The Gospel Preached to Abraham

How did Abraham become the father of us all?

Bible Passage: Romans 4:9-25

Romans 4:9–25 ESV

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 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. 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, 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. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Within the first 4 verses of this passage, the term circumcision is repeated 10 ten times! Clearly this was a big deal for the Roman believers. So why was this such a focal point of Paul’s teaching?

As we discussed last week, Judaism by the 1st century AD, had become focused on outward signs of the law. As a gentile believer, if my Jewish brothers asked me to refrain from work from Friday evening to Saturday evening, that is keeping the Sabbath, I think I could live with that.

If these Jewish brothers asked me to stop eating pork and shellfish in the name of solidarity, I think that would be easy enough to do.

But if these same brothers demanded that in order to validate my newfound faith in Jesus that I, as a grown man, had to be circumcised without anesthesia, that might cause me to rethink my faith!

I mean if I grew up Jewish and was circumcised on the 8th day when I had no idea what was going on, nor would i have had any voluntary choice in the matter, then so be it.… but to be circumcised as an adult??

When we go back to Torah, we learn the true meaning of circumcision that had been lost among the first century Jews:

Deuteronomy 10:15–16 ESV

Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

The circumcision of the law was just an outward sign of the covenant loyalty that Abraham modeled for all his children. Gentile believers are now invited into covenant with Yahweh through believing AND active loyalty to King Jesus apart from the law of Moses.

The law brought wrath to Israel because she failed in observing the very first commandment - You shall have no other elohim before me. The focal point of Israel’s apostasy was the worship of other gods. No amount of physical circumcision could possibly fix this problem.

But we can receive AND experience the good news that Jesus fulfilled ALL the requirements of the law and made HIS righteousness accessible through faithfulness and loyalty.

Let’s now jump over to Paul’s letter to the Galatians to better understand the nature of God’s promise to Abraham.

Galatians 3:8 ESV

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

We discussed last week that the gospel message is more than just that your personal sins are forgiven and now you are going to heaven. The gospel message that Abraham received was a promise of God Himself redeeming all the nations back into His divine family.

In our passage from Romans, Paul continues by commending Abraham’s faith in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In the immediate context, Paul is speaking about Abraham’s belief that God could produce children through Sarai dead barren womb.

It’s no coincidence that Rebekah his son’s wife, and Rachel his grandson’s wife, both endured the stigma of barrenness before God gave life to the dead, further solidifying His divine intervention in the creation of the nation of Israel.

Our God turns curses into blessing.

But I would like to propose a broader application of resurrection in the Abrahamic covenant.

If you recall from last week, in Genesis 11, Yahweh judged and disinherited all the nations, including Abraham’s ancestors, and assigned them to the authority of His created elohim. These are the principalities, powers and authorities in heavenly places that Paul describes in his letter to the Ephesians.

Essentially, all the nations of the earth became dead to God. Soon thereafter in Genesis 12, Yahweh begins His divine rescue plan for all the nations by calling Abram out of Mesopotamia to form a new nation. In a sense, resurrecting Abram from the dead.