Does Acts 7 Contradict Genesis 12?

This Sunday at our church, we had the privilege of thinking about God’s call of Abram in Genesis 12:1-5. We reflected on how Genesis portrays Abram as a new Adam through whom God would bring blessing to the world, ultimately through Jesus.

However, in studying the early chronology of Abraham’s family, some issues come up when we consider how Stephen relates the story of Abraham in Acts 7:2-4.

In Acts 7, Stephen is standing trial for his preaching about Jesus. The Jews accused Stephen of speaking against the temple and the Law, but Stephen walks them through the history of Israel in the Old Testament to show them that (1) their ancestors consistently rejected God’s chosen prophets like they were now rejecting Jesus and (2) God has never really been confined to a physical temple building.

He begins with Abraham and shows that he believes in the promises of God and that God is faithful to his promises. Stephen declares:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.” (Acts 7:2-4)

Stephen’s summary of Abraham’s call appears to contradict Moses’s account in Genesis 11:26-12:4 in two places.

First, Stephen says that God appeared to Abraham before he lived in Haran. But in the Genesis account, it seems that Terah and his family left Ur (i.e., Mesopotamia), settled in Haran, and then God appeared to Abraham (Genesis 11:31-12:1). Thus, the Genesis account suggests that God appeared to Abraham in Haran, but Stephen says God appeared to Abraham before he lived in Haran.

Is this a contradiction? I don’t think so. It is possible that Stephen believes that Genesis 11:31-32 and Genesis 12:1-3 are not arranged chronologically. Genesis 12:1-3 does not actually say that God spoke to Abraham in Haran. Thus, Genesis 12:1-3 may jump backwards some years in the narrative to before Abraham journeyed to Haran.^[1] Genesis 12:4, however, does seem to link God’s words in 12:1-3 and Abram’s departure from Haran in 12:4-5, suggesting that God called Abram when he was in Haran, which weakens this interpretation.

Another possibility is that Stephen believes that God spoke to Abraham in Ur with similar promises before repeating them again when Abraham was living in Haran. Throughout Abraham’s life, God repeats his promises time and time again. So it is reasonable to conclude that Genesis 12:1-3 may not be the first time God had summoned Abraham to go to Canaan and receive these promises.

Other OT passages support this reading. For example, later in Genesis, God declares to Abraham, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Gen 15:7). Here, God claims that it was he who brought Abraham out of Ur, though no mention of this is made in Genesis 11. Stephen seems to follow this interpretation by claiming that God spoke to Abraham while he was in Ur.^[2] Thus, there is no real contradiction here. Stephen is simply sharing an interpretation of Abraham’s life that lines up with Genesis 15:7.

However, Stephen also says that Abraham left Haran after his father (Terah) died. But Genesis 11:26-12:4 seems to suggest that Terah was still alive when Abraham left Haran. In Genesis 11:26, Moses reports that Terah was 70 years old when he started having sons, with Abram listed first. Then, in 11:32, he tells us that Terah lived to be 205 years old and died in Haran. And in Genesis 12:4, we learn that Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran, which means that Terah would have been (only!) 145 years old when Abraham left Haran.

Yet, Stephen says that Abraham didn’t leave Haran until Terah died. Is Stephen mangling the text? Is he assuming a detail that isn’t in Genesis? Is there a contradiction here? Again, I don’t think so.

One solution is that Abraham wasn’t actually Terah’s oldest son. In this case, Genesis 11:26 tells us when Terah started having sons (maybe Haran was the firstborn?), but it doesn’t tell us when Abraham was born. He may have been born 60 years later and is mentioned first simply because he was the most prominent of Terah’s sons, not because he was the oldest.

Another possible solution is that Stephen is following a specific Jewish tradition about Abraham and Terah and/or a variant text of Genesis 11:32 (where Terah’s age at his death is listed). In fact, the Samaritan Pentateuch (the Bible of the Samaritans) reports that Terah died when he was 145 years old. Another Jewish author, Philo (writing around the time of Jesus), also suggests that Abraham left Haran after Terah died. This may have been a common interpretation of the time, possibly backed by a Greek translation of Genesis that Greek-speaking Jews like Stephen were familiar with.^[3]

Either way, Stephen isn’t mangling Genesis. Most likely, he is simply following the chronology he and his audience were most familiar with. He is trying to show his fellow Jews that he believes the promises God gave to their forefathers. He is not blaspheming the forefathers of their faith, much less their God (Acts 6:11).

Stephen reminded his audience that God brought Abraham out of Ur, and God removed Abraham from Haran. It was all the work of God. God is faithful to keep his promises, even though his people so often rejected God’s prophets and messengers until they even betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, their Messiah (Acts 7:52).

Untangling these alleged contradictions matters because many object to Christianity due to their insistence that the Bible is full of contradictions and can’t be trusted. Yet, pointing out supposed problems in the text can simply be a cover or an excuse for rejecting Jesus. In the end, what matters most is how we are responding to God, his promises, and his Promised One, Jesus. That’s the central point in Genesis 12:1-5. That was Stephen’s point too in Acts 7.

When all of the alleged contradictions are examined and weighed, we can agree with Christian apologist Justin Martyr from the second century who wrote, “I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another.”^[4] And, most importantly, we should trust in the Savior and Lord that all of Holy Scripture leads us to.

Allen Ross argues for this in Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, 258.↩︎
Darrell Bock, Acts, BECNT, 282–83.↩︎
Bock, Acts, 284; Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, NICOT, 366–68.↩︎
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chap. 65, https://www.logoslibrary.org/justin/trypho/065.html.↩︎

Are You Hungry for God’s Word?

This week I received an email with a profound question: what does it mean to be hungry for God’s Word and how can I feel this way? Most of us would agree that a hunger for the Bible is a healthy hunger. But what does this actually mean and how do we develop a deeper appetite for the Word of God?

What Does It Mean to Have a Hunger for God’s Word?

A hunger for the Word of God is all about sensing our need for God’s truth. It is a longing to know God’s truth more so that it changes us. A hunger for God’s Word means we want God and his truth to shape how we live on a daily basis.

We see a hunger and a longing for God and his Word in the Bible itself, especially in Psalm 119. I’d encourage you to read the whole Psalm (it’s long but worth the read). Here are a few snippets that reveal a healthy hunger for God’s truth.

“My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.” (Psalm 119:20)

“Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97)

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)

Notice how the author of the Psalm longs for God’s rules (his truth, his Word), he loves it and thinks about it all the time, and he finds God’s words “sweet”. They are good and nourishing to his soul. He knows and feels his need for God’s truth. He longs to know more of the goodness and delight found in God’s truth.

Ultimately, a hunger for God’s Word is a hunger for God. God has spoken to us through the Bible, his Word. It is the primary way we come to know him as followers of Jesus. Thus, a hunger for God’s Word should be a hunger to know and love God more by dwelling on his truth conveyed in the Bible.

We want him. And we want to love him more. And we want to live his way. So, we come to the Bible and read it with open hands ready to receive whatever God might give us to satisfy our souls.

How Do We Grow in Our Hunger for God’s Word?

The reality of the Christian life is that we may not always feel a hunger for God’s Word. Developing an appetite for the Word can take time, and it may ebb and flow. Our hunger for God’s truth will have high points and low points. There is no magic strategy to make yourself feel this hunger. It comes to us from God himself and often grows or shrinks depending on our daily habits.

So here are four practices for growing your appetite for God’s Word.

1. Pray and Ask God for a Deeper Hunger

The first step to growing in a hunger for God is by praying and asking God for a deeper hunger for his Word. Ask God: Help me to long to read the Bible and find it sweet and good and lovely. Help me to love your Word and think about it all the time. Give me a deep yearning for you and your truth.

Confess to God that you don’t often feel this way: God, I don’t hunger for you and your truth as I should. Help me to develop a fiercer craving to read and live out your Word.

2. Take Small Steps to Encounter God’s Word Every Day

Then, take small steps to encounter God’s Word every day. Set aside a time every day to read a small portion of the Bible. And small can be key. If you aren’t reading the Bible on a regular basis, start with just a few verses or a chapter.

Turn off distractions (i.e., put your phone in another room) and spend a few minutes reading. As you read, ask yourself what this teaches you about God or how it might point you to who Jesus is.

Make a start to developing a greater desire for the Word by reading the Word daily. Our habits shape our appetites, so make a habit of being in the Bible everyday.

3. Chew on What You Read

As you read God’s Word make sure you are “chewing on it”. That’s what “meditation” on God’s Word means. Meditation is concentration on God’s truth for the good of your soul, to satisfy your soul with God’s nourishing truth. It’s simply taking time to slowly think about what God’s Word means.

Once again, asking good questions is critical. Chew on the Word by asking what it teaches you about God, how it might call you to change your actions, how it encourages you to trust in Jesus, how it leads you to confess sin, and so on.

4. Read God’s Word in Community

Finally, read God’s Word in community with other believers. Make every effort to be in church regularly to hear the teaching and preaching of God’s Word. Find friends who can hold you accountable in reading God’s Word. Ask a friend to ask you once a week: What was something God taught you through his Word this week?

God designed us to read and hear his Word with others. Our hunger will grow as we seek God’s truth with other followers of Jesus.

These thoughts are just a start, but I hope they get you thinking about what you are hungry for. Are you hungry for God and his Word? Or are you trying to fill the emptiness of your soul with entertainment, relationships, money, or something else? Only God can satisfy your soul through his Son, Jesus Christ. Getting hungry for God’s Word starts with repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus Christ alone to save us and satisfy us.

Are you hungry for God’s truth? Confess the idolatry of your appetites, trust in Christ alone, and get in the Bible to grow your appetite for the sweetness of God’s truth.

Reading Slowly in a Hasty Age

“When I get a little money, I buy books, and if I have any left over I buy food and clothes.” I have always resonated with this statement from 16th century Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus. I love books. Reading is one of the most valuable disciplines and joys in life. It is vital to feeding and clothing the mind and soul.

While I enjoy purchasing new books, I must also admit that I have many books on my shelves that I have not read—more books than I’ll be able to get through in the next several years. Many are for reference, some are beneficial for a quick read-through, and others need deeper thought and reflection. Add to this the hundreds of books I have digitally on Kindle or Bible software, and I have a wealth of books to feast on for many years to come.

With so many books to read and so little time, those of us who love to read can be sucked into valuing reading speed and reading quantity over reading quality. The goal can become to read a certain number of books a year, when it should be enjoying good books and being formed by the best books.

We can go so fast and pound our way through book after book, when we should be slowing down, reflecting, and chewing on what we’re reading. Especially as we read for learning and spiritual growth, we often need to slow down and read less, not necessarily more. We need to take time in our Bible reading to meditate on the text more than to meet a goal of reading the Bible in a year (as valuable as that is).

Thomas Brooks, a pastor in the 17th century, put it well:

“Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bees touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.”

If hasty reading was a problem for the Puritans, it is more so today, especially in our digital context. Our digital age conditions us for passive consumption more than active learning. It forms us to prize quick skimming and synthesis over deep thinking and serious meditation. The increasing ubiquity of AI may lead some to think that sitting down and reading a book for information and learning is an antiquated pursuit. We live in an age of speed and efficiency, where slowing down can seem impossible. But slow down we must, if we want to be formed through reading and not just gulp down books.

One way to slow down is to read physical copies of books and read minimally from a device. Purchase the print version before the digital version. For your Bible intake, grab a printed copy of Scripture instead of pulling out your phone. I own and use (and enjoy) reading on a Kindle, but for serious meditation and deep reading, holding a print copy usually forces me to slow down. I remember more of what I read. I can get a better sense of the whole book with a print copy and review it more thoroughly.

Reading a print copy also allows for better note-taking in the book itself. Digital note-taking is doable and some may prefer it. There are benefits to reading a digital copy and saving highlights easily. But once again, faster and easier are not necessarily always better for long term learning and growth. Physically underlining a sentence or writing a short note requires you to slow down and be more intentional instead of highlighting every interesting passage. It makes you pause, reflect, and think, not just consume passively.

There are certainly many times we should read quickly. If you skimmed this article, I don’t blame you. You still probably got the gist and maybe received some food for thought. At other times, we might read too slowly and too sleepily or sporadically that we gain little from it. Or we may read inferior books too slowly and miss out on better books. But when we read good books for growth, we all could benefit from slowing down a little. Especially when we read the Book God has given us, his perfect and inerrant Word, we must prize serious mediation over hasty reading.

To sum it up in the words of Mortimer J. Adler, “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through you—how many you can make your own. A few friends are better than a thousand acquaintances.”