Rom 4:9-12 Salvation apart for Rites- Justified apart from Sacraments
Here is a great question not only in Paul’s day, but in our day. The question is Do religious rites or sacraments play a role in our salvation? Why have a rite if it doesn’t have a purpose? The Jews believed that circumcision, of all the rites and all the rituals, was the most important. They felt that circumcision was a surgical act that secured their righteousness. They actually believed that. “‘And everyone that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongs not to the children of the covenant, which the Lord made with Abraham, for he belongs to the children of destruction.” They believed that salvation was imparted by this act. (Mac Arthur) (Gen 17:9-14) For the Jewish people, circumcision was one basic act of obedience that defined them as Jews. This was the mark that they had a special covenant of acceptance with God. (Piper) Their security was in the ceremony. (Gal 5:2). In the NT the Judaizers said believing the gospel of Christ is not enough to get into heaven. They said you need to be circumcised or you will not make it to heaven. Paul says if you receive circumcision on that basis, then you will find Christ is of no effect to you because you have now mingled salvation by grace with salvation by works or circumcision. (Gal 5:2). And if you’re going to go the way of works, you are under obligation to keep the whole law. (Gal 5:3) f you’re going to go by law, you have to keep the whole law. (Gal 3:10) verse 4, If tis is he case, you’ve been severed from Christ, and you have fallen from the principle of salvation by grace (Gal 5:4) Paul strikes a blow at their sacramentalism, their ritualistic salvation, at precisely the point where they tried to establish it with Abraham. This also strikes a blow at all kinds of ceremonial approaches to salvation. This is a very important subject because today there are many people who are basing their salvation . . . on their infant baptism, on their confirmation, on their adult baptism, or on communion or some other ceremony. Paul deals with the issue of circumcision and the inability of any religious rite or ceremony to justify, he sweeps all of this away. And he reminds us that if you’re putting any hope in any of those things, you have made Christ of no effect. You’ve negated grace and you’ve brought yourself under salvation by law and, therefore, you are bound to keep the whole law or perish. (Mac Arthur)
In the Catholic church at the Council of Trent, the section on the decree of original sin, says if anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in infant baptism, the guilt of original sin is forgiven, or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, let him be damned” – So, “anathema, or damnation is pronounced on anyone who denies that saving grace and forgiveness of sin is not conferred in infant baptism (Mac Arthur)
Situation When?
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised 11 while he was still uncircumcised The Jews viewed that Abraham was declared righteous because he was circumcised. In other words, he earned it by his circumcision. Abraham was 99 years of age when he was circumcised (Gen 17:24). On that same day, Ishmael, his illegitimate son, was circumcised. He was 13 years of age. The time between God making the covenant with Abraham, (Gen 15:6), and the time of his circumcision was 14 years later. (Mac Arthur). So the blessing of forgiveness and the granting of righteousness was given to Abraham who was an uncircumcised Gentile when he received it. There were yet no Jews. He was an uncircumcised Gentile from a people of idolaters (Josh 24:2). Circumcision had nothing to do with his righteousness - nothing to do with it at all. In fact, Abraham was inside the covenant and he was uncircumcised. Ishmael was circumcised and was permanently outside the covenant. No rite, no religious ceremony confers any righteousness on anyone ever. (Mac Arthur). Abraham was justified by faith as a human being, not as a Gentile or a Jew! This establishes faith as the standard for all human beings. It wasn’t until Abraham was circumcised that men were placed in two categories the uncircumcised Gentiles and the circumcised Jews. When God chose a method by which someone is found righteous in his sight, faith was the instrument. When Abraham was circumcised, God did no institute a new basis for relationship with Abraham and the Jews. Faith remains the human response required for justification in God’s sight, whether Jews or Gentiles (Boa).
Statement. Why?
11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. If Abraham was excepted without circumcision, then what did it mean? (Morris). Two words describe the relationship between circumcision and the righteousness of God that comes by faith: sign and seal. (Piper) By the sign God speaks to the outside world, the sign is the distinctive mark. By the seal, God speaks rather to the believer himself; the seal is the mark which guarantees authenticity (Leenhardt)
A sign A sign is a visible object that points to something different from and greater than itself. (Boice) it is a symbol. It points to something else. If you’re looking for Los Angeles and you see a sign, you don’t climb up on the sign and say, “I’m there.” The sign indicates the direction you should go to get there. The sign is a symbol, it points to something else. It points to another reality. Circumcision was a sign, it pointed to something else. We could say it was a sign of God’s physical people, Israel. It was a mark of their identity as God’s people. It was also a spiritual sign. It was a spiritual sign of the fact that they infected each other with sin and they needed a cleansing on the spiritual level. And God chose the procreative organ for that sign because that’s where sin was passed from person to person, generation to generation to generation. That’s why there are so many times when the prophets say, “Circumcise your hearts.” (Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:24 to 26; Ps 51:6). It was a sign that they needed a deeper cleansing, a spiritual cleansing. In this sense, it’s like baptism. Does baptism save? No, it’s a sign. It’s a sign that points to the sinner’s need to be identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection by faith. The Lord’s Table is a sign. Does the Lord’s Table save you? No. But it does point to the cross where the Savior died to provide salvation. It’s a sign that points to Calvary. Baptism is a sign that points to the need for death, burial, resurrection, union with Christ by faith. And circumcision was a sign. It was a sign of a physical people that were being preserved by God, but it was a sign of the fact that every person is a sinner, passing that sin on, after generation, and we need a deep soul circumcision, a heart circumcision. Circumcise your hearts. When we come to baptism, we demonstrate the Lord’s resurrection. When we come to communion, we demonstrate the Lord’s death until He comes. When we look at circumcision, it was a demonstration of the need for a deep heart surgery. (Mac Arthur)
A seal- a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised.” What does this mean? God had Abraham circumcised to authenticate his faith. (Mac Arthur) To seal means to authenticate (Jones). A seal shows something is confirmed (1 Cor 9:2) The circumcision did not convey the righteousness, but only gave outward confirmation. (Robertson) God was saying Abraham’s faith was real, he has received salvation, he has been forgiven, righteousness has been imputed to him, and I mark him to authenticate it. (Mac Arthur) Circumcision wasn’t a substitute for his faith; it was a token of the faith he already had. (Dungan). As a sign, it was a necessary picture, pointing to the desperate need of every sinner to have heart surgery. As a seal, it was evidence that God had provided for him forgiveness and salvation. It was a sign to all, it was a seal to Abraham that his faith was real and that he might be the father of all who believe, without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them. Righteousness can be credited to anybody who believes. It was a seal, it was evidence. God marked him as a man who had been granted righteousness. What’s our seal? “We are sealed by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is given to us as the guarantee of our inheritance, (Eph 1:14) (Mac Arthur) The Holy Spirit seals to us God’s promise of our ultimate redemption and our receiving our great inheritance in Glory. Having the Holy Spirit, I know that all that God promises to me is already mine in a very real sense. (Jones). Circumcision did not save but it signified that God would save. He would circumcise the heart and grant righteousness as He did with Abraham. The Lord’s Table doesn’t save but it declares that God will save, by His work on the cross, all who repent and believe. Baptism does not save, but it declares that He will save the one who puts his trust in Christ and therefore joins into Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. It is faith, then, not ritual, that saves. It is faith, not ritual, that makes people right with God. (Mac Arthur) When your life begins to conform to the will of God, this is a sign. It is a sign and seal that your faith is real and that you have an unshakable righteousness, namely, the righteousness of God in Christ. An act like circumcision, or any other act in obedience to God, does not give you your right standing with God. Faith alone does. But the acts of obedience are a sign and a seal that your faith is real and that
Significance For What?
11 The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised
Because Abraham was called and credited with righteousness while a Gentile, both Gentiles and Jews are justified in the same way, by faith (Boa). He’s the father of all believers. What does that mean? He came by faith and we all come by faith. So, we share the faith of Abraham, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile. That’s neither here nor there. But faith is everything, and Abraham is the model of salvation by faith apart from any ritual. An uncircumcised Gentile is the father of circumcised Jewish believers, spiritually. They find their connection to him because of a common faith. There are no rituals that save, only faith, only grace. (Mac Arthur) The example of Abraham proves that God saves people through Christ regardless of their origins. If you are a Jew and are saved, it is not because you are a Jew. It is because of the work of Jesus Christ. If you are Gentile and are saved, it is not because you are a Gentile. It is because of the work of Jesus Chris. No one is saved because he or she has been baptized or confirmed or gone to Mass (or Church) or shared in communion service. A person is saved through the perfect and completed work of Christ. (Boice) The truth that righteousness is credited to people by faith alone apart from works is that it opens the way for Gentiles to be a part of the covenant people who will one day inherit the world (v 13) and who have Abraham as their father, justification by faith alone is a missionary doctrine of the first order. It is all about God's heart for the nations, both Jews and all the other ethnic groups in the world God's point in justifying Abraham by faith alone before his being circumcised is to make clear that Abraham is the spiritual father of all who are justified by faith, no matter what people group they are from. So here is the evangelistic and missionary significance of this. . . . it is a religion that fits a lot of different cultures. Paul is making something crystal clear that . . . . All the nations - all the ethnic groups - are meant by God to be included in the promises of Abraham. So the message of justification by faith alone should be at the heart of all our missionary preaching and teaching. And all our evangelizing. Every kind of person is included in the gospel - everybody you know -because faith is the most universally accessible act of the human heart in every people and tribe and tongue and nation. Faith is not a performance based on education or personality or culture or ritual or strength or riches. It is what happens when the heart finds itself turning away from all those things and depending entirely on the mercy of God in Christ. Paul is passionate about justification by faith alone because it is the foundation for the great missionary work of his life So let us embrace this great truth to our souls and be humble and be blessed and be obedient and be about the great work of taking the gospel to every people and tongue and tribe and nation. (Piper)
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