NOTES for Rom 4:9-11
9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. |
10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. |
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: |
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Paul draws attention to a fact that was touched on more than once in rabbinic discussions of his era: Abraham heard God, recognized Him, and believed Him before the giving of the Torah, and even before the day when he was circumcised. Circumcision was a most important moment; for Jews at that time, and for Orthodox believing Jews today, the world is divided into the circumcised and the uncircumcised, one's own and outsiders, Jews and Gentiles.
In this connection there was much debate in rabbinic circles about the exact moment when Abraham becomes "the father of all who believe." The apostle asserts that he became so at the very moment when he trusted God. The Torah and circumcision came later. And this is understandable. Indeed, the Torah is ultimately not an end in itself; it is only a means on the path of righteousness. On that very path which, according to Paul, is now, after the coming of Christ, possible only together with Him.
Therefore faith is the main thing. The issue is, of course, not what we often call faith today, not dogmatics whose correctness we are convinced of, not creeds we are ready to defend, and not even a worldview we regard as the most correct and adequate. The issue is faith in the biblical sense of the word, faith as trust and as the relationships that flow from such trust. And relationships are always dynamic and always present. Always here and now.
The Torah only helps us order our life, inner and outer, so that relationships with God, relationships with Christ, always remain for us the center around which everything else is gathered. The "works of the Torah," including even so important a work as circumcision, are already the third, outer level of human existence. It is, of course, significant too, but it does not determine a person's relationships with God and people. Thus the apostle builds the hierarchy of levels of existence, or, as a modern philosopher might say, existential layers, without which full Christian life will be at least difficult, if not impossible.
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