Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, "FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS."After speaking of God’s blessing of giving credit to Abraham when he had no credit with God as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise, Paul asks a question. This question, if asked today, would sound something like this: When did God give Abraham the credit in his account that resulted in Abraham being declared not guilty and right with God? Was Abraham declared not guilty of having a problem with God and being right with God before he was circumcised or after? Now to understand what the Apostle Paul is asking here, we first need to understand what circumcision is and its significance to the Jewish people. Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves removing the foreskin from the male genitals with a surgical knife, or in this case, a knife made of stone.
The reason that circumcision was so significant was that circumcision was a covenant sign that identified the Jewish people as being God’s people. Circumcision was an outward sign was done in order to demonstrate an inward commitment and relationship to God. Circumcision was a religious act that was required to be performed under the Law so that you would be able to be identified as being right with God as part of the Jewish religious system. Circumcision was something you did for God. By contrast an uncircumcised person was viewed as being in a state which was not right with God and not identified as being part of God’s people. Paul asks the question, and then points us to the answer by quoting Genesis 15:6, which we looked at earlier.
By why would Paul quote the same section of the Bible a second time? We find the answer in verse 10,
How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.Here Paul reveals the reality that God’s blessing of giving credit to Abraham when he had no credit with God as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise occurred before Abraham performed any religious activity that God had commanded. You see, God’s command of circumcision is recorded for us in Genesis 17, when Abraham was 99 years old. However, Abraham was given credit by God as being right with Him some 13 years earlier, in Genesis 15:6, when Abraham was 86 years old. You see, God gave Abraham righteousness, or the state of being right with God as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise, not his performance. Paul here is revealing for us the reality that our rescue has always required trusting God’s promises and not our performance. It has never been about what we do or our performance for God. From the very beginning, our rescue from the problem we have with God has always required trusting in God’s promise.
Now you may be wondering “Well, then why did God command Abraham do be circumcised if that had nothing to do with him entering into a right relationship with God? What good is circumcision? Paul answers this question for us in verses 11-12. First Paul states that Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised. The word seal here refers to something that confirms or authenticates something as true. The point that Paul is making here is that Abraham was circumcised in order to demonstrate and authenticate the fact that God had already given credit to Abraham as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise that made him right with God. Performing a circumcision did not cause Abraham to be credited as being right with God; performing the circumcision was a sign that Abraham was already right with God as a result of His confident trust in God’s promise.
That is why we are such strong proponents of baptism by immersion of those who have already professed their confident trust in Jesus Christ. Just as circumcision was in the Old Testament, baptism is on outward performance that serves as a sign that demonstrates and authenticates an inward faith. That is why we do not baptize infants or children until they have placed heir confident trust in Christ. And because Abraham was credited as being right with God prior to performing any religious activity, he was able to be the father, or the forerunner who provides an example to follow, for all humanity. Whether religious or irreligious, all of humanity has the opportunity to be rescued just as Abraham was rescued.
You see, our rescue requires trusting in God’s promises instead of our performance such as circumcision or baptism. Yet it is so easy for us to fall in the trap of trusting our own performance rather than God’s. It is so easy to trust in our own ability to believe as though believing was an activity that we perform instead of a gift we are given. It is so easy to trust our own performance when it comes to sticking to the decision instead of trusting in God’s decision. It is so easy to trust in our ability to choose instead of trusting in God’s choice and promises.
Have I just described you? Do you trust in your own performance for God when it comes to your relationship with God? Do you trust that your own performance will result in God giving you the credit that you need to be right with Him? If you are here this morning and are trying to trust in your performance for God, I just have a question? How’s it working out for you? Because, as we discovered earlier, God will only give you what your performance has earned. And do you really want God to give you what you have earned? You see, living life by performance for God usually results in a life that is filled with either pride or despair.
And, as we have seen, our rescue requires trusting in God’s promise instead of our performance. That is how Abraham and David were rescued; they were rescued by by placing their confident trust in God’s promise, not their performance. And the reality is that is always how it has been. All of humanity throughout history is rescued not by their performance for God, but by trusting in God’s promises for them. For those in the Old Testament, it was placing their confident trust in God and His promises. For those who lived in the New Testament, and for us here this morning, it is placing our confident trust in the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a rescuer, Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection provides the opportunity for forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for.
Because the timeless reality is that our rescue requires trusting in God’s promise instead of our performance.
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