Rom 4:11-13 | JFB | STEP | 9-12. Cometh this blessedness then, &c.-- that is, "Say not, All this is spoken of the circumcised, and is therefore no evidence of God's general way of justifying men; for Abraham's justification took place long before he was circumcised, and so could have no dependence upon that rite: nay, 'the sign of circumcision' was given to Abraham as 'a seal' (or token) of the (justifying) righteousness which he had before he was circumcised; in order that he might stand forth to every age as the parent believer--the model man of justification by faith--after whose type, as the first public example of it, all were to be moulded, whether Jew or Gentile, who should thereafter believe to life everlasting."

‏ Romans 4:11-13

9-12. Cometh this blessedness then, &c.--that is, "Say not, All this is spoken of the circumcised, and is therefore no evidence of God's general way of justifying men; for Abraham's justification took place long before he was circumcised, and so could have no dependence upon that rite: nay, 'the sign of circumcision' was given to Abraham as 'a seal' (or token) of the (justifying) righteousness which he had before he was circumcised; in order that he might stand forth to every age as the parent believer--the model man of justification by faith--after whose type, as the first public example of it, all were to be moulded, whether Jew or Gentile, who should thereafter believe to life everlasting."

13-15. For the promise, &c.--This is merely an enlargement of the foregoing reasoning, applying to the law what had just been said of circumcision.

that he should be the heir of the world--or, that "all the families of the earth should be blessed in him."

was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law--in virtue of obedience to the law.

but through the righteousness of faith--in virtue of his simple faith in the divine promises.