In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
Parallel translations
- WEB How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
- KJV How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
- NKJV How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
- NASB How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;
- NLT But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Abraham was counted righteous before he was circumcised, not after. Faith, not circumcision, was the basis of his righteousness.
Overview
Paul notes the crucial timing: Genesis 15 credits Abraham's faith as righteousness in chapter 15, while circumcision comes later in Genesis 17. Therefore Abraham was justified while still uncircumcised, like a Gentile. This proves that righteousness rests on faith, not on the rite of circumcision or membership in Israel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gal 6:15For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
- Gal 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
- Gen 15:5–6And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- Gen 16:1–3Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
- Gen 15:16In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
- Gen 17:10This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.
- 1 Cor 7:18–19Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man still uncircumcised when called? He should not be circumcised.
- Gen 17:23–27On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 4:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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