At this point in our study of Romans, someone will surely be thinking, “Paul, you are riding a good horse to death!” ‘You have ridden this horse of justification by faith alone until it is exhausted. Surely, there’s nothing more to add to what you’ve already stated!’
Perhaps it would seem this way. Yet if this doctrine is the linchpin of our Faith, if the church “rises and falls” on it, then we would be wise to consider it from every angle. And so the Apostle does just that, answering questions that come from his imaginary interlocutor. Yet his questions are not imaginary questions. Standing firmly on justification by faith alone invites an onslaught of questions and objections. The mind naturally finds faith alone as the way to God offensive. Surely there’s something that we can do to achieve right standing with God!
“No, nothing at all,” the Apostle has shown over and over. Yet the mind at enmity with God still battles against relying upon the righteousness of Christ alone as the ground of acceptance with God.
To clarify that justification by faith alone is not a new-fangled doctrine dreamed up by the apostle, Paul goes back to the Old Testament. Of course, that was his Bible since the New Testament did not exist at this point. He starts with Abraham as the father of faith to demonstrate that all that come to God are saved in the very same way as Abraham. The statement from Genesis 15:6 is key—with Paul repeating it throughout Romans 4: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (4:3). He has shown us that this kind of faith excludes boasting (4:2), excludes works as the means to righteousness (4:5), epitomizes the blessing of God (4:6), receives the forgiveness of sins (4:7), and clears the believer’s account of sin (4:8).
‘Well, if it is not by works that this righteousness is received then surely it is due to one’s religious upbringing or heritage or practice!’
Not that either! To answer this objection, Paul again returns to Abraham and investigates something of a “timeline” in his life to help us understand that justification by faith alone has always been the way to God. Just as with Abraham, God credits faith in Christ as righteousness. But who is justification by faith for?
The “blessing” or the true happiness of forgiveness of sins and a clear account before God has been credited “apart from works” (4:6). So, someone begins to question, ‘If it is not by works that God gives this blessing then surely it is due to one’s religious heritage.’ That objection hit the streets early in the days of the First Missionary Journey. After Paul and Barnabas had preached the gospel in the Galatian region (modern Turkey), zealots appeared, troubling the new converts into thinking that they were not truly converted unless they had been circumcised. “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved,” they taught (Acts 15:1). Paul and Barnabas debated with these zealots, better known to us as Judaizers, and eventually traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders concerning this issue (15:2). What has become known to us as “The Jerusalem Council” settled the matter that circumcision is unnecessary for justification.
At least it seemed to settle the matter! The Epistle to the Romans continues to deal with the fallacy that justification belongs to the circumcised alone, even though eight years earlier the leaders in the church spoke authoritatively on it. Yet, just as many other doctrinal matters have been clearly addressed and authoritatively answered in previous centuries, false teaching continues to recycle itself.
So the question is asked, “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?” Paul had used Abraham as an example of how God justifies through faith alone. Jews would have called his hand at that point, not only to claim that Abraham worked for this righteousness—which Paul has already rebutted (4:1-5), but also to claim that this “blessing” belonged only to those in Abraham’s lineage. Since God justified Abraham by faith then surely God’s only concern is for Abraham’s heirs and not for the Gentile world—or so some thought.
Paul has two specific things in mind by his question and response. First, he debunks any consideration of Jewish superiority and Gentile inferiority. Most Jews in his day thought that God was for them and against the Gentiles; and even that their religion belonged only to those biologically related to Abraham. His answer ultimately contains a missionary declaration for the church. God shows grace to the circumcised but also to the uncircumcised—the Gentile. And, as the Jerusalem Council affirmed, a Gentile does not need to become a Jew in order to be accepted by God. The living God created Jew and Gentile; and as Redeemer, He saves Jews and Gentiles through the righteousness of Christ.
Second, he debunks the belief that circumcision gave a person a spiritual edge before God or that circumcision equaled justification. Many Jews would have thought that they belonged to God because they had the sign of circumcision in their flesh just as many Catholics and Protestants think that they belong to God because of their baptism or church membership. Any reliance on religious heritage or signs or experiences leaves a person in their sins.
How does Paul answer this question? Very simply, he repeats what he had already quoted from Genesis 15:6, though he alters the wording slightly to get the point across: “For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness”.” It was not his circumcision—that came years later or his heritage or any experiences that justified him. He believed God and God credited that faith as righteousness. Nothing was said of righteousness being the result of fathering the Jewish nation. Faith alone served as the means for this divine declaration by which Abraham found forgiveness and acceptance with God.
Paul’s questioner was not satisfied. “How then was it credited?” What kind of condition was Abraham living in for God to accept his faith as righteousness? Or even more precisely, what did Abraham do for God to accept his faith as righteousness? Is that not a question that many ask in some way or another?
‘Yes, I will have faith in Christ but I know that I have to do certain things and make certain changes to my life before I can have faith in Christ.’ ‘Maybe God will accept me if I will join the church and be baptized.’
That seems to be what was running through the minds of those questioning the Apostle’s teaching on justification by faith alone. They heard the call to believe the gospel of Christ but still hung on to the idea that they had to do something before God would accept them by faith alone.
Paul’s response is really a question of whether God accepted Abraham’s faith before or after his circumcision. Was it in Genesis 17, when Abraham heard God’s command to be circumcised, that he found God’s favor? Or was it earlier in Genesis 15, when God met him in grace and promised him an heir that he believed? “How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised…” The Jew thought that God accepted him because he was circumcised but Paul makes it clear by quoting from Genesis 15:6, that God accepted Abraham at least 14 years before his circumcision (some of the Jewish scholars claimed the period between Genesis 15 and 17 was 29 years) [Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, 202; fn. 41]. Even though he was uncircumcised, Abraham received the righteousness of God by faith. That would have almost choked a Jew who had not thought through on the chronology of Abraham’s justification before God! God saved him while he was still an uncircumcised Gentile.
Therefore, God’s interest is not chiefly whether one is circumcised or not; what matters is God meeting a sinner with grace so that the sinner turns to Him in faith. The living God is not impressed with how religious you are or with your heritage or your baptism or what church you attend. None of that wins you favor with Him. Until, like Abraham, you believe God’s revelation of righteousness in His Son, then you remain in your sins and under His wrath.
The obvious question then arises, ‘What is the point, then, of Abraham’s circumcision?’
“Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised…”
Keeping in mind that righteousness by faith came first, Abraham obeyed God’s command to be circumcised some 14 years after his justification by faith. Paul calls it “the sign of circumcision.” A “sign” is a distinguishing mark or an indicator. It is not the thing itself but it serves to point to it. For instance, as we travel east this afternoon for Nick Campbell’s ordination service, we will see a number of signs indicating the distance to Jackson. The sign is not Jackson; it only points toward Jackson or indicates that it is nearer.
Paul explains what he means by using “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised” as an appositive that further defines the reason for circumcision. A “seal” in the ancient world was used to authenticate or validate or attest to the certainty of something. Letters would contain wax seals with the distinctive mark of the writer. We do the same thing. A passport has the seal of the United States that authenticates the identity of the bearer. The seal is not the bearer but only attests to his identity.
Abraham’s circumcision, then, is not the same as the righteousness credited to him. Rather, when as a ninety-nine year old man he was circumcised, it signaled the seriousness of his faith in the Lord; it authenticated the righteousness that God had imputed to him through faith. Here is the only place in Scripture that “seal” is used of circumcision. Fred Malone points out that this solitary use regards Abraham’s righteousness through faith rather than circumcision serving as a seal of righteousness for others that are circumcised. “In other words, circumcision was a seal, not of every member of the Abrahamic Covenant, but of the salvation experience, or personal faith, of Abraham alone” [The Baptism of Disciples Alone, 119].
What is the seal of the believer’s faith in Christ? It is not circumcision or baptism but rather the indwelling Holy Spirit. “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Cor. 1:21-22). “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13-14).
Doug Moo comments, “Circumcision, therefore, has no independent value. It cannot effect one’s entrance into the people of God; nor does it even “mark” a person as belonging to God’s people apart from a prior justifying act” [NICNT: Romans, 269]. Circumcision meant absolutely nothing apart from Abraham’s faith in the Lord to justify him. God did not accept Abraham because he was circumcised but rather because he “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3).
Suppose that as many of us drive to Jackson this afternoon, as we go out Interstate 40 past Brownsville, we see a sign indicating the distance remaining to Jackson. So we stop at the sign, get out, and look for the church where we will be worshiping. Of course it will not be there. The sign only points to the reality; it is not the reality itself. Yet far too many people find satisfaction in the “sign” rather than the reality that the sign points to.
That happened with circumcision. Rather than seeing it as a sign pointing to righteousness by faith, many saw it as an end in itself. Instead of trusting the Lord for righteousness, they just trusted the sign of circumcision as the foundation of their acceptance by God. What Paul infers is that God never accepted anyone because he was circumcised.
We see the same thing in relationship to baptism. Many view baptism during infancy as the end-all of their acceptance by God. Because they were baptized then they are safe. Others that would reject infant baptism consider baptism in adolescence or even adulthood as the ground of their acceptance by God. Because they have been knowingly baptized—unlike the infant’s baptism—they consider themselves safe before God. Paul’s whole argument building to this point is that no one is safe before God’s wrath against sin apart from imputed righteousness. Whether circumcision or baptism, neither can impute the righteousness needed before God.
So upon what do you rely for acceptance with God? Is it your baptism—whether as an infant or adolescent or even an adult? Or do you rely upon Christ alone as your righteousness before God?
What’s the point, then, of Paul’s argument concerning the timeline in Abraham’s justification before God? The primary point is that God accepts us and imputes the righteousness of His Son to us only through the instrumentality of faith. Abraham epitomizes righteousness by faith so that he is called the father of the faith. It’s not that he by-passed faith or that it originated with him; that’s Paul’s point. He did not by-pass faith alone or develop it but found acceptance with God only when he believed, relying upon the character and promise of God to save him and declare him righteous.
So God credited Abraham’s faith as righteousness “while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them.” Here is the good news of the gospel! God does not require Gentiles to become Jews or to take on distinctly Jewish rituals in order to be saved. Salvation is not about swapping cultural or ethnic identities. It is all about righteousness—not a righteousness that one achieves through works but one that God credits to sinners who believe in the crucified and risen Christ. God gave the pattern in Abraham; that’s why he is termed “the father of all who believe.” One need not identify with him biologically or ethnically for righteousness. Such righteousness is not found in Abraham so that he can pass it to other; nor is it found in rituals given to Abraham that identified his biological heirs. Rather the same righteousness of God that Abraham needed, we need; and just as he believed God and God credited his faith as righteousness, the Lord does the same for all those that believe God’s provision of righteousness in Christ.
Paul adds yet another layer to Abraham as the father of faith—this one concerns those who are biological descendants. “That he might be…the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.” Notice how the Apostle links both Gentiles and Jews as spiritual descendants of Abraham. It has nothing to do with the mark of circumcision. They why circumcision? Stephen Wellum explains, “In the contexts of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, the primary purpose of circumcision was to mark out a physical seed in preparation for the coming Messiah…First, circumcision marked out a national entity…Second, circumcision marked out a male line of descent from Abraham to David to Christ” [Tom Schreiner & Shawn Wright, editors, Believer’s Baptism: A Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, 155]. Consequently, when Christ came, circumcision’s role was fulfilled, and its significance as an entry point into the physical membership of the covenant community ended. It never imputed righteousness. It never saved anyone. But it signaled belonging to a particular people who anticipated God’s promise of Messiah. One entered into the true covenant community—one that is spiritual and eternal—through faith alone.
The Apostle indicates that circumcision alone did not make one a true part of the covenant community. He had to “follow the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.” “Follow the steps” was a term indicating walking in single file behind someone. So it was not those that were circumcised like Abraham that are his true heirs but those who follow in the steps of his faith that he had while still uncircumcised. It’s not simply a decision but a walk of faith—a steady progression in dependence upon Christ alone. As Paul told the Galatians, “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (6:15). It’s not the rituals that matter; it’s the work of God in the heart through faith.
Whether Gentile or Jew, we need the righteousness of God, and that’s a righteousness that we cannot earn or achieve or do enough rituals to merit. It comes through faith in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ. Is your trust in Him alone?
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