Romans 4:11 Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. 

Footsteps #279. The promises to Abraham mentioned yesterday have flown right into the Christian church. We are his Heirs, Paul declares because we believe in his Messiah. The greatest promise is that God’s people will inherit the earth. Jesus tells us that a day will come when He will make “all things new” (Rev.21:5, RSV). At that time God “will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things are passed away” (v4, RSV). The church still awaits the complete fulfilment of the Abrahamic promise as it prays “even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev.22:20). 

Legalism does not work.  No one will ever make it into God’s kingdom by what they have done. Why can’t we achieve God’s kingdom and salvation through obedience? Paul provides us with two answers. One reason is that God never made the law to save anyone. He establishes it as a standard to be kept, but once it is broken, as Paul noted in Rom.3:20, it points out our sin. The law can witness against us that we have disobeyed it and thereby deserve the penalty of the violated law (Rom.6:23), but nothing in the law can save us. It has no plan of salvation built into it. The broken law brings only wrath and death.  

That’s where Paul’s second answer comes in. God’s promise can do what the law cannot. His promises imply grace. Those to Abraham were based not on the fact that he was a perfect man, but on the reality that he was a needy sinner who had faith. That faith runs all the way through the patriarch’s life. Thus when he took Isaac to the land of Moriah for a sacrifice, Abraham had faith that God would provide a lamb for a burnt offering (Gen.22:8). Moriah is where Jesus was crucified 2000yrs later. Notice Isaac was carrying the wood (cross) on his back.  Alternately, “by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, (c.f. God’s only Son) of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.’ He considers that God was able to raise men even from the dead” Isaac was a type of Jesus. (Heb.11:17-19, RSV).