4:9
“Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised?”
Is God’s blessedness, or happiness, which David just described, for only Jews, or can Gentiles get in on this? He doesn’t use those two terms though. He is making a point. Is a man made right and happy with God at the moment he meets the legal requirement of entrance into Judaism, namely circumcision? What if he is born Jewish but for some reason has not been circumcised? Or more to the point, what if he will never be circumcised because he was born in some other nation? This man can never be blessed, or happy?
“For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.”
Okay, we have established from the Scripture that Abraham was made righteous before God simply by believing what God said, from his heart. As David said, Abraham had his lawless deeds forgiven. Abraham’s sins were covered. Sin was suddenly not imputed to our father Abraham. He heard from God, believed God, and God made him right, and very happy in the process. He was a blessed man. So the serious question is,
4:10
“How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?”
Paul pushes the Jewish mind into a corner. Gentlemen of the Council, I ask you, when was it exactly that God justified our father Abraham? At what part of his life could he wake up and say, “I am a friend of God. I am free from sin and guilt. I have broken the bonds of my old life and am now free to experience all that Heaven has to offer.” When? Before or after he complied with the outward ceremony?
255
Then he answers the question, and may every Jew or Christian wannabe, take note:
“Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.”
What silence in the courtroom! Abraham made right before a holy God while he was still essentially a pagan? Before he became officially a Jew?
Paul would say, Not so! Because “official” Jewishness, says Paul earlier, is in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Point already established. Paul became a true Jew when He and God had that encounter of God speaking and Abraham believing. He became an outward Jew later.
Saved without the ceremony. Saved without doing. What religion offers such a thing? If the Jews had read the fine print, they could have seen that they were offered such a salvation. Paul is reading the fine print for them. And of course we are offered such a deal too.
Unfortunately, much of what is called Christian is not aware of this offer. For them, there is a place called purgatory. And with a lot of work or a lot of money you can get your relatives moved an inch or two closer to heaven. Go to the Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico, for example. Crawl on your hands and knees for a quarter of a mile, go into the shrine, light a candle, and voila! a soul’s sentence in Purgatory is lessened. What is Purgatory like, you ask? Who knows? But it is an awful place, where you pay for the sins you committed here, even though Jesus paid the price in full for anyone who will call on His Name.
Saved without doing. What religion has it? Not the Hindus. Follow the holy worshiping men of the Hindu faith, watch them sit on beds of nails, walk over broken glass, lie down on hot coals, piercing their tongues so they can never talk again, or staring at the sun until they are blinded, or holding their arms up for years at a time until they are useless. They do all
256
this to please some of their gods. Others are told that simply to bathe in a certain river will take them to heaven.
(Thanks to Macarthur for those insights.)
How did you find favor with God? Simple. He found favor with you in Christ, called you to Himself, changed you, and brought you along day by day, all by grace. It was a God thing, not a you thing.
Saved without doing. That’s us. Jews, actually saved without circumcision.
So why the circumcision to begin with? Why go on, if in God’s sight the deal is already done? That’s the point of verse 11:
But first, the Jewish answer of Paul’s day, against which he was fighting: The Jews were convinced that circumcision was the ticket in, and the security of their future. In their Book of Jubilees (15:25ff) we read, “… every one that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongs not to the children of the covenant… he belongs to the children of destruction… he is destined to be destroyed and slain from the earth.”
A Jewish commentary by a Rabbi Menachem states, “…no circumcised man will ever see hell…”
Other Jewish sources: The Jalkut Rubem , “Circumcision saves from hell.” The book Akedath Jizehak, “Abraham sits before the gate of hell, and does not allow that any circumcised Israelite should enter there.”
It was a strong belief. And Christian Jews had trouble letting go of it. That’s why the council of Acts 15 took place, where the church once and for all, thanks to this apostle, decided that circumcision and the whole Jewish Mosaic ceremonial law, was not to be bound on Christians for salvation.
257
Paul declared Christian people, Jew or Gentile, to be the true circumcision, of which the original fleshly thing was only a symbol. We worship in the Spirit of God, not in dead rites. He said that if you receive circumcision as a means to salvation, you are in fact fallen from grace. You are not depending on God’s grace to save you, but something else. Only grace saves.
What about baptism? Or some other sacrament? Are these not necessary for salvation? Do we have to deal today with the same issue Paul was dealing with in circumcision? Yes, a new Judaism has arisen!
Romanism gradually became the main philosophy of the church after its first centuries. Slowly but surely God’s people were brought back into the bondage of a works salvation. Rome claims we are saved by grace, but in practice this is denied. In practice, one cannot be saved without the Roman rites administered.
The Catholic Catechism claims that a sacrament is something perceptible to the senses which can effect sanctity, make you holy, and give you grace, without faith. You deny that? Then you are condemned by the sixteenth-century Council of Trent. Here is the statement:
“If anyone denies that by the grace [note the deception here] of our Lord Jesus Christ which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted… let him be anathema.” Cursed, for believing that baby baptism does not save you.
Dr. Ott, a Catholic scholar with Rome’s approval, says, “Baptism effects the forgiveness of all punishment of sin, both of the eternal and the temporal… baptism is necessary for salvation.”
(Thanks again to Macarthur for the preceding research.)
So there you have it. Just as in circumcision, an authority figure stands before you and says, “You must be baptized. And when you are baptized,
258
whether you believe or not, you are saved.” A physical act produces an infusion of grace, and approval from God, and entrance into the New and everlasting Covenant.
No. Saved without doing. Baptism is important, necessary for your obedience. But not to enter in. Circumcision for the Jew was important, necessary for his obedience. But not to enter in to God’s justifying favor.
So why circumcision to begin with? Verse 11.
4:11
“And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised…”
Did you catch the two reasons for circumcision? (read it again) Circumcision is a sign and a seal.
The sign of circumcision. It was the racial mark of identity of the Jewish people. The signal that this man was in covenant relationship to the one true God who had called Abraham out of paganism. We use the term, “outward sign of an inward grace.” Unfortunately, the grace was not always there, even when the sign was. That’s the problem of all outward signs. Physical events do not guarantee spiritual events. You may have been baptized as a child, quite against your will, and your parents or your church will say, See, our son was baptized, he’s in the family. The Jew could say of the sign, See, he’s one of us.
Now if racial identity was the only reason a non-Jew might be circumcised, Paul has no quarrel with it. He saw to it that Timothy, Timotheus, his half Greek, half Jew disciple, was circumcised, to give him the acceptability he needed in the Jewish community. Not to save him or make him an inner, true, Jew. Only God’s circumcision of the heart, can do that.
259
Notice that the Jews in the wilderness did not receive circumcision. A rebellious stiff-necked people cannot receive an outward sign. They are not covenant people on the inside, why try to fool one another?
But when their hearts were changed, and they determined to follow God, and God’s grace was upon them, and the people came into their inheritance, then the circumcision. Notice the order: inheritance first, circumcision follows.
God’s presence first, then baptism. The Holy Ghost falls on Cornelius’ family. Then comes baptism, proving that no matter when baptism comes, it is not the agent of salvation. These Gentiles were approved of God before the water.
The other reason for circumcision: the seal of righteousness.
Seal and sign could be used a bit interchangeably, but as Macarthur points out, where a sign points to something, a seal guarantees it. Circumcision pointed to their identity and their covenant relationship, but it was also God’s stamp of approval, the indication of Abraham’s righteousness.
Theoretically a good Jew would see that physical operation as a reminder of how Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him as righteousness. The seal of approval.
But human nature is human nature, whether an uncircumcised Gentile or a circumcised Jew. When that nature turned against God in Israel, Jeremiah had to declare to the people (9:24-26):
‘ “Behold the days are coming’ declares the Lord, ‘that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised – Egypt, and Judah, and Edom….for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.’ ”
But the big point Paul is making here does not have to do with circumcision of body or heart. It has to do with salvation. Imputation.
260
Justification. When do these things take place and how? The message is clear. Abraham had God’s righteousness before he was circumcised.
That means, says Paul, that this Abraham, God’s chosen man of (now) four thousand years ago, is the father of all those who will one day be called the people of God.
“that he might be the father of all those who believe,”
Abraham is mentioned in eleven of the New Testament’s twenty-seven books. And in most of those he is called “father.”
Though it was a false claim, according to Jesus, the Jews claimed Abraham as their father. “We have Abraham for a father.” (Matthew and Luke) In Luke 15, the rich man of one of Jesus’ stories sees Abraham afar off, already joined by Lazarus, and calls to him, “Father, Abraham, have mercy!” In John the Jews again declare that “Abraham is our Father,” and Jesus, with the insight that is now being given to Paul, says, “If Abraham were your father, you would do the works of Abraham.” No, your Daddy is the devil.
But here in Romans, Paul sets the record straight. Yes, Abraham is the father of the Jews in a fleshly way, but in terms of spiritual things, he is only the father of Jews whose hearts have received the grace of God and are thus “circumcised” in their hearts. Galatians 3:6 confirms that it is only believing Jews that can claim sonship to Abraham. James also talks about “Abraham, our father,” in his epistle.
“The father of the faithful” we call Abraham. That title is not given in Scripture but it is implied. All who believe can look back to this man as their ancient ancestor. Jews no longer have an exclusive right to him, and unbelieving Jews have no right to him at all.
Remember the children’s song:
261
“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, And I am one of them and so are you…” True?
Indeed true, for Abraham was the father of all who believe, “though they are uncircumcised…”
Gentiles! Abraham is the father of believing Gentiles! What an incredible revelation to the Jews of Paul’s day. God has ordained from the foundation of the world that Abraham will be the father of many nations, the Jewish nation and all the Gentile ones too, out of whom believers in Jesus will be called. All the families of earth, says God, will be blessed in Abraham, via Jesus’ salvation,
“that righteousness might be imputed to them also.”
Keep in mind he is not talking now about the whole human race, but those who believe out of that whole human race. Revelation 5:9 sees the final picture, where the twenty-four elders fall down before the Lamb and sing, “… You were slain, and have and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation…” Jesus told us that this Gospel will be preached to all the world before He comes, and in Revelation 14:6 we see that promise fulfilled as an angel delivers to mankind “the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people…”
Yes, the whole world gets to be called, but only the few are chosen. But it is not the few that the Jew had counted on in first century A.D. It is the few God saw from the foundation of the world, and began to call from the days of Abraham.
But let’s not forget the Jews, those actually circumcised, verse 12. Circumcision is not suddenly a sign of being lost. No, the circumcised can be saved too, but only in the way Abraham was:
262
4:12
“and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision,”
He was in fact the father of the Jewish race physically, and it is this that unbelieving Jews cling to when they claim Abraham as their father,
“but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”
Hebrews 11 lists some of these men and women. These were people who walked with God to some measure, by faith, even before Abraham and circumcision came along, making Paul’s point here even more plain. It is not a Jewish – or Christian – rite, that makes a man acceptable to God, but grace working through faith.
Here is that Hebrews list: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, all the prophets… Of course, this list is partial, but the Scriptures are letting us know that nothing essential has changed from the beginning. You want to be justified, sanctified, redeemed? God will put His Spirit in you and cause you to believe in Him. That faith will take you the rest of the way.
Can the Jew still be saved? Why, of course! All he has to do is walk in Abraham’s steps. That is, in the steps of Abraham before he was circumcised. Yes, before circumcision came, he heard the voice of God, he was guided by God miraculously to the land that shall forever belong to God’s people, he was given promises, he learned how to tithe by meeting and being blessed by the great Melchizedek, he was victor in a battle at Sodom.
Follow this Abraham, and see that he was made favorable to God long before circumcision was introduced to him. That simple faith eventually
263
brought to Abraham the very righteousness of God, and that righteousness is available through that same faith today.
