Reckoned as Righteousness

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness irrespective of works:

‘Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.’

Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’ How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

- Romans 4:1-12

A passage about works and faith is given us today in Paul's epistle to the Romans. Being a Christian, I haven't pondered much on the significance of circumcision. But from my perspective, I see circumcision not merely as a covenant between one people and God, but as an act of obedience to God. It is a symbol of one's subservience to God, covenant between Creator and creature with significant difference in stature between the two parties. We worship God, therefore this covenant is not merely a handshake between two equal partners in the sense of a business deal. The act itself seems clear: it is a symbolic covenant of subservience, a willingness to accept the word, or the law, as the case may be. This is my impression - at least in the story of Abraham.

So, when Paul here mentions Abraham, and when we are confronted with the phrase "circumcision of the heart," the meanings for me become more clear when I consider these aspects of the meanings of circumcision. A circumcision of the heart is one bound by humility before God, in covenant to that which teaches us. It's not a deal or a bargain, but a covenant that we will listen, that it is on us to be humble before God, shaped and disciplined in God's word - and in the circumcision of the heart, obedient and listening (or trying, anyway) to the laws of God which are written on the heart.

So this circumcision of the heart is what is reckoned as righteousness, according to Paul, and it is therefore that which belongs both to the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Therefore, says Paul, Abraham is the ancestor of both. For righteousness came to Abraham by virtue of the internal circumcision, by virtue of faith - before the work of physical circumcision was performed. Let us not forget that God knows what is written in the heart, and that we are understood as deeply as the internal reality of the heart. Let us practice our own circumcision of the heart, and remember that this is why we try to follow our covenant to hear the Word, to listen with the proper ears to hear, and the humility that is conveyed by this act of circumcision.