Romans 4:9-12

9-12. Not only was Abraham justified by faith, but he was justified as essentially a Gentile; he was justified for twenty-five years before he was circumcised. That circumcision was not the antecedent ground of his justification, but the subsequent sign and seal of it. So under Christian dispensation baptism is the seal of infant justification, or upon the adult convert is the sign and seal consequent upon the justification of actual faith.