In Gen 12:2, we read the following:
And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.
A number of critics of Protestant theology have argued that the "blessing" of Abraham represents an initial justification given to Abraham, supporting the concept of progressive justification.
A related text is Gen 22:17:
I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the heaven and as the sand that is in the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies. (NRSV)
That this text supports progressive justification can be seen in the fact that the Bible uses "bless" as a reference to one being justified, as clearly seen in Gal 3:8-9:
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
In this passage, the "blessing" of the Gentiles is clearly that of justification, as they would be "blessed with faithful Abraham." Had Paul used "to then they which be of faith are justified with faithful Abraham," it would have had the same meaning.
In vv.6-7, Paul previously wrote the following:
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted for him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
In these passages, both Gen 12:3--the passage that records Abraham's encounter with God many years before Gen 15:6, and the event that the author of Hebrews (11:8) claims Abraham had "saving faith," as well as 15:6 are quoted, demonstrating the progressive nature of justification by showing that these events were viewed by Paul as representing the same process as when God blessed Abraham in Gen 12:2, and then likewise to bless and justify the Gentiles as he had just blessed and justified Abraham.
Gal 3:14 reinforces this truth:
That the blessing of Abraham might come on to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Here again, Paul couples the blessing given to Abraham with justification, albeit using a synonym for justification ("the promise of the Spirit"). Thus, Paul considers the blessing given to Abraham in Gen 12:2 is (salvific) justification.
Further Reading
