What does "walk before me, and be blameless" mean in Genesis 17:1?

God has ever been interested in the walk of His saints, desiring that His own character might be reflected in them, and that they might in this way be for His pleasure and glory while passing through the world. To Abraham God said, "I am the Almighty God: walk before my face, and be perfect" (Gen. 17:1). At all times Abraham was to be conscious that the eye of God was upon him, taking pleasure in all that was according to His mind and will; and he was to have the assurance in his heart that all the power of the Almighty would secure his protection and care for him. Abraham's life was to be in accord with the revelation that God was pleased to make of Himself to him, and nothing was to be seen in his walk that would be inconsistent with this revelation.

God is faithful to His word, and His grace abounds over failure, and gives further and deeper disclosures of Himself. Previously God had said, "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward;" what He was to and for Abram — Protector and Giver of blessings. Now He reveals Himself — a far more blessed thing: "I am El Shaddai." To this revelation is joined the precept, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect." When God was only giving promises, it was without this call to holy walking. When He reveals Himself, there must be holiness in the one to whom the revelation is given. True and peaceful knowledge of God is inseparable from holiness of life. Even confidence as to personal acceptance by the shed blood is shaken where there is a worldly walk. If we would have and enjoy the intimacies of communion by walking with God, we must also walk before Him in holiness. These two things cannot be sundered. God had brought Abram into communion with Himself, had revealed the condition of his children for four hundred years to come, and He would keep him in the enjoyment of this special place by a holy walk — "Be thou perfect." The promise is repeated, but the point of this scene is that Abram feels the presence of God Himself, and the power of His word. Mark the difference between being in presence of blessing, and in that of God. Great as the promised blessings were, we do not find Abram on his face. But now it is El Shaddai Himself talking and telling His name to Abram. What else could he do, but fall on his face and listen?

The word perfection is employed with reference to the three great revelations of God. For He made Himself known to Abraham as "the Almighty," to the Jews as "the Lord [Jehovah]," and to Christians as "the Father." God said to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1); which means, that he was to walk before God, always confiding in His almighty power. Abraham did not so, he failed in this respect; for he told a lie (Gen. 20:2), precisely because he did not confide in God's almighty power. Here, again, the passage has no reference to the sin which had descended to Abraham by nature; but it has to do with his acting in full confidence in the almighty power of God. In point of fact, Abraham still had sin, and therefore had a fall. It is said to the Israelites, "Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord [Jehovah] thy God," Deut. 18:13. Now this referred to their not imitating the abominations of the Canaanites in their idolatries; and not at all to the state of purification from all sin of this or that Israelite. The contrary is so true, that in the same book (Deut. 29:4) Moses tells them, "Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." It referred, therefore, solely to their faithfulness towards God in rejecting every species of idolatry.

It is not Abram now that presents what God had, as it were, suggested and drawn out of him, what was then in his heart, and what was of importance to be forced out because it was there. Far other things are here. Abram had been humbled, feeling his weakness and his foolishness, and Sarai's too. Accordingly God now, out of nothing but His own grace, unveils Himself in this special manner: "I am the Almighty God: walk before me and be thou perfect." If He was the Almighty God, it was not merely a question of enemies now. Not a single word is said about them. It would have been unsuitable at this time to have talked of putting down this or that people. They do not require God's almightiness to deal with them; and Abram had already counted on His power upon this fresh revelation of Himself; and surely not in vain. But He needed to be the Almighty God to bring about the blessedness He is here speaking of. The connection of El Shaddai, I repeat, is not with putting down foes, but, wonderful to say, with Abram's walk before Him! "Be thou perfect."

In early days, God Almighty set Himself before Abraham when Abraham had taken up confidence in Hagar, confidence in the flesh, confidence in something other than the all-sufficiency of God. "I am the Almighty God, walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1). This was a rebuke. Abraham was not then perfect in his generation. He had lost the power of the name or revelation of God. The state of his soul did not answer to that in God which was dispensed or made known to him. That is, Abraham was not perfect, failing in confidence when God was with him as the Almighty.

The Hagars and the Pharaohs, the bondmaids and the wealth of Egypt, are poor resorts for the Abrahams of God. But so it has been, and so it is, through the working of nature. But Abraham (we will now see for our comfort) is under God's eye, though led by Sarah's suggestions. God has His place in him as well as nature; and He will assert it for his restoring. He rises on his soul in a fresh revelation of Himself, demanding of His saint the fresh obedience of faith. "I am the almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." For Abraham's soul had lost this truth, the almightiness or the all-sufficiency of God. He had gone in to Hagar; he had taken up confidence in the flesh; he had left the ground he had stood upon in Gen. 15; but the Lord will not and cannot allow this; and therefore rises, in a renewed revelation of Himself, on the spirit of His saint; and it is a rising "with healing in its wings;" for Abraham falls on his face, convicted and abashed, and the soul is led again in paths of righteousness.

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD, walk before Me, and be thou perfect." Here was at once the effectual cure for all impatient anxiety. "I am Almighty" — I can quicken the dead — I can call those things that be not as though they were — I can, if needs be, raise up of stones, children to you — no flesh shall glory in My presence. "I am Almighty, walk before Me and be thou perfect."

We proceed a few chapters, and in Gen. 17 we find God saying to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect;" and I observe that when God thus calls upon Abraham, it is just before the fullest opening of the covenant which God makes with him; this covenant we find in the 12th, 13th, 15th, and 22nd chapters, but here we have it more enlarged, and sealed by the token of circumcision; here Isaac was promised and named, and here we find Abraham in the confidence of friendship, pleading for Ishmael, as in the next chapter for Sodom, and in Gen. 20 for Abimelech; but previous to all this, and, as it were, the preparation fitting for it, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect." Abraham might have replied, But, Lord, how can I - who is sufficient for these things? The answer is, "I am the Almighty God," even as it is afterwards the strength for difficult requirement. (2 Cor. 6:14-18.) This is God's first revelation of Himself under this name.

To continue man's subsequent history briefly and see what rule of life is before us in scripture — warnings, we know, were given, as by Enoch and Noah, but the scene after the fall ended in the flood. The power of evil in corruption and violence was judged. For them the knowledge of God (brought with them from the beginning), conscience, the testimony of these prophets, with the witness of God in the creation, was the rule by which they would be judged. So others, as the apostles, teach us after them. It is evident when God was revealed — as to Enoch — the true knowledge of God as far as given. in grace would guide. So with Abraham: the revelations God made to him of Himself, realized by faith, would form the guide and rule of his conduct. "I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect." Conscience surely was there, but the original and constant revelations of God impressed their character on his walk by faith. All these are partial revelations. Yet it was thus the elders obtained a good report; they walked by faith.

Surely Old Testament men of faith are already called "perfect," such as Noah (Gen. 6:9) and Job (Job 1:1); Abram was encouraged by God to "walk before Me, and be. perfect" (Gen. 17:1). And yet these men were not "perfect." They had their weak points and sinned, but they had the deep desire in their hearts to live honestly and blamelessly before God and men. This practical perfection is talked about here. It is only possible through the complete deliverance of faith. The Lord Jesus here presents His disciples such a life of deliverance as the aim of His practical teachings. In this the apostle Paul later followed Him by writing to the Corinthians: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," and to the Ephesians: "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" (1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1).