Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 4:9

"Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness." — Romans 4:9 (ASV)

Cometh this blessedness.—We will, perhaps, best see the force of the particles “then” and “for” if we rephrase the sentence from its interrogative form. “It follows from the language of David that the blessedness thus declared belongs to the uncircumcised as well as to the circumcised, for”—then comes the first premise of the argument by which this is proved. It was the act of faith that was the cause of Abraham’s justification.

But both the act of faith and the justification resulting from it occurred before the institution of the rite of circumcision. The narrative of this institution is found in Genesis 17:1, when Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and Ishmael, his son, thirteen (Genesis 17:1; Genesis 17:24–25), while the vision and promise of Genesis 15:1 apparently came before the birth of Ishmael.

On verses 9-12:

What is the bearing of this on the relation between Jew and Gentile? Is the blessedness of the justified state reserved only for the former? Is it limited to those who are circumcised? On the contrary, the state of justification was attributed to Abraham himself before he was circumcised. Justification is the result of faith, not of circumcision. Circumcision is so far from superseding faith that it was only the sign or seal of it.

This, then, is the great test. Those who have it may hope for justification, whether their descent from Abraham is spiritual or literal.