“How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised” (Romans 4:10).
The Biblical account of Abraham does not specify when God deemed him righteous on account of his faith. However, we can establish a timeline that supports this conclusion from Romans 4:10 by piecing together several events from Abraham’s life.
The first data point on our timeline comes to us from Genesis 15:6: “[Abraham] believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (CSB). In the following chapter, we read how Abraham fathered a son named Ishmael at his wife’s behest. Ishmael’s mother was Hagar, a maidservant who served as a type of surrogate mother. That portion of Scripture also provides us with Ishmael’s approximate date of birth: “Abram [Abraham’s former name] was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram” (Genesis 16:16).
The next stop on our timeline appears in Genesis chapter seventeen as God instructed Abraham to circumcise all the males within his household: “On that same day Abraham obeyed God by circumcising Ishmael. Abraham was also circumcised, and so were all the other men and boys in his household, including his servants and slaves. He was 99 years old at the time, and his son Ishmael was 13” (Genesis 17:23-27 CEV).
That leaves us with the following conclusion: God declared Abraham to be righteous at least fourteen years before he received the ceremonial rite of circumcision. In other words, God had already imputed righteousness to Abraham by faith long before he engaged in any ritual observance. Thus, “Circumcision was not the gateway to his right relationship with God; it was only the sign and the seal that he had already entered into it. His being accounted righteous had nothing to do with circumcision and everything to do with his act of faith.” (1)
Therefore, this passage holds great significance with respect to our spiritual observances. It also has implications for those who believe that Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross must be accompanied by other meritorious works in order to achieve salvation. In Paul the Apostle’s era, that belief was promoted by those who taught that circumcision was a necessary prerequisite to salvation. Then there were others who believed that some form of hidden knowledge held the key to eternal life. This brief observation from Romans chapter four serves to negate those beliefs.
Finally, these verses help set the right foundation for the practical teachings that will appear later in chapters twelve to sixteen. In that section, Paul will apply these concepts to specific issues that faced the first-century church, and modern-day readers by extension.
(1) Barclay, William. “Commentary on Romans 4”. “William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb/romans-4.html. 1956-1959.