Romans 4:9-12 – Blessing Without Circumcision

Of course we find faith and grace throughout the Bible but in this dispensation today, God dispenses his grace freely to all mankind and that’s his primary operation today and Paul communicates what that means, and how it came about in the book of Romans.

This is why, without the book of Romans, we cannot properly understand salvation, making it the most important book for the church, the Body of Christ, today.

 

So we’ve seen both Abraham and David as examples of imputed righteousness by faith without works, and both of them were leading figures in Israel’s covenant history and vital to Israel’s identity.

Israel as a separated nation, a separated people, created by God, the only nation that ever has been and they were given special covenants and blessings and privileges and much of that goes back to Abraham and David.

That’s why Matthew 1:1 records Jesus as the son of Abraham, the son of David, matching Jesus as the Messiah back to those important figures in Israel’s covenant history.

 

Both Abraham and David were given sure promises, and Paul points that out. Abraham was given promises way back in Genesis 12 and then they were confirmed multiple times in Genesis chapters 13, 15, 17 and 18.

In Genesis twelve and fifteen, God made promises to Abraham without conditions. He just said, I’m going to make your seed like the stars, the number of the stars.

Abraham simply believed what God said even though he had no clue as to how God could ever make that happen.

He simply said to himself, and this is my thoughts, not the bible, I have no idea how God made all the birds and animals, the plants, the air that I breathe, and the stars that I see yet there they all are. He did it. So if God tells me He’ll do this in me I believe it.

Then God counted his faith for righteousness.

 

David likewise, before David committed his infamous sins of murder and adultery, God had already given him a promise of sure mercy that his family, his house, would not cease to be in the royal lineage of Israel. We see that in 2 Samuel 7:15.

And so his seed, his son, would be the Messiah. And so David was given a sure promise of guaranteed mercy.

And then he sinned.

And of course, God forgave him, not by the law which would condemn him to death, but because of this promise, the sure mercies given to him.

Both David and Abraham responded to these promises from God by faith. That’s the only way they could. There was no condition attached to them. There was nothing to do to get those promises except trust that God would do what He said.

 

As a result of that trust, that belief, both received the blessing of imputed righteousness, which is the theme of Romans 4, that a man is justified without works, and by faith without the deeds of the law.

 

We’ve learned that it wasn’t the works of Abraham, that made him righteous, even though Abraham did works.

James talks about the works that Abraham did, the works to leave his country, the works to circumcise his flesh, the works to offer up his son Isaac on Mount Moriah.

He did works that were praiseworthy in Israel’s history. So did David. He was one of the greatest Israelites in history.

So David and Abraham both did works!

Under the covenants God made with them they had a part to perform and they’d be blessed if they did and cursed if they didn’t.

But what Paul’s teaching us is what did not come from keeping those covenants was righteousness!

That righteousness came when it was imputed to them or accounted to them as a result of their faith.

This is what we’ve learned from Paul that according to the scriptures it wasn’t the works of Abraham or David that justified them before God. It was faith without works, when they simply believed God that those things that He promised he was both able to do and would do.

 

We saw up until verse nine, that both Abraham and David didn’t know about Christ’s cross and how that would be the means to their salvation, they simply believed that even though they had no clue how God would or even that He could save them, they believed that what God had said He was able to also perform.

That’s what Paul’s preaching. They were sinners and they couldn’t be justified by works so on what basis could God show them mercy? By faith. Faith that believed God above and beyond their own senses.

God made these men promises and they were promises that they knew were impossible with man but in spite of that they believed what God had said.

That and that alone was the basis of their righteousness, just as it is today.

It’s a belief that has no basis in human achievement, no possibility of fulfillment by a human hand and really, in its completeness, it’s even beyond our ability to fully understand.

Paul reveals that it’s through Jesus Christ and faith in His blood, that people can be redeemed by His grace.

Paul’ll say later in his ministry, in 2 Timothy 2:8 that Jesus Christ who was of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel.

He connects Christ’s resurrection to the promise given to David, and how that was according to his gospel, and, in Galatians 3:28-29 he says,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 

We’re children of Abraham, if we’re in Christ by faith.

Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation in the flesh through his son Isaac. He’s also the father of a great number of Gentiles through His son Ishmael born by the handmaid Hagar. But he’s also the father of all those who believe by faith as Romans 4:11 tells us.

So Abraham and David, and all of those throughout history who’ll be saved, need Christ’s cross even though they didn’t know that Christ would die and be resurrected.

Even His own disciples in His earthly ministry didn’t know that He needed to die.

All that the cross accomplished, the salvation freely available to all by grace through faith, was first revealed to the Apostle Paul.

 

Paul’ s already spoken about righteousness by faith and it being without works, but here in Romans 4:9 he’ll talk about righteousness being without circumcision.

Now the context of Romans 4:9, as is usual in the Bible, is important and the context is within Paul explaining a great blessing in Romans 4:6-8  and we’ll redefine the context by reading those verses,

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

 

We saw last episode how impute means to put on someone’s account or to reckon something to them.

So these verses talk about God reckoning or accounting righteousness to a person without them working for it or doing anything to contribute to that righteousness.

This imputed or accounted righteousness is a great blessing because through it our iniquities are forgiven and our sin will not be accounted to us.

First, what’s the difference between sin and iniquities?

Sin is usually a general term for anything that goes against God’s will. It includes wrong thoughts, actions, attitudes, or failures to do what’s right.

All iniquities are sins, but not all sins are iniquities.

Iniquity is generally a deeper level of wrongdoing and refers to twisted, immoral, or corrupt behaviour that’s usually habitual, intentional and often showing a heart sold out to evil.

The Bible also talks about our transgressions which are knowingly breaking God’s law, specifically the Mosaic law and it’s 613 points.

 

So Paul here in verse 8 is agreeing with what David said in Psalm 32:1,

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

 

In Verse 9 and 10 (Romans 4:9-10) Pauls asks this question, and he’s still speaking to this mixed Jewish and Gentile audience and he’s still speaking of this great blessing of imputed righteousness,

Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 

How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 

 

Why would Paul ask such a question and why does he answer it himself saying not in circumcision but in uncircumcision?

Why’s he bringing up this point about circumcision and when Abraham was circumcised and what does it actually mean, the circumcision and the uncircumcision?

The circumcision is referring to the nation of Israel while the uncircumcision is referring to the rest of humanity, the Gentiles, but there’s a lot more to it than that.

 

To understand what the circumcision means we need to understand the covenants God gave to Abraham.

So far in Romans Paul’s labouring on teaching us about righteousness by faith alone without works and he’s used Abraham and David to show how this was true as we’ve just said in this episodes introduction.

 

Genesis 17 is an important chapter for the covenants given to Israel through Abraham.

This is not the promise given without conditions in Genesis 12. This is later when God makes a covenant with Abraham that would require works to be done.

At the beginning of the chapter in Genesis 17:1-2 God appears to Abraham when he’s 90 years old and says,

I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 

 

Then, in Genesis 17:4, God says to Abraham,

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 

 

Notice God says, my covenant is with thee.

See God had already made a promise to Abraham in Genesis chapters 12 and 13 and in Genesis 15:6 we see it confirmed along with the fact that Abraham’s belief in what God promised was accounted to him for righteousness.

 

And now God gives more detail to this covenant. He’ll be a father of many nations, not just the one as in Genesis 12 and 15. That’s why his name is going to be changed from Abram to Abraham. It means many nations, father of many nations. We see that in Genesis 17:5.

Then in Genesis 17:6-9  God says,

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 

 

God promised the land to Abraham’s seed forever.

What God’s doing here is laying out what he’s promised to Abraham already.

Here’s where we notice the word “therefore” in the last verse, verse 9.  Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore.

But what is there to keep so far? Nothing!

God’s promised the land as a blessing but He hasn’t told Abraham to do anything yet except to go to the land.

 

Now we come to Genesis 17:10-11 and God says to Abraham,

This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 

 

This is new information. What’s this going to do? This act of circumcision will be a flesh token, a sign in the flesh of the covenant that Abraham already has.

If you’re not circumcised, you’re cut off from this covenant.

This is interesting because there’s now something that has to kept and those who don’t keep it don’t get the thing God promised.

Remember, God promised to Abraham specifically and his seed. But not all of Abraham’s seed’s going to get it. That’s what we see here in the circumcision, a separation from those who will get it and those who won’t. And who’s going to get it? The circumcision, those that’ve obeyed their covenant duty to be circumcised. That’s the separation.

 

The prophets spoke in great detail about the nations of the world being blessed through God’s chosen people, Israel, and their kingdom come.

This was God’s plan and the finishing touches to that plan were that the Messiah would come in the flesh, and die as an atonement for the sins of the world. He would prove He was the Messiah through mighty signs and wonders.

Then the New Covenant promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31, Ezekial 36:26-28 and Hebrews 8:7-13 would be enacted with the coming of the Holy Spirit after Christs resurrection and ascension. Under the New Covenant God’s laws would be placed in Israel’s hearts and minds ensuring those laws, which they could not keep in their own strength, would now be kept and they would be empowered to survive what was coming.

Then a period of tribulation would come that would bring God’s wrath and judgment to the unbelieving world and cleanse it of that unbelief.

Through the Holy Spirit’s power and God’s prophetic promises, the remnant of believing Israel would be saved through the tribulation after which Christ would return, completely restore the earth and set up His earthly kingdom where He would rule from Mount Zion for 1000 years. Israel would be the nation of priests God intended it to be, bringing the knowledge of God to the whole world.

This didn’t happen, obviously.

Why?

Because of Israel’s unbelief!

They rejected the Messiah, His message that the Kingdom was at hand and His apostles.

Though given many chances to repent Israel’s final rejection came with the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7.

The great period of the kingdom on earth and Israel’s blessings were placed on hold.

God ushered in a new dispensation through the apostle Paul that would offer righteousness to both Gentile and Jew through faith alone just as Abraham and David were imputed righteousness.

Instead of inheriting the earth, as was intended for Israel, it’s now a heavenly hope. All those who believe and trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ have a heavenly heritage.

The earth is still the heritage of the nation of Israel, who will one day, after this great dispensation of grace is over, walk in the plans and purpose that God had for the nation all along.

 

So when Paul asks, does this blessedness come on circumcision only, what blessing is he talking about?

The one in Romans 4:5-7. Verse 5,

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 

Verse 8, (Romans 4:8) clarifies it by repeating King David from Psalm 32:1-2 .

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

 

So Paul answers his own question in verse 9 (Romans 4:9) about whether this blessing comes to the circumcision only and the answer is, “of course not!”

 

He’s challenging the necessity and the need for Israel in the flesh, the need for Israel’s covenants at all, the covenants given to them to make them a special people.

His challenge is from the standpoint of the mystery gospel of grace that was kept secret before the foundation of the world but now, through Paul, has been manifest or made known.

He’s undermining what makes Israel unique and this’s why the Jews stoned him and never stopped persecuting him.

 

You see what Paul’s trying to show them is that although God’s promises to Abraham will come to the nation through the obedience of circumcision, righteousness does not. Righteousness comes by faith without works, just as it did to Abraham and David.

Righteousness was accounted to Abraham before the covenant of circumcision and before Israel was a nation and before the law was given, which we’ll see next episode. Abraham wasn’t even alive when the law was given by Moses.

 

Paul’s proving this from Jewish scripture to show his audience, which, remember includes Jews, that their own scriptures testify that what he says is right. He’s laying the foundations of the gospel of grace in these early chapters of Romans.

 

But he’s also putting into question the entire covenant system to Israel, which promised that they would be the channel of blessing to the world, going back to Genesis twelve.

So circumcision identified God’s covenant and identified Israel as the covenant people. Circumcision separated Israel from the Gentiles.

Ephesians 2:11-13,

Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

 

The circumcision was separated from the uncircumcision in their temple, especially in the New Testament Herod’s temple.

There was a wall where the uncircumcised couldn’t get past.

In the tabernacle there was separation, where only priests could go, and then another one where only the high priest could go.

But then as they built Solomon’s Temple, then later Herod’s Temple, they built walls around the temple for Israel.

Gentiles who wanted to worship the God of Israel could come to the temple, but they couldn’t go past a certain point because remember, the temple is for Israel.

Gentiles couldn’t go in to offer a sacrifice. Only Israel could, and only Israel could take their sacrifice to the priest, and only the priest could go further in.

So there’s a wall of partition between circumcision and uncircumcision. That’s what Paul references in Ephesians 2:14,

For he (Jesus Christ) is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 

 

Of course, Jesus didn’t literally tear down the stones in the temple, but Paul’s saying it’s meaningless now.

1 Corinthians 3:16 says this,

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

 

So this access to God is what Paul’s preaching according to the mystery. You don’t need circumcision. You don’t need Israel. Circumcision means identifying Israel. You don’t need their covenants.

Circumcision was a covenant for them, an everlasting covenant.

You don’t need that if you’re justified by faith, without works, without the flesh, without circumcision.

That’s why Paul’s argument is so important.

 

Even as far as acts chapter ten, Peter goes to a Gentile who’s uncircumcised, and he says, you know, it’s not lawful for a Jew who is circumcised to keep company and to go unto an uncircumcised Gentile. Peter’s still abiding by this covenant, knowing that God would bless the world through the nation Israel.

But Paul, in Colossians 3:11 says,

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 

 

So, circumcision identified God’s covenant people. If you weren’t circumcised, you weren’t in God’s covenant. You were strangers to them. But now Paul says, there’s neither circumcision nor position.

It doesn’t matter today. If we’re in Christ we’re not in a covenant.

The New Covenant, the New Testament is Israel’s new covenant and saying we’re in it is making ourself Israel.

But Paul says that now Christ is all and in all, in this new creature, the Body of Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery.

And he’s answering his own question in verses 9 and 10 (Romans 4:9-10) by saying Abraham’s faith was accounted for righteousness before he was circumcised.

Circumcision had no bearing on his being accounted righteous.

 

So we see Romans 4:11-12. Let’s read,

And he (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 

And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. 

 

Paul is showing us that timing matters.

He already said earlier in Romans 4 that Abraham was counted righteous before he ever got circumcised. Now he asks again: When did Abraham get this blessing? Before or after circumcision?

Paul wants us to pay attention to when things happened, not just that they happened.

This is part of dividing the Bible correctly.

If we ignore timing, we mix everything together and think God was dealing with everybody the same way in every age. But He wasn’t. Even in Abraham’s own life, the order of events matters.

 

So Paul asks Israel simple questions they should know, but they struggled because they trusted in their flesh, their works, and their covenants. To understand Paul’s point, we look back at Genesis and follow the timeline.

 

In Genesis 23, Sarah dies aged 127, and Abraham is 136. Isaac is 36 when his mother dies.

That’s right after Genesis 22, where Abraham offers Isaac on Mount Moriah. People often picture Isaac as a little boy, but Genesis 22:6 says he carried the wood for the offering. That’s not a toddler job. Of course, someone else carried His own wood up a mountain too, Jesus.

Genesis 22 is full of shadows of Christ.

 

Isaac was strong enough to carry the wood and old enough to understand what was happening. Twice the chapter says in Genesis 22:6, 8 that they went quote “both of them together”. That means agreement, not a little child being dragged along. If Isaac was strong enough to carry the wood, he was strong enough to resist Abraham, but he didn’t.

This pictures Jesus willingly going to the cross.

 

Now back to the timing.

In Genesis 21:5, Abraham is 100 when Isaac is born. But Abraham was already circumcised a year earlier in Genesis 17, when he was 99 which we see in Genesis 17:1, 24.

That’s also when God said Sarah would bear the promised child, and although both Abraham and Sarah laughed, they believed.

 

Before that, in Genesis 16:16, Abraham is 86 when Ishmael is born. That means Ishmael was born while Abraham was still uncircumcised.

 

And even earlier, in Genesis 15:6, God counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness and that’s the moment Paul’s talking about in Romans 4—the blessing of righteousness being imputed by faith.

Paul asks: does this blessing come only on the circumcision? No, because Abraham received it in uncircumcision.

 

Finally, in Genesis 12:4, Abraham was 75 when God first called him and gave him the promises: the land, the seed, the great nation, and that he would be a blessing to the world.

 

So the order of things is clear:

– God called Abraham at 75.

– God counted his faith for righteousness at about 85.

– Ishmael was born at 86 while Abraham was still uncircumcised.

– Abraham’s circumcision came at 99.

– Isaac was born at 100.

 

Paul uses this to show that righteousness came before circumcision, so Abraham is the father of all who believe—circumcised or not—if they walk in the same faith he had before the sign of the covenant, circumcision, was given.

 

Abraham had to wait twenty‑five years for the son God promised him.

God said He would make a mighty nation from Abraham, but although he was already old he still believed.

Time kept passing, but God teaches us patience. We think everything’s got to happen fast but God knows the end from the beginning.

We shouldn’t be lazy, but we also shouldn’t panic. God works on His own timeline.

There were about 24 years between God counting Abraham righteous and giving him the covenant of circumcision.

Paul uses this in Romans 4:10 to ask,

How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 

The answer is clear in the next verse, Romans 4:10,

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 

 

Abraham lived over twenty years as a man counted righteous without works, simply by believing what God said.

This matters because circumcision marked out the covenant people of Israel.

It gave blessings the uncircumcised didn’t have. So Paul goes back to Genesis 12 to show the timing where God promised Abraham a land, a great nation, a great name, and that all families of the earth would be blessed in him and Abraham obeyed at age 75.

In Genesis 12:7 we see,

And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land:

So the promise was to Abraham and also to his seed.

Then, in Genesis 13:14–17, after Abraham and Lot separated, God repeated the promise and added the word “forever.”

He also said Abraham’s seed would be like the dust of the earth, too many to number.

This is not the single Seed (Christ) that Paul talks about in Galatians 3, but the multiplied physical seed God promised Abraham. Both truths exist: the one Seed (Christ) and the many seeds (Israel).

 

In Genesis 15, Abraham wondered how God would give him a seed since he had no child. He suggested Eliezer, his servant. But God said no, the heir will come from your own flesh, Genesis 15:4.

In Genesis 15:5 God then showed him the stars and said his seed would be that many and in Genesis 15:6. Abraham believed, and God counted it to him for righteousness.

But notice something here. The covenant itself was not “righteousness by faith.” The covenant was about land and multiplied seed. The righteousness by faith was simply how Abraham received God’s word, not the content of the covenant.

 

People tend to mix these things and say all the promises to Abraham are fulfilled in us. But Paul doesn’t say that. He only uses Genesis 15:6 to show the pattern of imputed righteousness.

God must still fulfill the actual covenant promises of land, nation, and multiplied seed to Israel. Jesus didn’t cancel them. Peter didn’t cancel them as we see in Acts 1:6-7. Paul didn’t cancel them as we see through Romans 11. God will keep His covenants; just not yet.

 

As we keep reading Genesis 15, God doesn’t just use the stars to number Abraham’ seed. He also tells him when his seed will return to the land.

God says they’ll be in bondage for 400 years, then they’ll come back and that’s in Genesis 15:13–16.

Now Abraham finally has a timeline. But he also realises he’ll be dead long before this happens, So Abraham starts thinking, “If God promised me this land, and my seed won’t return for centuries, then God must raise me from the dead.”

That’s why we see in Hebrews 11 that Abraham believed in resurrection. God said “forever,” even though people die. Jesus later said God is “not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

 

At the end of Genesis 15, God makes a covenant through a sacrifice and gives Abraham the exact borders of the land—from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.

 

This is real geography, real dirt, not something spiritual in heaven. Paul never teaches that Abraham’s land promise somehow became spiritual.

In Romans 4, Paul only uses Genesis 15 to show that God counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness.

Paul’s saying that in the same way Abraham was counted righteous—by faith without works— God uses today relating to the Body of Christ.

But the covenant itself was not about righteousness. God promised Abraham a kingdom, a nation, and greatness he did not reveal how He would justify sinners. That part was still a mystery until Christ.

So Paul uses the Old Testament to show the pattern of faith, while keeping Israel’s covenants separate from what God gives us today.

 

Paul brings up circumcision because it’s a huge issue for Israel.

The word “covenant” appears 25 times in Genesis, and half of them are in this one chapter. Genesis 17 is where God gives the covenant of circumcision, the sign that marks Israel as His covenant people. If you were an Israelite reading this, you’d say, “This is where our nation begins—land, seed, and now circumcision.”

But Paul reminds them that Abraham was a sinner justified by faith without works, and so was David, and so are we.

 

Then in Genesis 17:1 we read,

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

 

Genesis 17:3-4,

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 

 

God had already spoken to Abraham several times about this covenant, but now He adds more detail: Abraham will be father of many nations, not just one. That’s why his name changes from Abram to Abraham.

 

In Genesis 17:6 God says to Abraham,

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 

 

Then, in Genesis 17:7 God says,

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 

 

God ties “everlasting” to the land as well and says in Genesis 17:8,

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 

 

Some people who try to tie the Body of Christ in with this covenant say that land, as on earth, was temporary; that now our land is heavenly, but God said the land of Canaan was an everlasting possession and He meant what He said.

Then in Genesis 17:9  we see,

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 

 

But before circumcision is given in the next verse, what was there for Abraham to keep? Nothing

God had only promised blessing and land. Abraham was just walking around waiting for God to do what He said. He still hasn’t been told to actually do anything yet except walk the land.

Then in Genesis 17:10-14 God finally gives the thing that Abraham must keep, circumcision.

This is new information. Every male child must be circumcised. God says this will be the token, the sign, the seal of the covenant Abraham already has.

The land, the blessing, the nation—those promises were already given. Now circumcision marks who actually receives them.

 

If a man is not circumcised, God says he is cut off from the covenant. That’s Genesis 17:14.

So not all of Abraham’s physical seed will get the blessing.

Circumcision separates who’ll receive the promises and wont.

This is the beginning of the division that later becomes Jew and Gentile, even though Israel doesn’t exist yet. Circumcision is the foundation of that separation.

 

God says in Genesis 17:12–13 that every male child must be circumcised at eight days old. Even servants bought with money must be circumcised. God says, “My covenant shall be in your flesh.”

This is not a spiritual covenant. God promised a seed from Abraham’s flesh, then put the sign in their flesh making this very physical because later Jesus Himself will come in the flesh. He’d shed His blood in the flesh, and fulfill the spiritual side of God’s plan, but here in Genesis 17 the covenant is about earthly people, earthly land, and a flesh‑and‑blood nation.

 

The eighth day is interesting. Only in 1943 did scientists discover that vitamin K and prothrombin—needed for blood clotting—peak on the eighth day of a newborn’s life. Before that, a baby could bleed to death. But God told Abraham the right day thousands of years earlier. Science just caught up.

 

God warns that the uncircumcised man is cut off from his people. Paul later calls Gentiles strangers from the covenants of promise. The covenants he refers to are the land, the seed, and the blessing. Circumcision is the doorway into those promises.

 

Then in Genesis 17:15–21 God speaks of Sarah.

This is the first time He says clearly that the promised son will come from her. Abraham laughs in his heart, remember he’s 100, and Sarah’s 90. God hears his thoughts and answers him.

Abraham even says, “O that Ishmael might live before thee.” But God says no, Isaac’ll be the one. The covenant will be with Isaac, not Ishmael. Ishmael will be blessed and become a great nation with twelve princes, but the everlasting covenant goes through Isaac.

 

After God finishes speaking, Abraham—now 99—circumcises himself and Ishmael, and waits for Isaac to be conceived and born.

 

This is why Paul in Romans 4 talks about when Abraham was circumcised. Abraham already had the covenant promises long before circumcision. Circumcision was only the token that marked who would receive those earthly promises. And even though Ishmael was circumcised, he still did not receive the covenant. Isaac did. Timing and order matter.

 

Islam says the Bible is wrong and that Ishmael’s the one who gets the land, seed, and blessing but the Bible very clearly says the covenant goes through Isaac, not Ishmael.

That’s why history splits between Israel and Islam. But that’s not Paul’s point. In Romans 4:11, when Paul says Abraham “received the sign of circumcision,” he means Abraham already had righteousness by faith long before the circumcision, which was simply the token, the sign, or the seal of what God had already given him by faith.

Circumcision simply identified who would inherit the covenant. It’s why God said the uncircumcised man was “cut off” in Genesis 17:14.

 

This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:22 that Jews “seek after a sign.” God gave Israel signs, miracles, and prophets so they would know the true God in a world full of idols. Today we know Him through the Scriptures that record those signs and through Christ who fulfilled them.

 

In Galatians 5:3–6 Paul says that circumcision profits nothing in Christ. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters—only faith. In Galatians 6:15, he says what matters is being a new creature in Christ. How do you get in Christ? By faith, the same way Abraham received righteousness.

 

This is what Paul calls “the gospel of the uncircumcision.” You don’t need circumcision or the law to receive blessing from God. That Abraham was blessed while uncircumcised is our pattern. What saves us is not land, or seed, or earthly blessing but righteousness, and that comes by faith without works, just like Abraham.