Righteousness without circumcision
Abraham and David were both richly blessed when God credited their faith as righteousness. This pattern of salvation by grace through faith worked in their cases. Both of them, however, were Jewish. The question might therefore arise as to whether this righteousness is something that works only for the Jewish nation, or whether it is applicable also to others. Recall the mixed readership of this epistle, sent to both Jews and Gentiles at Rome. Hence particularly for the benefit of his non-Jewish readers, Paul asks this question:
Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, 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 also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Again Abraham’s example becomes a very important test case as to how God deals with people in the matter of crediting righteousness. The question is, “Under what circumstances was it [righteousness] credited?” Or, to make the question a bit more specific, “Was it after he was circumcised, or before?” And Paul immediately gives the answer: “It was not after, but before!”
A glance at the sequence of events as they are recorded in Genesis will verify the correctness of Paul’s answer. In the 12th chapter of Genesis, we are told of God’s call to Abraham at age 75, promising him a special land where he would grow to become a great nation in whom all the world would be blessed. From time to time, God repeated this promise to Abraham. One such reassurance to Abraham is recorded for us in Genesis chapter 15. It is this particular repetition of the promise that the Scriptures allude to when they testify, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (verse 6).
As you know, God took his time, humanly speaking, to fulfill for Sarah and Abraham the promise of a son, who also was so essential for Abraham’s becoming a great nation. When Abraham was 99 years old, God again repeated his promise to Abraham in an incident recorded in Genesis chapter 17. At this time God confirmed his covenant with the patriarch by instituting the rite of circumcision. It was a rite God commanded Abraham to observe himself and to administer to all the male members of his household. It should be noted, however, that observing circumcision did not bring righteousness to Abraham. We have God’s testimony that he had credited righteousness to the patriarch already, more than two decades earlier. Circumcision was simply the sign and seal of the righteousness that Abraham already had by faith previous to the rite, “while he was still uncircumcised,” as Paul puts it.
Abraham received God’s righteousness without having to undergo circumcision. It follows then that circumcision can’t be considered a requirement for salvation or an action that earns any kind of merit or favor with God. Since that is the case, Paul can now take the next logical step. If circumcision isn’t essential—only faith is—then believing Gentiles, in their state of uncircumcision, are at no disadvantage before a God who credits faith as righteousness. Paul spells out the implications of this with his observation, “So then, he [Abraham] is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised [Gentiles], in order that righteousness might be credited to them.” God shows no favoritism. Believing Gentiles are acceptable, even in their state of uncircumcision.
Consistent with that impartiality, God also accepts Jews who observe circumcision, providing that their observance of the rite is not viewed as something necessary for salvation or done to earn merit with God. They are true children of Abraham if they hold to the faith of their father. Of him, Paul says, “He is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”