How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
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.
- BSB In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
- 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 in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
- Gal 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- Gen 15:5–6Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be.”
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.
- Gen 16:1–3Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- Gen 15:16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
- Gen 17:10This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.
- 1 Cor 7:18–19Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.
- Gen 17:23–27Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to 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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