Abraham is the Father of All Who Believe
And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Romans 4:11,12
‘So then,’ Paul continues, there was a purpose in Abraham being justified by faith first and circumcised later. In fact there was a double purpose. It was first that Abraham might be ‘the father of all who believe’ (4:11) and so have been justified ‘but have not been circumcised’ (4:11). In other words, Abraham is the father of Gentile believers. Circumcision is no more necessary for their justification than it was for his. The second purpose was that Abraham would also be ‘the father of the circumcised’ who in addition to their circumcision ‘who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised’ (4:12). This means he is the father of all believers, whether they are circumcised or not circumcised.
Abraham is revered as the ‘father’ of the Jewish nation, and with salvation practically confined to Israel, this meant that one could become Abraham’s spiritual descendant only through incorporation into Israel – through birth, or occasionally, through conversion. Paul now claims Abraham and the inheritance that is his (4:16,17), for anyone who believes. It is through faith and not through incorporation into Israel that one becomes Abraham’s spiritual child. Surprisingly, Abraham’s Gentile believing children (4:11) are mentioned before his Jewish believing children (4:12)
To the Jews Abraham was the great dividing point in the history of mankind but to Paul he was, through his faith, the great rallying point for all who believe, whether circumcised or not circumcised.
Paul must have known how controversial this understanding would have been when he wrote it. But he belonged on the same map as other Jewish movement leaders in the two or three centuries before and after his own time. There seems to have been a sense through this period that God was somehow redefining Israel, redrawing boundaries, bringing in a covenant renewal in which nothing could be taken for granted. Paul belongs on this essentially Jewish map. Later he sternly rejects the charge that he might be leaving his fellow Jews out of the equation. But he remains clear: membership in Abraham’s family is on the basis of faith. And by faith he means the faith he will clearly detail at the end of this chapter: faith that focuses on Jesus and His resurrection as the great covenant-renewing act of the one true God.
The church today, and in every generation, must make sure the door is open wide enough to let in people of every ethnic group, every type of family, every geographical region and every sort of background. But it must also make sure that the defining characteristic of the membership of this multi-ethnic family remains firmly stated and adhered to: the faith that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead.