The Promise for All Who Have Faith
August 18, 2022
Commentary
Those who are trying for salvation often lean on either their own imagined goodness or some kind of religious observance or a combination of both. In the previous passages we have seen how the Jews boasted in circumcision and the law. Paul has already made it clear that there must be an inward change of heart, and that mere external observances can never save a lost sinner.
Now Paul proceeds to show how Abraham was pronounced righteous before he was circumcised, based on his faith alone (vv. 9-12). He does this by asking the Jews whether Abraham’s justification occurred before or after he was circumcised. Abraham’s age when he was declared righteous (Genesis 15:6) is not stated. However, when Hagar bore Ishmael Abraham was 86 (Genesis 16:16). It was not until he was 99 years old that he was circumcised (Genesis 17:23-27). This means that the circumcision of Abraham followed his justification by faith by more than 13 years.
Circumcision was an outward sign of the justification that Abraham had already received. Therefore, both Jews and Gentiles must do more than be circumcised to be right with God. They must also walk in the footsteps of faith like Abraham did. Abraham was justified by believing God’s promise, and not by obeying God’s law; for God’s law had not been given yet through Moses. The same is true today. God justifies the ungodly because they believe in His precious promise, and not because they obey the law. Those who are trying to work for their salvation often lean on two crutches:
1. Their own imagined goodness.
2. Some kind of religious observance.
Neither one of these things will help us to merit salvation. It is only in the finished work of Christ.
Application
I know that I can never depend on my baptism, or church membership or good works to save me. This is what the Jews were doing with circumcision. The above things are only outward signs of the inward trust that took place when I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ.
Romans 4:9– 25 (NET)
9 Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either. 16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed—the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. 18 Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, “so will your descendants be.” 19 Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about 100 years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. 22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
23 But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’s sake, 24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.
Illustration: The Flesh is a Builtin Law of Failure
The flesh is a built-in law of failure, making it impossible for the natural man to please or serve God. It is a compulsive inner force inherited from man’s fall, which expresses itself in general and specific rebellion against God and His righteousness. The flesh can never be reformed or improved. The only hope for escape from the law of the flesh is its total execution and replacement by a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Mark Bubeck, The Adversary, Moody Press, p. 28.)