God’s Covenant of Circumcision
March 11, 2022
Commentary
This chapter contains the longest sermon recorded in the book of Acts. In these first eight verses Stephen gives the history of Abraham. The Jews greatly admired Abraham and prided themselves in being his “children.” Furthermore, they depended on their nation’s heritage rather than their personal faith. They were blind to the simple faith of Abraham, and had made salvation a matter of good works, not faith. Stephen pointed out three distinctive things about Abraham (vv. 1-7).
1. He was a man who answered God’s call – For Stephen, a man of God was one who obeyed God’s commands even when he had no idea what the consequences would be.
2. He was a man of faith – He did not know where he was going, but he believed that, under God’s guidance, the best was yet to come.
3. He was a man of hope – To the end of his life, Abraham never saw the promise fully fulfilled, but he never doubted that it would be fulfilled.
In this message, Stephen did not give a legal defense of himself, but instead he set forth Israel’s past history and God’s past workings in order to vindicate Christianity. Abraham had been saved by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) and not because he was circumcised, kept the law, or worshiped in a temple (v. 8). Stephen was trying to show how God was not restricted to a special place or a special person. Abraham pulled up stakes and left his homeland to follow wherever God might lead. He left Ur and settled in Haran.
The high priest and his party could not deny the points of Stephen’s argument. Abraham’s faith rested on the Word of God and in the omnipotence and omniscience of the One who made the promise.
Application
I have heard different people say he or she is a Christian because they were born into a Christian family. This is certainly not true (Eph. 2:8-9). I need to make sure that anyone I witness to understands that they are personally responsible to trust Christ.
Acts 7:1– 8 (NET)
1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” 2 So he replied, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this country where you now live. 5 He did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, not even a foot of ground, yet God promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though Abraham as yet had no child. 6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your descendants will be foreigners in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for 400 years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
Illustration: Salvation is Free
An old country preacher was met by a member of his congregation who asked, “Preacher if salvation is free, how come you’re always asking for money?” Good question, maybe one you’ve asked yourself. The preacher responded by saying “Salvation is free, as free as the water you drink, but if you want that water in your kitchen then somebody has to pay for the pump.” (Source Unknown).