Abraham: The Model Believer
Romans 4:1-12
4 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For 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 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 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.
In Romans chapter 4, Paul makes a dense argument, explaining how Abraham is actually an illustration of what he has been saying about faith. I know this is hard stuff, but it’s worth it!
To understand that point Paul makes with Abraham, we have to go back and be reminded of how the biblical story plays out:
Genesis 3→Adam and Eve rebel against the Lord, bringing death and destruction into the world.
Genesis 4-11→Humanity spirals deeper and deeper into death and destruction, and human idolatry culminates in the Tower of Babel. The result is that humanity is scattered.
Genesis 12→God starts the plan to rescue all of humanity by making a promise—a covenant—to Abraham. Abraham’s family will be the means by which the entire world will be rescued and blessed.
Genesis 15→God renews his promise to Abraham, and Abraham believes in the promise.
Genesis 17→Abraham is given a mark in his flesh—circumcision—as a sign of the covenant.
Exodus 19→Abraham’s descendants—the Israelites—are given a new covenant at Mt. Sinai that is meant to mark Israel as the covenant people.
Israel fails to uphold the covenant, and finds itself in exile.
Jesus obediently keeps the covenant and dies as the perfect Israelite on behalf of His people, thereby bringing blessing to the entire world.
So, Paul looks back at Abraham and sees Abraham as the model believer and the founder of faith because Abraham trusts God even before he receives the mark of circumcision. So, circumcision is not the way you become part of God’s covenant people—faith in the heart is how you become part of God’s covenant people.
So, Paul’s point is that Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of everyone who puts their trust in God.
The Bible says that Abraham trusted God and it was his faith that made him righteous and that was before Abraham was circumcised. Paul’s point: Abraham is the spiritual father of everyone—both Jew and Greek—who puts faith in God. You don’t have to be circumcised in the flesh to be part of Abraham’s family, which means Gentiles who trust Jesus are now part of God’s covenant people.
Why did God do this? Well, Paul explains that when you are paid wages, your employer isn’t giving you a gift, but merely what you are owed. In contrast, when God just blesses someone with grace it’s a free gift and not some obligation that God was forced to provide.
The point: we who have been justified by faith in Jesus ought to be so grateful!