And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only. Here the same sentiment is expressed, but in a somewhat unexpected form-namely, that Abraham is the father of circumcision to all uncircumcised believers. This cannot refer to the distinctive peculiarities of the circumcised, in which uncircumcised Gentiles could of course have no share: it simply means that all that was of essential and permanent value in the standing before God of the circumcised-all that circumcision chiefly set its seal on-is shared in by the believing children of Abraham who are strangers to the circumcision of the flesh.
What had just been Said of Circumcision is Now, in the next Five Verses, Applied to the Law