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11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. ~ Romans 4:11-12
Today, we continue our study of Romans 4 where the Apostle Paul is in the middle of using the life of Abraham to show us that sinful man is only justified before God through faith in Christ. All who have ever chosen to place their faith in the God of the Bible are spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham. True worth and true value only come to those who have chosen to be defined by the gospel of God.
In v.11 of today's passage we read, "And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them."
Circumcision was used of God as a sign to Abraham pointing him toward the superior reality of being made right before God through his faith placed in the God of the Bible. Circumcision functioned as a seal or an external confirmation of the righteous standing Abraham had already received before God through his faith almost thirty years earlier. Abraham was declared righteous by faith before he was circumcised. The result is that he can be, and indeed is, the spiritual father of every Gentile who believes but has never been circumcised.
The moment Abraham chose to be defined by God he was made righteous in God's eyes. When God gave him the object lesson of circumcision many years after he had been justified, Abraham was continually reminded of the gift of being loved by God. Circumcision was given to Abraham to spur him on to allow God to make him a father of many. You and I have believed in Abraham's Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, and once we believed in the Lord Jesus, we became children of God.
What a change this makes in our orientation and in our motivation to life. Living life as a gift rather than something we earn changes everything. The disease of self is dealt a death blow in this context. And, as a result, we can relax and give God our lives and love on people without demanding anything in return. This is real freedom. This is what Christianity is all about.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised."
Life for us boils down to this: we are either being defined the culture of the devil or we are being defined by the culture of the God of the Bible. Abraham is our father and we are his descendants when we believe as he did in the God of the Bible. This is true for those who are circumcised and for those who are uncircumcised, Jew and Gentile. This means that both Jews and Gentiles are only made right before God by their faith in Him. It has always been faith, not rituals, that gains us access into a personal relationship with God. Abraham has always been the model of salvation by faith apart from any good work or behavior on our behalf. Abraham, once an uncircumcised Gentile became the father of the circumcised Jew so that all could be granted by God a heart for Him and His culture.
Circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign, a necessary picture, pointing to the desperate need of every sinner to have spiritual heart surgery. Circumcision was given to Abraham by God as an object lesson reminding him that his faith in the veracity of God was that which made him right before God. The teaching from circumcision is that only the righteousness of God can be credited to the one who believes only.
In Philippians 3:3 we read, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
The Scripture teaches us that the believer in Christ has been given the promised Holy Spirit to be the guarantee of our inheritance through Christ. Observing the Passover did not save anybody, it signified that God would save all those who believed in His promise of salvation through the blood of His Son. Through the Holy Spirit God circumcises the human heart and grants to all who believe in Him righteousness as He did with Abraham.
In the same sense, observing the Lord’s Supper does not save us. No, the Lord's Supper is a mere reminder of what the Lord Jesus did in order to save us. The Lord's Supper declares to us when we observe it that God has saved us by the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Baptism or the Lord's Supper does not save us. They just declare that God has made it possible for us to be made right with God by receiving the free gift of forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ God's only begotten Son.
