Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 2
October 4, 2005
Lincolnton, N.C.
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<164> Thesis:   Circumcision was God's covenant with Abraham, not Abraham's covenant with God. Introduction:   Last week we considered the issue that Paul raised in Romans 4:9: does the fact that justification is by faith apart from works mean that the blessedness of being justified before God is a matter that can be proclaimed to mankind regardless of whether they are within the boundaries of God's covenant of circumcision? Can a person who is outside of that covenant be justified by God? We answered that God's covenant of circumcision was not about "justification", but about His Plan to give ownership of the land of Canaan to certain of the circumcised offspring of Abraham. The downline development of that Plan reveals that the covenant was not about giving the land to circumcised people -- so that a person could become an heir of the land promise by submitting to circumcision -- but it was about giving the land to a select part of the physical offspring of Abraham who would come into being through the son of promise, Isaac. Those in that select line who not only exercised the faith of Abraham unto justification, but also exercised the faith of Abraham unto circumcision, would become heirs of the land of Canaan. The end result of that covenant is this: no one who is not a part of the Isaac and Jacob line of Abraham's progeny can be an heir of the land, nor can anyone who is a part of that lineage, but rejects the faith of Abraham unto circumcision, be a long-term heir of the land. This evening we are going to attempt to make this a bit more clear.