If you want to know how God has always made a man righteous, go back to Abraham, because Paul takes us there on purpose. And watch the order of events carefully, child of God, because the order settles the whole question.
“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, KJV)
Righteous first: the sign came years later
Abraham was declared righteous the moment he believed: Genesis 15. But circumcision, the outward sign, did not come until Genesis 17, years later. Paul drives the nail: was he counted righteous before or after he was circumcised? “Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision” (Romans 4:10). The sign came after the righteousness, not the other way around. So Abraham is “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11), and the tie that binds you to him is faith, not a ritual performed on your body.
The same order today: faith saves, the sign follows
Now do you see why this matters? Baptismal water stands in the same place circumcision did: an outward sign that comes after God has already declared the believer righteous. It marks you; it does not make you. And so Paul says the thing plainly to us:
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26, KJV)
Not by water. Not by works. “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7), and “children of God by faith.” It is “by grace… through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8–9). The Lord Jesus said the same, over and over: “he that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47). So follow your father Abraham: believe God, be counted righteous, and let baptism be your glad public sign afterward, exactly as circumcision was his. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
- Born of God Through Faith in His Son
- What Really Saves You
- Water Baptism Is an Act of Obedience, Not the Cause of Salvation
The Gospel, Stated Plainly
Everything I teach on this site rests on one message from Scripture. Read it in God’s own words from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 1:16, and Ephesians 2:8-9.
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
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