Romans 4:9-10 - Exposition

Cometh this blessedness then (properly, is then this blessing ) upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How ( i.e., as the context shows, under what circumstances ) was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision . Faith, and not works, having been shown to be the principle of Abraham's justification, and those who were under the Mosaic Law, represented by David, having been seen to have shared the blessing of being so justified, the question still remains, whether it may not be confined to them only, or to Abraham's circumcised descendants only. That this cannot be is shown in two ways: firstly ( Romans 4:10-13 ), from the fact that Abraham was himself uncircumcised when he was spoken of as being thus justified, so that neither the capability nor the inheritance of such justification can be viewed as dependent on circumcision; and, secondly ( Romans 4:13-16 ), it is argued that the Law could not appropriate the privilege to his carnal descendants, the very principle of law being the opposite of that on which Abraham is said to have been justified. Thus the seed, innumerable as the stars, to be understood as inheritors of the promise made to him, and sharers in his blessing, are not his circumcised descendants, but a spiritual seed—they which are of faith being the true children of Abraham ( Galatians 3:7 ).