DEVOTIONALS: GENESIS 17
<This is an excerpt from our devotional book for our current series through Genesis. Each book contains daily devotions and questions for reflection. For a free copy of our devotional books please visit our connect desk on Sundays. Watch the accompanying sermon by clicking here.>
Genesis 17:9-14
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.”
After Adam broke the covenant of works, God was under no obligation to enact a covenant of grace. He did so because, before creation, a covenant of redemption was made between the three persons of the Holy Trinity in eternity past. The God of Scripture is a God of redemption, and in the covenant of grace, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit fulfill their roles in redeeming a fallen creation back to God for his glory. While God never needs to justify anything he does with his creation, he has chosen to make a covenant with a chosen people for salvation in his incredible mercy. This passage shows that a covenant of grace is made with Abraham.
The symbol of this covenant of grace is circumcision. At first glance, this may appear to be a conditional agreement that God is putting forth to Abraham and his descendants to perform the physical work of circumcision to be saved. When we look at this passage through the lens of Christ, we see a merciful God at work, not a cooperative transaction. Genesis 15:6 says, “And he [Abram] believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4 explains how circumcision was a seal and a symbol of a spiritual change made by the Israelites faith in God. The mechanism of God’s graceful covenant with Abraham is not the act of circumcision but the faith Abraham had before the symbolic act. Circumcision is the symbol, not the source of grace. God is the source of grace and faith. (Eph 2:8).
God’s covenant with Abraham has nothing to do with ethnicity, nationality, or race. Notice verse 12 says, “Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.” The covenant includes even the foreign slave. Romans 9:6 further explains, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” Far from being any sort of replacement of Israelites, the foreigners and Gentiles are grafted into the life-giving covenant of grace. As Jesus says in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Reflection Questions:
How do you understand the covenant God has made with you?
In what ways are you relying on the rituals and symbols of religion rather than the faith behind those actions?
What is your role in the covenant of redemption?