Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee
Spiritual parentage
I. The change of name here made was founded on a change of character.
II. His fatherhood of Isaac was in consequence of special Divine interposition; and the fact is confirmatory and illustrative of the teaching of a spiritual sonship, so often alluded to in the New Testament.
III. For faith-character he is made the father of the “faithful,” or the full-of-faith. Mere natural descent counts for nothing. Conclusions:
1. Faith is an inheritance.
2. Faith is the sign of our descent.
3. Faith may be transmitted. (The Homiletic Review.)
Abraham a father of many nations
“Abram the Hebrew” stands at the head of many a great stream of history, like the river of Eden which parted into four. Of the leading faiths of the world, there are three which cherish his name with equal veneration; and these three are the only monotheistic faiths. To the Jew, the Moslem, and the Christian alike, the prophet Abraham forms a common ancestor. Trace these three forms of belief to their fountainhead, and they meet in the tent of that ancient confessor, exiled in the dawn of the world for his faith in the unity of God. Divided in so much else, the Englishman and the Turk, the Moor and the Arab, the Catholic and the Jew, agree in deriving their spiritual, if not also their natural, descent from that primeval “friend of God.” Most literally has the promise of his new name been fulfilled. He has become a “father of many nations.” (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)