Or, The Footsteps of Faith
Scripture: Romans 4:9-12
Date: March 27, 2022
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Everyone who believes is a son of Abraham. There are some who are sons of Abraham who do not believe. There are two ways to call Abraham, “father Abraham,” and while both ways include blessings, only one of the ways gets blessings proper, salvific, eternal.
When God called Abram/Abraham God promised to bring blessing to the nations through Abraham (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8). This is quite surprising, for at least two reasons. It’s surprising that God would choose this particular pagan to become the human fountainhead of blessing, and it’s surprising—or at least striking-that God would choose a fountainhead of blessing. God is the giver of good things. He gives promises about giving good things, and sometimes He just gives good things. He gives good things to those who don’t deserve them, and in giving good things He makes them accountable.
God graciously chose Abraham to receive good things, and graciously chose Abraham to be the one through whom good things would come to all sorts of peoples.
The particular people who most looked to Abraham as their forefather was the Jews. This is right. God gave Abraham Isaac, God gave Isaac Jacob, Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus regularly poked the eyes of those in Israel who claimed religious stature since they were sons of Abraham (Matthew 3:9; John 8:39). Jesus wasn’t denying their ethnicity (John 8:56), He was confronting their complacency.
But Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s only son. His first son was Ishmael, and God protected Ishmael and promised that Ishmael would also become a great nation (Genesis 17:20; 21:13; 21:18). This made them sons of Abraham. These sons of Abraham did not get the same kinds of blessings or promises. They did not get an Ishmaelian covenant or Messiah of their own. But all the Jews and many of the Gentiles trace their lines from Abraham “according to the flesh” (4:1).
And what Paul points out in Romans 4 is that Abraham is the father of all those who have faith. Though many are related to him by flesh, believers look to him as the first one declared righteous by believing.
All of Romans 4 relates to Abraham’s righteousness, specifically, it did not come from Abraham’s works (1-8), from circumcision (9-12), or from the law (verses 13-22). Justification has always been by faith, and Abraham’s story is for us to teach the same truth (23-25).
We just came off the great #blessed man who does not have his sins counted against him. Paul quoted David, but in support of his case about Abraham. The chapter starts by asking about those who looked back to Abraham as “forefather according to the flesh,” so now he asks, could others be forgiven? This is the question that leads us into the circumcision question.
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. (verses 9–11a ESV)
Paul is teaching by leading his readers through a series of questions and answers. The answer to the first question may seem to switch the subject, but it is the point. Of course the uncircumcised , those outside the Abrahamic covenant, can have the blessing of forgiveness. It’s not about your dad, it’s not about your behavior, it’s not about your religion or its sacraments and ceremonies. Forgiveness comes by faith, and is for whoever has faith. That is the answer to the question, because that’s how it worked for Abraham even though he was the father.
Paul is really trying to help his Jewish brothers get the point. He is laboring hard, with the Spirit’s help, to get them to see what should have been unmistakably obvious to them. Paul’s questions pull their thinking into his line of thinking, and his almost painful repetitions leave no other options.
Paul’s already gone over the fact that circumcision wasn’t enough. It was commanded by God to the sons of Abraham through Isaac (Genesis 17:19, though Ishmael was circumcised as well, Genesis 17:26), but the external obedience and the tribal association and the “spiritual” pride and the apathy toward righteousness that went with the sign were legendary. The sign was taken as merit, or as a guarantee of safety, rather than as a reminder of their need for mercy. And, on top of all that, Abraham, to whom many of the Jews looked for their privilege, was an anti-pattern for their presumed practice.
We’re blessed to have cardinal numbers that label the chapters in the first book of the Torah (chapter divisions weren’t added to the Bible until the early 1200s AD). Abraham’s justification was announced at the beginning of Genesis chapter 15 and the sign of circumcision wasn’t given until chapter 17. Around 14 years passed between the events. Abraham had no sons yet in chapter 15, he was 86 when Ishmael was born (Genesis 16:16) Abraham was 99 when he was actually circumcised (Genesis 17:24).
Don’t put the cart before the horse, the sign before the substance, the effect before the cause.
The sign was a seal ; the pointing was a confirmation. God had accepted Abraham by faith, and then God affirmed that acceptance to Abraham with the seal. Abraham’s righteousness was by faith while he was still uncircumcised .
God’s timing was on purpose for a purpose, a singular purpose with two applications. Paul points out the purpose for the uncircumcised first, though the gospel is the power of God to the Jew first (Romans 1:16).
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (verses 11b–12 ESV)
It’s not actually a new sentence in Greek; the construction depends on the answer at the end of verse 10.
The purpose is—here with a more awkward translation for emphasis’ sake: “unto him to be the father of all the ones believing through uncircumcision unto the counting to them righteousness.” National/religious identity is no hindrance. National/religious identity doesn’t need to be changed. Justification is not even a concession, as the ESV suggests, without being circumcised is an attempt to translate a much simpler prepositional phrase: “through uncircumcision.”
If they are believing, they are sons of Abraham. Is this the doctrine of adoption? Not here; our adoption as Christians is not into having Abraham as father but rather God as Father (see Galatians 4:5-6; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:5). Abraham is, however, a type of father, and his fatherhood of those with faith is a spiritual patriarchy. Previous to Christ a Gentile could convert to Judaism, and that Gentile would only be saved by faith but would still have to get circumcised; they would become part of the nation. Romans 4:11 describes converts as all ones believing in the external state in which they are.
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:7–9 ESV)
Verse 12 provides the second application. To any believing Jews, their forefather according to the flesh is also their father according to the faith. Abraham was already their father according to circumcision; they already identified with him as such. That wasn’t enough for salvation without faith.
And Abraham left them a path to walk, the path of faith. Most English translations say to walk in his steps , but it’s at least better as “follow” (NASB), and the word emphasizes keeping in line with the standard of conduct, following or conforming (BAGD).
He also was justified without needing to be circumcised first. Paul reminds the Jews of the pattern, and the πίστεως τοῦ πατρὸς, the faith of the father.
Paul doesn’t say that God was going to bless all the nations by making all the nations into one nation (such as Israel, or a “new” or “true” Israel). His summary in Galatians 3:7 doesn’t remove national distinctions as such, it says that national distinctions don’t prevent justification by faith. Because we are saved the same way doesn’t make us the same, any more than it removes gender distinctions between male and female (Galatians 3:28). We have one Lord, one Savior, one justification, and many Lord-assigned differences.
There is continuity of faith counted as righteousness, and there is distinction between those who were given a sign of the covenant for which they were to believe and those who were given neither a covenant or a sign but still believe.
Circumcision and baptism are not the same. And, if anything, baptism is most like Abraham’s circumcision because it was a sign given as a seal of his belief, not a sign that obligated him to believe.
For those who have already been baptized but have not professed faith, believe! Baptism isn’t enough no matter what. You must come to Christ. For those who professed faith in their baptism, brothers and sisters, walk by faith. Conform your life to the standard of faith. The righteous shall life from faith to faith.
Christian, you have been called, you have been qualified. You have been given blessing, you are given responsibility. Follow in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith. Follow in the footsteps of Jesus’ obedience (1 Peter 1:21). Trust and obey.
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:11–12, ESV)