Justification is Not by Ordinances

Alright, well let's look at chapter 4. And we're going to go verse 9 down through verse 12 today. And then next week I'm going to be taking us through 13 through 16, and then the following week I'll take us through 17 through 22. That's kind of the plan for the next three weeks. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so. Finished up a couple of things I was working on, so now I'm happy and glad to be back here.

I don't want to stand up here for the next 50 minutes and everybody wondering what happened to my arm. I had a bicycle accident last Thursday, so 10 days ago now. It's at the point now where it's really itchy. I've got a big road rash on my leg and my knee. I tend to be wanting to scratch really bad. That's what's going on. Bear with me. I'm trying to keep my hands off of it. Really tempting to scratch the heck out of it.

Alright, so verse 9 of chapter 4, but just to get the flow of the verse context here, let's just start in verse 1 and then we'll read down through verse 12. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, is found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Now to the one who works his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to him who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. But as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.

So verse 9, where we're going to focus this morning. Is this blessing then upon the circumcision or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say, Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised. Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised. that he might be the father of all who believe, without being circumcised, that righteousness might be reckoned to them. And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised."

Okay, verses 9 through 12. Not a particularly tricky section. of Scripture this morning, but I think it's got some pretty profound impact and pretty significant stuff for us. Basic observations as we just approach this passage. If we were to look at Romans chapter 3 in verse 22 all the way through 4.12, which is where we stopped the reading just now, we would see the word faith or the word believe used 15 times, which is quite a bit of usage there. So if we were to focus in on the ones today, verse 9-12, we see circumcision is used 7 times and uncircumcision is used 5 times. Again, obviously, based on this simple observation, we know what's going on, what the topic is, what's kind of being compared and contrasted. So what Bob and also Mike took us through the past couple of weeks in the first part, chapter 4, was it's faith alone apart from works, 4, 1-8 or particularly 3-8. And then today what we're going to see is 4, 9-12 is faith alone apart from circumcision. Kind of set the big picture of where we're going today. Now as we get into it, Paul had already made clear that circumcision, It doesn't carry any merit in becoming righteous before God, take out the righteousness before God.

And we've gone over that in detail as we went through chapter 2 of Romans there. But there still seems to be some confusion. Paul's anticipating that there's going to be some confusion. That's why he's addressing the questions that he's addressing here.

So particularly, is the receiving of God's righteousness in any way connected with the receiving of the ordinances, or is it completely separate? And the ordinance that we're talking about specifically this morning, and with these verses, is the ordinance of circumcision. So is the receiving of God's righteousness in any way connected with circumcision, or is receiving of God's righteousness completely separate from circumcision. That's the question that Paul is anticipating over the confusion that he is addressing there with the believers. So basically he asks two questions.

Is this blessing then upon the circumcised or upon the uncircumcised also? Look at verse 9. Is this blessing then upon the circumcision or upon the uncircumcision also? And just simply put, he's talking about the same blessing that's mentioned in verse 7 and is mentioned in verse 8. Verse 7 says, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Verse 8, blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. So then, verse 9, is this blessing then upon the circumcision or is it also upon the uncircumcision?

He's just asking that question straight out. The second question that he's going to ask is this, was Abraham circumcised or uncircumcised when his faith was reckoned him as righteous? And he poses that question to us in verse 10. So how then was it reckoned? Was it while he was circumcised or while uncircumcised, and it gives us the answer there, not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

So let's just take a quick overview of Abraham's life and see what happened when. I think this will help us to put some of these things into context, the flow of what this passage is specifically talking about. So let's go back to Genesis, and let's go all the way back to chapter 12. And let's just read through some of these verses talking about Abraham's life and what happened when. Okay. 12, 1-3.

So now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So here we see that the initiation of the Abrahamic Covenant, this agreement, or this covenant, this binding arrangement between God and Abraham. And Mike talked about this a bit, but I listened to his tape, that this was an unconditional agreement, it wasn't conditioned upon Abraham's obedience or disobedience, which is an agreement that God made with him, and God's going to carry it out, no matter what Abraham does. So Mike expounded upon this a good bit. Now, kind of three main points, not to go into detail of the Abrahamic Covenant this morning, But just to give us an idea of what this is about, this is the agreement where God said, I will make of you a great nation, I'm going to bless you and make your name great, and you, all the families of the earth, will be blessed.

It comes straight out of those first three verses there in chapter 12. So it says, hey, what's the Abrahamic covenant all about? These are three big statements that you can kind of consolidate the whole Abrahamic covenant down into. Chapter 12, there we see God makes the agreement there. So let's go over to chapter 13 and let's look at verses 14 and then down through 18. What we see here is simply a reiteration of the covenant.

And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which ye see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as a dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.'

And Abraham moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the yokes of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord. reiterating what he had already told them back in chapter 12, verses 1-3. Now, in chapter 15, if we want to read through verses 1-6. Bill, would you read that for us? After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram.

I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be great. O Lord God, what will you give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliza of Damascus? And Abram said, Since you have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir. Then, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, The man will not be your heir, but one who will come forth from you, your own body, he shall be your heir. And he took him outside and said, Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. Then he believed in the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Great, thanks.

Okay, so we see this conversation between Abraham and God. Again, reiteration of the covenant, which began in 12, Charon 13. And this is the first mention where we see that Abraham believed in the Lord, and it was counted unto him as righteousness." Now, that's a huge theme they were talking about in Romans chapter 4. This is the first place that we see him mention that he believed in the Lord and that he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Again, just kind of getting the chronology, what happened when, and then let's go to chapter 17, over two chapters, and let's look at verses 9 through 11.

And God said further to Abraham, Now as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. And this is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you, and your descendants after you, every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. Now, there it brings in what we're going to talk about a lot this morning, this idea of circumcision.

It's interesting, as I read and I studied this out, some said that it was 14 years and some said that it was 29 years between his faith being reckoned as righteousness and his being circumcised. So, what we read in chapter 15 of his faith being counted as righteousness in chapter 17, of his circumcision.

Some said 14, some said 29. That's a pretty big difference of thought there. But both respectable, actually it was four guys, two all pretty respectable, two said 14 and two said 29. So I just put it up there as both. I'm not quite sure. I didn't take the time to study it out any further than that. Right, exactly.

The earliest would be 14 years, so a pretty big span of time there between his faith being counted as righteousness and his circumcision. So faith came first, then came the circumcision by as much as 14 years. Just at 17, 5, where he told them his name, what behavior he had, so you could mark the distinction also between...

That's right. Good point. Did everybody hear that? Say that again, Bill. It's in 17, verse 17, 5, where the Lord tells him he shall no longer be called Abram, but be called Abraham. And so you can mark that distinction between the point of circumcision and before based on the name change. That's right. Good point.

So it was his faith, or it was belief, which was reckoned as righteousness, completely independent of his circumcision, because circumcision came years later. So there's no circumcision being involved here in being counted as righteous. The ordinance of circumcision was not reckoned as righteousness, nor was it faith plus circumcision, which was reckoned as righteousness. It was absolutely independent of this ordinance of circumcision.

Just simple, basic observations here. As in verses 1-8, good works or anything else, such as circumcision, that man can do to earn merit is being set aside. We saw that's what the point was in verses 1-8. Good works on the part of man is being set aside when it comes to being made righteous before God. Righteousness before God is only based on faith, totally apart from good works. So what we're seeing here is righteousness before God is only based on faith, completely independent of circumcision. Circumcision came, sure, no doubt, it's got its point. We're going to see what the point is in a minute. But it has no merit, no value, no worth when it comes to being righteous before God.

So Paul was trying to get them to see that it was a simple faith of Abraham, which he had before circumcision, which was counted as righteousness. Any thoughts? I'm trying to think of different ways I could say it. It's interesting to think of this in terms of baptism, or possessions, or all the other things that some people would set out as requirements.

That's right, exactly. Good point. Okay, let's go back to our text, Romans 4. So, let's just read through 9 and 10 again. So, it's talking about the blessing that is up in verse 7 and 8. Is this blessing then upon the circumcised or upon the uncircumcised also? What would you say? Is it upon both? Absolutely, you got it. The blessing is upon both. It's upon the circumcision and it is upon the uncircumcised. So how was it reckoned? While he was circumcised or yet uncircumcised? It was uncircumcised. And it answers the question there in verse 10 for us. But I wanted to lay out the chronology for you all so that we could see how it all played out and how it all worked out. Okay, and you were making the very same point here.

Bill, in what ordinance or sacraments do people trust in today? Baptism, Lord's Supper or Communion, Mass, different things like that that some people can get hung up on. It's faith plus this. If you haven't been baptized or if you haven't come down front in the church, then your salvation is going to be questioned. That's not correct. It's easy for these things, as you were mentioning, for people to get hung up in these things today.

So, what an awesome passage, as we're talking to people, to take them to this passage here in Romans 4, 1-12, particularly if you're going to get hung up on an ordinance or a sacrament of some kind, take them to this passage and explain to them, Abraham is saying, or God is saying through His Word, no, it is faith alone, plus nothing, nothing at all on your part.

Okay, so we read in Exodus, oh, we didn't read that. Let's go to Exodus 11. Let's read this. Exodus 17, verse 11. That's not that's not right. I was I at 1711. Yeah. OK. I'm sorry. That shouldn't be access. That needs to be just what we did read. That's a typo. They're pretty big typo. How do you type in Exodus and what you meant to type in Genesis? Yeah. Scratch that out.

So we did read it, and Genesis 17, 11 says, And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. So let's talk about this sign for just a minute, because Romans 11 says the same thing, and it's going to be a sign. So Genesis 17, 11 and Romans 4, 11 are both mentioning the same thing here. So in Genesis, take that out again, scratch that Exodus out, sorry about that. In Genesis it is a sign of the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant between God and Abraham, in which God said, we already mentioned that up ahead earlier.

And so this sign is how a person is distinguished from others. And it was an identifying marker which simply came after their faith in God for the people of God that they have been set apart from the rest of the world. Simply put, it was an identifying marker that people would know that they are God's people set apart from the rest of the world. That's how they would be identified there.

Similar to baptism today. But again, baptism, which comes after faith, it's not something that is combined with faith to bring about salvation. It comes after faith, and it's an outward sign that a believer has now been placed into Christ, and is separated from the world, separated unto God and separated from the world.

So in Romans circumcision is said to be a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had while uncircumcised. Verse 11 there, Romans 4, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised." So the seal is that by which anything is confirmed or approved or authenticated as by a seal.

And I got that from Thayer's Greek lexicon there. So the idea here is that Abraham's circumcision confirms his righteous status before God. It was to set him apart and it was to confirm that he had believed, to confirm that he had been counted righteous before God. It didn't add anything to it, but it was confirming or authenticating it. It was a seal or a sign of it for that. And 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 2, so that the believers are a seal of the Apostle Paul, confirming his apostleship.

We won't take the time to look into that one, but the same idea is used there of this word seal. Any thoughts? Questions about that? Yeah? I understand that it's a seal for Abraham. and he's counted righteous before God. But what about the generations coming? They were circumcised as children. They weren't counted righteous, were they? Well, we're going to get into that. Obviously, they're circumcised because they're going to be carrying out the ordinance that was given to them.

And if they follow after the faith of Abraham, then they're going to be counted as righteous. And it gets into that in verse 12. And he's a father of the circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham. So it's possible for someone to be circumcised, but not to be following after the faith in the steps of the faith of Abraham.

So that gets to your... I guess in that case, it just identifies them as part of Abraham's generation. Sure, yeah. But not necessarily about their faith. Right, because obviously they departed from God. They didn't follow after God. They followed after others. But the idea was that it would be a sign that these are God's people. These are the chosen people of God. You know, from Jacob to, you know, then on down to Israel.

Okay? So... So... I can see people, and I'm sure it happened, where they hung their hat on the back, well, I'm circumcised, so I'm okay. And they just go on their way. Yeah. And... Same kind of people that think that... Right, I was exactly interested. That's right, exactly right, sure. But I think, go ahead Bill. They were chosen but they still had a choice. That's right.

And probably the difference now is that as our faith requires also our death, that from God's perspective our choice is gone because the Adamic man is dead. And so whatever choices he makes are immaterial. Right. But once we're saved we still need to walk by faith.

Right. And we can walk by faith because we're no longer walking by guilt. Right. That's right. That becomes the possibility. We're no longer separated from God. We're no longer under the law and operating under guilt. Right. So all of those things become possible. And on the other side, whatever the Adam-man-ness does becomes immaterial. Because from a heavenly perspective, he's dead. That's right. That's right. It's, you know, God doesn't, it's no use to God. I'm sure what he's done to the old man, shouldn't have been the fly. Sure. Yeah. Does that help you out, Ruth? Sure. Yeah.

So just because the nation of Israel was circumcised, that doesn't mean that everybody... But for Abraham it was. Absolutely, that's right. But the distinction is made in verse 12 between those who were circumcised and were walking in the steps of the faith of Abraham and those who were not. Any other thoughts, a couple of questions or ideas from over here? Kayla, you've got a confused look. Are you confused?

Okay. Alright. Okay. Alright. So, faith was reckoned as righteousness so that certain things might happen. His faith was reckoned as righteousness while uncircumcised so that he might be the spiritual father of all who believe, either Jews or Gentiles. Circumcised or uncircumcised, it doesn't matter. Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe. And I think that's the point of why his faith was reckoned to him as unrighteousness. If you boil this all down, when he was uncircumcised, that's why his faith was reckoned to him as unrighteousness while he was uncircumcised. so that this could be true.

He would be the father of all Gentiles, believers, Jewish believers, circumcised. It didn't matter. Blow this whole thing down. That's really the main point right there. He might be the spiritual father of all who believe, either Jews or Gentiles, circumcised or uncircumcised. It didn't matter.

He would be the spiritual father of all. father to those without being circumcised, so the righteousness would be reckoned unto them, the same way that it was to Abraham. There would be no distinction, there would be no difference whatsoever. So if someone believes without circumcision, no problem, because that's the same way that Abraham was.

The issue was faith. The issue wasn't circumcision, the issue was faith. So that's why Paul is bringing this point out. Was his faith reckoned as righteous before or after what it was before? Because there's tons of people who have believed without being circumcised.

So because Abraham believed while uncircumcised, he is the spiritual father of all Gentile believers. Thoughts, questions? Not only is he the father of all who believe without being circumcised, or the father of all who believe of the uncircumcised, but he's also the father of the circumcision, verse 12. But notice, because he believed and was also circumcised, therefore he is the spiritual father of all Jewish believers. just as he is the Gentile believers, boom, there he is also of the Jewish believers. Now, Ruth, you kind of talk about again what you were asking, not only of the circumcision, but more specifically to those who follow in the steps of the faith of Abraham while he was uncircumcised.

That's really, it's clarifying that point, see, there for us. And these would be Jewish Christians. And post-Paul, we're not talking about Old Testament saints, we're talking about now, Paul's writing to this audience in Rome at this time, and even today, these would be Jewish believers that are being talked about here, that have the faith of Abraham. Therefore, they're Jewish Christians, Jewish believers.

You don't necessarily... I mean, you do hear Jews, out of trust of the Lord, referred to as Jewish Christians, but that distinction really doesn't need to be made because we're all part of the body of Christ. But for this text here, I chose to use the word Jewish Christians because that's kind of the context we're talking about, but they're no longer viewed as separate Jewish Christians. We're all... we're now the church.

There's not Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians, but now it's the church all. by the Holy Spirit baptized into the body of Christ, making up the church. So, again, reiterating your point, if someone is only circumcised but does not believe in God, then Abraham is not their spiritual father. Again, kind of driving that. I'm sure that happened a lot in the Old Testament, during Abraham's time. I'm sure there were tons of people that due to the ordinance and the commandment by God for people to be circumcised, they were, but they didn't follow after the steps of faith of Abraham.

Sure. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Good point. Just all the kings that took Israel in the wrong direction. Yeah. Worshipped other gods and human sacrifices. That's right. Yeah. But all the while I think that Manasseh of Israel was probably... That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

And the same thing was mentioned, someone might say, boy, well, I've been baptized, or I was baptized as a child. If that's what is already stated, if that's what one is hanging their hat on, and not that personal faith in the death, prayer, and resurrection of Christ, then boy, you haven't entered into a right relationship with God. You haven't been declared righteous before God. dependency is on it, that's what you're depending on. So, same thing, interesting how that happens.

Okay, again, circumcision or ordinances do not save, but it's faith, and that's the bottom line of what this passage is driving at. So, the focus of circumcision is removed and the focus is simply put on faith. And then the act that man did circumcision was removed so that man would have nothing to boast of. Previous verses, verses 1-8, the good works of man was absolutely removed so that there would be no debt. I've done this, therefore you owe me this back. Nah, that was completely removed.

That through the argument of Paul did in verses 1-8. So here we're seeing the same thing, but in the ordinance of circumcision. I did this, therefore, you know, I'm in a right relationship with God? Uh-uh. No. It's by faith, and it's by faith alone, absolutely independent and separate from circumcision. Yeah. You have a question, Bar? No? Okay. So this leaves faith as the only way to enter into the righteousness of God.

I think that's the point that Paul was driving at through these four verses. When you look at the history we've just gone through in Genesis, it's obvious that Abram believed before he saw any of the fruits of this promise at all. That's right. I mean, obviously, he was a very well-placed individual, but he didn't attribute any of that to God. That was his father. And he placed him as the head of all these flocks and all those herds and all this stuff. Right. He had no child. The promise was made that he had no child. He kept his faith. He had no nation. He had no land.

That's right. That's right. But he believed. Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's right. What's that? Yeah, I forget, yeah. Yeah, so there's faith on his part, based on simply the Word of God. You know, God said it. We read the covenant, initiating of the covenant agreement in chapter 12. God said it, and then I'm going to believe it. He didn't see it right away. So, you know, what about us, you know? That really boils down to faith, faith in what God has said.

Sometimes we don't feel like that we're accepted and beloved. Sometimes we might not feel like that we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places or circumstances might tend to be overwhelming us at that time. It might not feel like I'm dead to sin and I'm alive unto God. But that's the point, is that it's faith in the facts of the Lord Jesus Christ and not in what we see to be true at that time or feel to be true at that time.

And Abraham is an excellent example. Therefore, he shows up in Hebrews 11, in kind of the hall of faith there, and he's used as a tremendous example here in Romans chapter 4. When I went to college and got involved in a kind of cultish group, they said that you had to be baptized to be saved. So they'd do it in the middle of the night or whenever you believed.

So I did that and I knew about the gospel and everything, but I didn't really have faith, I don't think. So I went and got baptized for the next 10 years. I thought I was a Christian, but I couldn't figure out why I didn't feel. My life didn't change. Nothing really happened. But I had gotten baptized. And then I became a real Christian. I put my faith in God and got baptized again.

It was just so different. Wow. How about that? It was just exactly like that saying. That's right. Wow. Thanks for sharing that example. That's exactly what we're talking about. There's got to be hundreds of thousands of people that have done the exact same thing. Boy, thank the Lord for the grace of God to show you otherwise. That's awesome. That's right.

People can twist it. That's all that I had for today. Any other thoughts or comments or questions? It wasn't a real tricky passage. Straightforward and boom. But I think it's an awesome point. What a tremendous point. Any other thoughts? Usually we are pressed to beat bell number two, and today we're not.

It's interesting, yes, he repeats this all, all of this section of Romans at least, again in Hebrews, expands upon it, stretches it out in different ways. Yeah. And apparently he's speaking to the same group. Here he's speaking to Hebrew believers in Rome, or probably anywhere in the Roman Empire, and in Hebrews he's speaking to Hebrew believers, and it's still the same thing, they're getting swept back by it.

That's right. Yeah, isn't that something? Did you guys catch Bill's point? A huge source of, it was a big problem. Big, big problem. I guess you're getting satisfied with getting halfway there. Yeah, yeah. Satisfied with baptism. or satisfied with just being circumcised.

So the amount of scriptural evidence where Paul is dealing with it, the way you bring up Bill, it was a huge problem, and it is today. It's basically a bullseye of legalism. You've got to do this in order to be right with the Lord. And obviously that's a great, tremendous problem today in the church.

Do you know of any other examples, Old Testament, I guess, where it talks about people trusting in their circumcision? for righteousness as opposed to the faith first and then... Yeah. Not off the top of my head. I'm trying to figure out, like, where did the tradition start? Where did it stand off track and start legalizing it? I don't know. Not off the top of my head. I have to look and see where is there more evidence for that in the Old Testament. It started in Genesis chapter 17. That's where circumcision began. Where God gave that word to the Abraham as a sign for the Abraham covenant. You don't see circumcision mentioned prior to Genesis chapter 17. That's where it was put forth by the Lord.

It's interesting, you know, I have to look into that, but whatever, anything that man, it seems like anything that man can do, in and of themselves, they tend to grab that and make that the main thing. It's apart from faith. So here's something that God gave. Is the thing that God gave wrong? No. But it's what man made of the thing that God gave, which is wrong. In Romans 7, is the law the problem? No. But it's man's sinfulness that is the problem. It's what man made of the law. It's what man wasn't able to keep the law. That was the problem. Alright, well let's pray. Lord, thanks for this morning. Thanks for our class and our time and just the clarity. of what it is that your scriptures are saying, that it's faith and faith alone that brings us into a right relationship with you.