Sermon Tone Analysis

There is an expression in comedy, that timing is everything.

What makes a joke funny is not only the punch line, but when you drop the punch line.

The timing is everything!

Well what is true in comedy, is actually true in theology too.

When we try to understand the Bible we need to understand not just what happened, but when it happened.

The timing is everything.

This is true in the passage we are looking at this morning.

What happened is important but when it happened is even more important.

In the passage we are looking at this morning the Apostle Paul, this foundational teacher of Christianity is illustrating the key point of his letter, he is really illustrating the key point of the Christian gospel, the Christian good news.

He is explaining and illustrating that that all people’s from all backgrounds, from all nations, from all places, from all races, can all be made right with God because God will declare them righteous based on the righteousness of Christ!

Please notice what I am saying, I am not saying that all people’s from all places, from all backgrounds, and all races can be right with God if they will just become righteous.

I am not saying (and this is what most people think Christianity is saying) that you can be right with God if you quite doing wrong and you start to live a righteous life.

I am not saying that you get righteous before God by being righteous before a Holy God.

No, I am saying, really, more importantly Paul is saying that all peoples, from all places, and all backgrounds, and all races can be righteous before God if He gives them the righteousness of Jesus.

I am saying that when a person believes in Jesus God credits Jesus righteousness to their account, he imputes it to them, he gives it to them, and when he gives it to them he declares them righteous and they are right before God.

In other words the gospel is more like clothes than medicine.

The gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus Christ is not that if you take God’s medicine from the Bible you will get better and become a better person.

No, the gospel is that if you believe in Jesus, then God will clothe you in the righteousness of Jesus.

The gospel starts

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.

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.

Who is this blessing for?

Does it exclude (only) circumcised or uncircumcised?

The Blessing being spoken of is justification by faith (experienced by David).

At this point in the argument the question has a bit of a rhetorical flair?

Paul has already answered the question he is posing several times (1:5, 16-17, 3:23-24, 3:28-29).

So here he is pressing the point.

He asks the question and then lays down the premise he has been asking.

He asks, who is this blessing for, and then he says we have shown it is for Abraham, now what does the blessing of Justification by Faith mean, what does it mean that Justification by Faith for Abraham mean, does it mean that Justification by faith excludes the Gentiles or includes them.

The answer is that it includes them because Abraham was like them.

Paul shows this by asking a question about how Abraham was justified, was it before or after he was circumcised?

If it was after then you might be able to argue that Justification by faith was only for circumcised people like him.

But this is not how it went down, Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, so circumcision could not be the cause of his blessing.

Circumcision was rather 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.

It also makes him the forefather of all who are not just circumcised but also walk by faith.

When you have a forefather like Abraham you realize that you are from a sinful people.

When you have a forefather like Abraham you realize that you are from a people of faith

When you have a forefather like Abraham you realize the place of signs and seals.

Circumcision came 13 years after faith

Obviously, then, the rite of circumcision, which many Jews rely on for salvation, contributes in no way to one’s status before God.

It gives them no special standing before Him because they must be declared righteous on the basis of faith in God.

Witmer, J. A. (1985).

Romans.

In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.),

The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol.

2, p. 453).

Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Paul has proved that Abraham was not justified on account of his works in general and now proves that circumcision was neither the basis nor condition for Abraham’s acceptance.

Different cultures tend to see things differently (Danes smoke, the English will not mix bath - see Hanson book on conscience)

Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

The word translated blessedness means, more accurately, “declaration of blessedness”: “This declaration of blessedness, is it on—that is, is it about—the circumcision only?”

Different cultures tend to see things differently (Danes smoke, the English will not mix bath - see Hanson book on conscience)

Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

The phrase “righteousness of the faith” (kjv) is a concise expression for “righteousness which is attained by faith,” or

Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

The word “father” expresses community in nature or character and is often applied to the head or founder of any school or class of men whose character or course is determined by the relation to the person so designated: as in , “Jabal … was the father of those who live in tents,” and “Jubal … was the father of all who play the harp and flute.”

Hence teachers, priests, and kings are often called “fathers.”

Believers are called the children of Abraham because of this identity of religious nature or character, as he stands out in Scripture as the believer; because with him the covenant of grace, embracing all the children of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, was reenacted; and because they are his heirs, inheriting the blessings promised to him.

As Abraham was the head and father of the theocratic people in the Old Testament, this relation was not disowned when the middle wall of partition was broken down and the Gentiles were introduced into the family of God.

Abraham still remained the father of the faithful, for “those who believe are children of Abraham” ().

Abraham’s faith “is reckoned for righteousness” when God promised him a son (); but it is not until much later—twenty-nine years, according to the rabbis—that he is circumcised ()

Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

268).

Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.Hodge, C. (1993).

Romans ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Paul tells us what this “sign” was in an appositive addition: “a seal of the righteousness of faith that was his when he was uncircumcised.”

calls circumcision a “sign of the covenant.”

In light of the tendency among Paul’s Jewish contemporaries to identify this covenant as the Mosaic covenant, Paul’s decision to connect the signatory value of circumcision with “the righteousness of faith” () is emphatic.

Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

268).

Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.Righteousness is counted in verse 11 whereas it is faith which is counted in verse 9.

Righteousness is counted in verse 11 whereas it is faith which is counted in verse 9.

You are part of a great family right now - not a false pride in a sinful family, or false shame that you do not have a notable family - you are now part of the greatest family of all time, Abraham’s family, Jesus’ family.

In any case, Paul uses the word to denote something that “confirms” the truth or reality of something else, as in , where Paul describes the Corinthian believers themselves as the “seal,” the confirmation and authentication, of his apostleship.

In like manner, Abraham’s circumcision confirms his righteous status, a status that was his by virtue of his faith.