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Romans 4:12<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n and the father of circumcision to those who not only<\/span> are<\/span><\/em> of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham<\/span> had while still<\/span><\/em> uncircumcised.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Circumcision doesn\u2019t matter. Faith matters.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The word translated \u201cfather<\/span>\u201d is pat\u0113r<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cfather, ancestor, mentor, or model.\u201d Hence, it can be used in a literal sense or it can be used in a figurative sense as it is in this verse.<\/p>\n \u201cWalk<\/span>\u201d is the Greek verb stoiche\u014d<\/span><\/em>. It is based on the noun stoichos<\/span><\/em>, which is a military term meaning \u201ca row, a rank, or a line.\u201d Hence, stoiche\u014d<\/span><\/em> means \u201cto advance in rows or ranks\u201d or \u201cto walk in an orderly manner.\u201d<\/p>\n The word translated \u201csteps<\/span>\u201d is ichnos<\/span><\/em>, which refers to \u201cthe sole of the foot.\u201d By application it refers to a footstep or the impression left by the sole of the foot. Figuratively, it refers to the example that someone else has set for us to follow.<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n In the previous verse Paul said that Abraham, through his righteousness of faith, became the father of those who believe even though they are uncircumcised. What Paul means is that Abraham became a father figure to them; that is, an example to all non-Jews. In this way, all non-Jewish people can share in the fatherhood of Abraham, figuratively speaking, through the same kind of faith.<\/p>\n In the current verse the wording of the translation makes it a little hard to understand. Here\u2019s another way of wording what Paul is saying in this verse:<\/p>\n And the father of circumcision to those who are not just circumcised but who are <\/span>also walking in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham while<\/span> <\/span>(he was still) <\/span>in uncircumcision.<\/span><\/p>\n You can see from this wording that Paul is making the point that Abraham also is a father figure to the circumcised. Not to all the circumcised, just to those who (like the uncircumcised of the previous verse) have a saving faith like Abraham did. Paul is not talking about the literal fatherhood (ancestor) of Abraham, but the figurative fatherhood. And he\u2019s not the figurative father of those who simply follow his example of circumcision, but of those who follow his example of faith.<\/p>\n In other words, it is not obedience to the Law or to any other set of rules that produces righteousness. It is the faith that produces righteousness. And, as we said in the previous verse, the point is that faith came well before obedience and as a result of that faith, we all (Jews and Gentiles) can look to Abraham as our spiritual, believing father figure.<\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter what color your skin is, whether you are male or female, tattooed or not. It doesn\u2019t matter whether your parents are rich of poor and it doesn\u2019t matter whether you are Asian, African, Caucasian, Baltic, Australian, Indo-European, or Inuit. What matters is that you are following in Abraham\u2019s footsteps, in that you believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins! Period! <\/span><\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Romans 4:12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. Truth to Learn Circumcision doesn\u2019t matter. Faith matters. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cfather\u201d is pat\u0113r, which means \u201cfather, ancestor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[612,204,626,629],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abraham","tag-faith","tag-father","tag-footsteps"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-na","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
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