Romans 4.12-Abraham is also the Spiritual Father of Those Jews Who Trust in Jesus Christ as Savior
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 24, 2008
Romans: Romans 4:12-Abraham is also the Spiritual Father of the Jews Who Trust in Jesus Christ as Savior
Lesson # 124
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter four.
On Tuesday evening we began a study of Romans 4:11, in which Paul reveals the two-fold purpose of circumcision.
In Romans 4:11a, Paul pointed out that the Lord’s first purpose in commanding Abraham to be circumcised was so that circumcision would be the distinguishing mark that would serve as confirmation of the divine righteousness he received by means of faith in the Lord.
Then, in Romans 4:11b, he taught that the second purpose in the Lord commanding Abraham to circumcise himself was so that he might become the spiritual father of all the Gentiles who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Therefore, since Abraham was declared justified by God by virtue of his faith in the Lord before he was circumcised, then it follows that Abraham is the spiritual father of the uncircumcised who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior as well as the circumcised who do so as well as Abraham did before he was circumcised.
In Romans 4:12, Paul teaches us that Abraham is not only the father of the Jews racially or biologically but also, he is the spiritual father of those Jews who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Romans 4:1, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?”
Romans 4:2, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Romans 4:4, “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.”
Romans 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”
Romans 4:6, “just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.”
Romans 4:7, “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.”
Romans 4:8, “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
Romans 4:9, “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, ‘FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Romans 4:10, “How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.”
Romans 4:11, “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them.”
Romans 4:12, “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.”
Corrected translation of Romans 4:11-12:
Romans 4:11, “In fact, he had undergone the distinguishing mark, namely, circumcision as confirmation of the righteousness, that is by means of faith, which he had when uncircumcised in order that he himself might, as an eternal spiritual truth, be the spiritual father over each and every person who does believe while uncircumcised so that righteousness might be credited to them for their benefit.”
Romans 4:12, “In addition that he himself might, as an eternal spiritual truth, be the father over the circumcision, not only with reference to those from the circumcision, absolutely not. But also, with reference to those who do imitate the example produced by our father Abraham’s faith, which he exercised when uncircumcised.”
Romans 4:12, “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.”
“And” is the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction kai (kaiV), which is used to introduce an “additional” purpose in the Lord commanding Abraham to circumcise himself.
Romans 4:12 is “elliptical” meaning that Paul leaves out words but they are clearly implied and should be supplied from the previous verse.
In Romans 4:11, the prepositional phrase eis to einai auton, “so that he might be” can be inserted between kai, “and” and patera, “the father” at this point in Romans 4:12 since Paul is using the figure of ellipsis meaning that the words are clearly implied but are omitted for emphasis.
“The father” is the noun pater (pathVr), which denotes the fact that Abraham was the “prototype” of the racial group called the “Jews,” or in other words, he is the founder of the Jews.
“Of circumcision” is the noun peritome (peritomhv) (per-it-om-ay), which is a designation for those members of the human race who are descendants racially of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and members of the nation of Israel.
Therefore, the word denotes nationality distinguishing the Jew from the Gentile.
It refers to those individuals who have received the surgical and ritual act of cutting the foreskin of the male’s penis as a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his biological descendants that they were set apart by God to be His people.
The use of peritome as a designation for the Jew is attested to in other passages in the Greek New Testament (Acts 10:45; Galatians 2:1-12; Ephesians 2:11-12; Colossians 4:10-11; Titus 1:10-11).
Romans 4:12, “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.”
“To those not who not only are of the circumcision” emphatically negates the idea that Abraham’s fatherhood is limited or relegated to being the biological or racial progenitor of the Jews.
“Who follow” is the verb stoicheo (stoixevw) (stoy-kheh-o), which means, “to imitate, to conduct oneself in the same manner as someone else” since it is used with the articular dative form of the noun ichnos, which as we will note means, “example.”
The word means, “to imitate” the example of Abraham who trusted in the Lord to fulfill His promises of a child and numerous progeny even though he was childless when he received these promises from the Lord.
“In the steps” is the noun ichnos (i&xno$) (ikh-nos), which literally means, “footprint, footstep” and metaphorically, it refers an example set by someone.
In Romans 4:12, Paul uses the word in a figurative sense referring to the “example” of Abraham who placed his absolute confidence in the Lord to fulfill His promises to him.
“Of the faith” is the noun pistis (pivsti$) (pis-tis), which in context refers to Abraham’s non-meritorious decision “to place his absolute confidence in” the preincarnate Christ to deliver on His promise of a child and numerous progeny despite the fact that Abraham was childless when he received the promise.
The noun pistis functions as a “genitive of production” which indicates that this example was “produced by the faith” of Abraham.
“Our father” indicates that Paul is identifying with his Jewish countrymen.
“Abraham” is the proper name Abraam ( )Abraavm) (ab-rah-am), which refers to the prophet of God (Genesis 20:7) whose name means, “father of a multitude,” whose story is recorded in Genesis 11:27-25:11 and who was the recipient of covenant promises from God as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3, 6-9; 13:14-18, 15:6, 18-21; 17; 22:15-18).
Romans 4:12, “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.”
“Which he had while uncircumcised” indicates that Abraham’s exercised his faith in the Lord to deliver on His promises of a child and numerous progeny while he was still in the state of being uncircumcised.
In Romans 4:1-12, Paul concludes that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to be declared justified in the judgment of God.
God is the “spiritual” Father of all who place their trust in His Son Jesus Christ regardless of their racial background, whether Jew or Gentile.
W.H.G. Thomas writes, “It was not for Gentiles to enter by the Jewish gateway but for the Jews to enter by the same gateway at the Gentiles. This was indeed a striking turning of the tables on Jewish exclusiveness” (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953, page 136)]).
Remember, in chapter four, Paul is attempting to demonstrate to his Jewish audience that the message of his gospel, that justification by means of faith, is not a new method of salvation since God has always declared men justified by means of faith in Him.
He attempts to answer possible objections, which might be offered by his Jewish audience as a result of his teaching in Romans chapter three.
In Romans 1:18-3:8, Paul presents the evidence against both Jew and Gentile.
In Romans 3:9, he arraigns the entire human race in the court room of heaven.
In Romans 3:10-17, he indicts them and in Romans 3:18, he presents the motive behind the human race’s crimes against a holy God.
In Romans 3:19-20, he presents the guilty verdict, declaring that every member of the human race without exception is worthy of eternal condemnation, having absolutely no merit with God.
In Romans 3:21-31, Paul argues that Jesus Christ received the death penalty on behalf of the entire human race with His spiritual death satisfying the demands of God’s holiness, which required that human sin be judged.
In this passage, Paul teaches that the sinner is declared justified by God by means of faith in Jesus Christ apart from observing the Law, which would exclude human boasting meaning that no human being has merit with God except for Jesus Christ.
In Romans 4:1-5, Paul presents Abraham as an example from the Mosaic Law whose story is recorded in the first book of the Law, Genesis.
Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, which emphasizes that Abraham was declared justified by means of his faith in the Lord.
Then, in Romans 4:6-8, he presents David as an example from the Prophets.
Then, in Romans 4:9-12, Paul anticipates the arguments of the Judaizers who might infer that justification and the forgiveness of sins were intended for the Jew only.
The reason being is that he had just cited examples from the Old Testament to confirm his teaching in Romans 3:21-31 that justification is by means of faith in Jesus rather than by a meritorious system of works.
The Old Testament was given to the nation of Israel exclusively and not Gentiles, thus by citing Old Testament passages, Paul’s opponents might infer from this that salvation is for the Jew only and not the Gentile.
Paul’s premise is that Abraham’s faith was regarded by God as righteousness and in fact, divine righteousness was credited to him.
The question arises, “Was this declaration of righteousness made before or after Abraham obeyed the Lord’s command to be circumcised?”
The obvious answer is that it was before he observed the ritual of circumcision.
Abraham became the first Jew when he obeyed the Lord’s command to be circumcised.
Circumcision was to be the sign of the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and his progeny, i.e. the nation of Israel.
Therefore, Abraham was saved as a Gentile before he received circumcision.
Abraham was saved several hundred years before Moses received the Law from the Lord on Mount Sinai.
However, some Jews might argue that the Lord gave Abraham the command to be circumcised, thus identifying him with the nation of Israel and the Law.
But the chronology of events in Genesis as we noted reveals that Abraham received the righteousness of God well before he obeyed the command to be circumcised.
Thus, in Romans chapter four, Paul presents incontrovertible evidence from the Old Testament Scriptures that justification by means of faith has always been the method by which God saves the sinner regardless of your racial background.