KeyLink: A Father Of Many Nations | GenesisRomans |
With the election of Abraham and God's promise to make him the father of many
nations, the great paternal theme now moves from the divine to the human. Two
Aleph-theme words governing this aspect of the Wheel are אברהם
(Abraham) and אמנה
(Emunah, Faith). The name Abraham, (or more properly Avraham), means the
father of a multitude. This is the name God chose for the patriarch
of the House of Faith. Obviously, He intends His house to be well-filled.
The two verses quoted above are the only two verses in the Bible that speak
of Abraham as "a father of many nations". These verses therefore form
a unique KeyLink from Genesis to Romans on Spoke 1.
The dominance of the theme "Father Abraham" on Spoke 1 clearly manifests in the
distribution of verses throughout the Bible that contain the words Abraham (or Abram) and Father. As seen in
graph below, 53% of all occurrences of these verses are found on Spoke 1.
As with the distribution of the creation
words, the structure of the Wheel is verified by the global distribution of
words. We also see the correlation between Genesis and Romans in the follow partial
list of common elements that appear in Genesis and Romans. Except in the case of "In Isaac shall
thy seed be called", each of these
links is a KeyLink which appears no where else
in Scripture.
Cycle 1 |
Cycle 3 |
Common Element |
Genesis 15.5 |
Romans 4.18 |
so shall thy seed be |
Genesis 21.12 |
Romans 9.7 |
In Isaac shall thy seed be called |
Genesis 18.14 |
Romans 9.9 |
Sarah shall have a son |
Genesis 25.21 |
Romans 9.10 |
Rebecca conceived |
Genesis 25.23 |
Romans 9.12 |
The elder shall serve the younger |
Over thirty of the primary Spoke 1 links and KeyLinks are listed in the
Spoke Link Index.
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