Is Anything More Than Faith Crucial to Salvation?
Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Romans 4:9-11a
Paul’s first question was whether Abraham was justified by works or by faith (4:1-3). His second is whether this ‘blessedness’ (the blessing David pronounced over those ‘whose sin the Lord will never count against [them]’ 4:7,8) is available ‘only for the circumcised’ (the Jews) or is ‘also for the uncircumcised’ (4:9: the Gentiles)? This question gives rise to another concerning the time Abraham was justified. Was he justified ‘after he was circumcised, or before?’ (4:10). Was he circumcised first to achieve righteousness (as the Rabbis in Paul’s day taught) or was he already justified when he was circumcised? Paul’s answer is brief and blunt. ‘It was not after, but before!’ (4:10). In fact, it happened long before. Abraham is justified in Genesis 15 and circumcised in Genesis 17. The time gap is at least fourteen years (the Rabbis taught the gap was twenty-nine years).
Although separated, the two were not unrelated. Abraham’s circumcision was the ‘sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised’ (4:11). God Himself called circumcision the ‘sign of the covenant’ He established with Abraham (Genesis 17:11). Paul now calls it the sign of his justification (‘he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised’ [4:11]). As a sign, it was the distinguishing mark, setting Abraham and his descendants apart as God’s covenant people. It was a sign to identify them and a seal to authenticate them as the justified people of God.
Abraham then, received two gifts from God, justification and circumcision, in that order. First he received justification by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Then secondly, he received circumcision as a visible sign and seal of the justification which was already his. Circumcision was not for Abraham the basis or even the condition for his righteous status before God. The rite simply put a seal on what was already true.
Paul saw everything of Abraham’s experiences with God having its source in his justification by faith. There are some Jewish texts that speak of circumcision as a ‘seal’ but they are all later than Paul’s time. Interestingly, Paul uses the word ‘seal’ to describe something that ‘confirms’ the truth or reality of something else. In 1 Corinthians 9:2 he describes the Corinthian believers as the ‘seal’, the confirmation and authentication of his apostleship. In like manner, Abraham’s circumcision confirmed his righteous status, a status he gained because of his faith. Circumcision then has no independent value. It can’t mark a person as belonging to God’s people apart from prior justifying faith. Abraham was declared righteous while still uncircumcised. His later circumcision added nothing to God’s declaration. What it did do was signify and confirm it.
Abraham’s case must be our precedent for understanding church rituals and even the sacraments. Without taking anything away from their importance, they are not crucial for our salvation. Abraham was declared righteous when he believed and so are we.