4th September 2026

4th September 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 4:1-12 focus v9-12)


Message (Alan Burke)


I know one saint that really doesn’t like it when I talk about circumcision, but I can really avoid it when the text brings it up, although I do avoid going into the detail of the medical procedure and how it works. Paul has been arguing how we are made righteous in God’s sight, and he now turns to Circumcision. The reason why is that to the Jews, they saw circumcision as the sign of the covenant with Abraham. It was a sign of God’s promises. It was to be placed on every male among the people who was eight days old. The backdrop to that which Paul writes is that of those who were insisting that circumcision was central to salvation, that it was a requirement for salvation. There were those known as the Judiazers who were insisting that new converts had to be circumcised, that it was necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1, Rom. 2:25–27; Gal. 5:2, 6, 12; 6:12–15; Phil. 3:2, 3). They were teaching: Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot belong to God’s people and be saved (Acts 15:1). Since Paul has just spoken about Abraham, who was circumcised and David, who was circumcised, both having been forgiven, he asks: is this blessedness, is it only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? 


For any Jew worth their salt, they would have known that Abraham was circumcised thirteen years after it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen 16:16; he is 86 years old and in 17:24 he is 99 years old). Long before the sign was given, so it is not that circumcision that justifies; it is faith. Abraham was looking with faith to the promises of God that would be fulfilled in the future, in his promises of the one who would come and crush the head of the serpent. Abraham was justified before he was giving the sign of circumcision. Do you see what Paul is doing, how he is stripping away any confidence one might have in self, for in a sense, Abraham was justified by faith while he was still a Gentile, and the only confidence we have is not in who we are or what we have done, for the salvation that comes is through God’s grace. It wasn’t that his faith was a meritorious work that earned his righteousness; it was a gift of God. 


God had given Abraham a sign, the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith, and yet Abraham had faith, and he was to give the sign to Isaac at eight days old, before he had faith, circumcision was a sign and a seal; it was pointing not to the individual but to the promises of God. God gave his church before the coming of Christ signs and seals, sacrament that were to act as a reminder to them. He gave them circumcision and he gave them the Passover, signs and seals of pointing not to the individual but to the promises of God. Paul, in making the point, circumcision didn’t justify anyone; it is faith. 


Likewise, today he has given us signs and seals, in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, signs and seals of pointing not to the individual or our faith but to the promises of God. Why do we baptise the children of those who have faith? It is because it is a sign and seal of the promises of God that has been given to the believer and their seed, for the promise is for us and our children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:39). And just like circumcision, baptism doesn’t justify anyone, it doesn’t make the sign meaningless though; we are justified by grace through faith, circumcision was a sign and seal just as baptism, pointing to the promises of God and to what he has done and not what we have done through the Christ so that we can be the righteous of God, so that we be justified before him. Personally I’m so thankful for what God has done, that it is not about me and that he has given me a sign and a seal in my baptism that isn’t about my faith, it is a testimony to the faithfulness of our God and his promises to his people, so remember your baptism, remember the promises of God, remember your hope does not rest on you, your faith, your obedience, your works, instead it rests upon Christ, remember your baptism and the promise it points towards, that salvation belongs to the LORD. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q57 Which is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.
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