Grace Beginning To End

Romans 4: 9: Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 10: How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

When was the righteousness of God imputed to Abraham? If Abraham was justified before he was circumcised then circumcision, nor the Mosaic Law, had anything to do with how Abraham was counted righteous. If the law had nothing to do with how Abraham was accepted of God, neither does the law have anything to do with how sinners today are accepted of God. Truth is, God commanded Abraham to be circumcised 15 years after scripture says, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Paul says in verse 13, "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith."

So what is circumcision and why was it given to Abraham? Romans 4: 11: And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 12: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Circumcision was a sign or token of remembrance similar to a statue which causes us to remember something accomplished in the past. Romans 4: 11: And he received the sign of circumcision. The statue did nothing to make the event happen. It merely reminds us of how it happened. So it is that the Lord gave circumcision to remind Abraham of three specific things which the Lord had performed freely and promised freely to Abraham.

1. Circumcision was a sign of the temporal promises the Lord would bestow upon the natural descendents of Abraham, as well as those Gentiles bought into the homes of the natural descendents of Abraham (Genesis 17: 8-14.) It was also a partial revelation of the everlasting covenant God made with his Son before the world began.

2. Secondly and even more important, physical circumcision typified the purification from sin for spiritual Israel wrought in the person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 4: 11:...a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: Circumcision was the first ceremony of the law and thus represents the whole law given from Mt. Sinai. The Lord of free, covenant grace was telling Abraham that everything shown in this sign, and the law which would follow, was given to show how God saves sinners freely in his Son. Christ the Surety would be the head of all principalities and powers that would be set forth under the Mosaic Law. They would have their glory from him and redound to his glory. This token of circumcision, as well as all the letter of the law to follow, was to show Abraham and all God's elect people that the body of sins is put off, not by the hands of men, but by the circumcision performed by Christ the Lord. It is the same thing the Holy Spirit told the Colossian brethren through Paul when he said, " And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ" (Colosians 2:10-11.) It is the circumcision of the heart, by God's grace to his praise, which makes one a true son of Abraham, and not the keeping of the law by the sinner, For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Romans 3: 28-29.)

3. Thirdly, the Lord gave circumcision as a token to Abraham that though the law would enter in, it would not alter God's promise that every elect child of God after him would be justified and sanctified the very same way. Thus Abraham would be the father of an elect people from among all the nations--Jew and Gentile. Romans 4:11:...that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 12: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.