which any thing is said. This question has not direct reference to the persons to whom the offers of acceptance are applicable, as though it were equivalent to asking, 'Is this blessedness confined to the Jews, or may it be extended to the Gentiles also V because this is not the subject now in hand. It is the ground or condition of acceptance, and not the persons to whom the offer is to be made, that is now under consideration. The question, therefore, is, in substance, this, ' Does this declaration of blessedness relate to the circumcised, as such 1 Is circumcision neces- sary to justification V which is the blessing of which Paul is speaking. For we say that faith was reckoned to Ahraham for righteousness For merely indicates the resumption of the case of Abraham. The pre- ceding verses are occupied with the testimony of David, which decided nothing as to the point of circumcision. To determine whether this rite was a necessary condition of acceptance, it was requisite to refer again to the case of Abraham. To decide the point presented in the question at the beginning of the verse, the apostle argues from the position already established. It is conceded or proved that Abraham was justified by faith ; to determine whether circumcision is necessary, we have only to ask, under what circumstances was he thus justified, before or after cir- cumcision?
(10) How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or un- circumcision ? Not in circumcision, hut in uncircumcision. Of course, bis circumcision, which was long subsequent to his justification, could not be either the ground or necessary condition of his acceptance with God.
(11) And he received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteous- ness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised, &c. As Paul had shown that circumcision was not the condition of justification, it became necessary to declare its true nature and design. TTie sign of circumci- sion, i. e. circumcision which was a sign (genitive of apposition) ; as " the earnest of the Spirit," for ' the Spirit which is an earnest,' 2 Cor. 1 : 22. The seal of the righteousness of faith, &c. The phrase righteousness of faith is a concise expression ' for righteousness which is attained by faith,' or, as it stands more fully in Phil. 3: 9, "the righteousness of God, which is by faith." The word righteousness, in such connexions, includes, with the idea of excellence or obedience, that of consequent blessedness. It is the ' state of acceptableness with God.' The circumci- sion of Abraham was designed to confirm to him the fact, that he was regarded and treated by God as righteous, through faith, which was the means of his becoming interested in the promise of redemption. This was a faith which Abraham had, being yet uncircumcised, literally, by or with uncircumcision ; see ch. 2 : 27, where the same preposition is used, as it is here, to indicate the state or condition in which a person is.
That he might he the father of all that believe, though they be not cir- cumcised, &c. ' That he might be ;' the form of expression in the origi- nal may signify either the design or result. If the former, as it is taken