Gal 3:7-9

Like an unexpected guest at a party, Abraham seems to turn up in the New Testament in places where you dont really expect to find him. We will see this again in the next paragraph, but the point is worth making twice, when the NT seems to head off in an unexpected direction it's not the NT that's wrong! Our thinking about the gospel is often muddled and when we are surprised it is a good chance for us to have our thinking straightened out a bit.

Abraham was introduced in this chapter in v. 6, apparantly as an example of someone who was made right with God (justified) by faith not works.
v. 7 - to be a son of Abraham was a great boast of the Jewish peoples. Racially they are the children of Abraham and the Gentiles are not. However, theologically or in terms of salvation being the children of Abraham is not about race, but about faith. Those who exercise faith in Jesus Christ, portrayed as crucified, become the children of Abraham.
v. 8 - in this verse Paul asserts, without giving us chapter and verse references, that the Scriptures have foretold God's purposes to make the Gentiles right with him through faith. We are pointed to Gen 12:3, the great promise that in Abraham all the nation of the earth would be blessed. In this context the blessing refered to here can only be that of being made right with God by faith.
v. 9 - the same blessing promised to Abraham, and enjoyed by Abraham, is now offered to all, Jew and Gentile alike, is now enjoyed by all, Jew and Gentile alike. This fundamental distinction between the Jews and everyone else is destroyed by the gospel which reaches through and beyond such divisions.

Why is Abraham of such importance to Paul? What is faith in these verses?