Romans 4:11-12

“ And he received the sign of circumcision, as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be at once the father of all them that believe while in a state of uncircumcision, in order that righteousness may be imputed unto them also; and the father of the circumcised, of them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had in uncircumcision. ”

Καί, and, signifies here: “and in consequence of the justification thus found.” Περιτομῆς, of circumcision, may be made a genitive of apposition: “the sign which is circumcision,” or a genitive of quality: “a sign in the form of circumcision.” The former is the simpler sense. In any case, the reading περιτομήν in two Mjj. is a correction. Circumcision appears even in Gen 17:11 as the sign of the covenant between God and His people. The Rabbins express themselves thus: “God put the sign of love in the flesh.” The term σημεῖον, sign, relates to the material thing; the term σφραγίς, seal, to its religious import. Far, then, from circumcision having been the antecedent condition of Abraham's justification, it was the mark, and consequently the effect of it.

The article τῆς (after the words righteousness of faith), which we have translated by: which he had, may relate to the entire phrase righteousness of faith, or to the word faith taken by itself. If we consider the following expression: “father of all believers ” (not of all the justified), and especially the end of Romans 4:12, we cannot doubt that the article applies to the word faith taken alone: “the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.” The in order that which follows should not be taken in the weakened sense of so that. No doubt Abraham in believing did not set before himself the end of becoming the spiritual father of Gentile believers. But the matter in question here is the intention of God who directed things with this view which was His from the beginning of the history. The real purpose of God extended to the Gentiles; the theocracy was only a means in His mind. Had He not said to Abraham, when calling him, that “in him should all the families of the earth be blessed”? Genesis 12:3.

On the meaning of διά, in the state of, see on Romans 2:27.

The last words: that righteousness might be imputed unto them, should not be regarded as a new end of the: he received the sign, to be added to the first already mentioned (that he might be the father...). The verb is too remote; we must therefore make the that...depend on the participle πιστευόντων. them that believe (though they be not circumcised); not certainly in Hofmann's sense: “who have faith in the fact that it will be imputed to them,” but in the only grammatically admissible sense: “them who believe in order that righteousness may be imputed to them.” There is a desire in faith. It seeks reconciliation with God, and consequently justification.

The pronoun αὐτόν, he (“that he might be, even he ”), is intended to bring the person of Abraham strongly into relief, as called to fill, he, this one solitary man, the double place of father of believing Gentiles (Romans 4:11) and of believing Jews (Romans 4:12). It is very remarkable that the apostle here puts the believers of Gentile origin first among the members of Abraham's posterity. But was it not they in fact who were in the condition most similar to that of the patriarch at the time when he obtained his justification by faith? If, then, a preference was to be given to the one over the other, it was certainly due to them rather than to circumcised Christians. What a complete reversal of Jewish notions!