The Same Day: Covenant Obedience Text: Genesis 17:23-27
Introduction: Faith That Does
We live in an age of abstract faith. For many modern Christians, faith is a private, internal feeling, a mental ascent to a set of propositions, a warm sentiment in the heart. It is a noun, but rarely a verb. It is something you have, not something you do. But this is a thin and watery gruel compared to the robust, muscular faith we see in the patriarchs. The faith of Abraham was not a quiet, personal opinion. It was a world-altering, household-shaping, history-bending force. It was a faith that acted.
In the first part of this chapter, God Almighty appeared to Abram, changed his name to Abraham, and established the covenant of circumcision with him. This was an astonishing promise. At ninety-nine years old, he was promised a son through his ninety-year-old wife, Sarah. He was promised that he would be the father of a multitude of nations. But attached to this glorious promise was a demanding, and what we might call awkward, command. He and every male in his household were to be circumcised, and this was to be the perpetual sign of the covenant in their flesh.
The modern evangelical instinct, when faced with a difficult command, is to form a committee. It is to schedule a series of small group discussions. It is to "pray about it" for six months, which is usually a pious way of hoping God forgets He ever brought it up. We treat obedience like a negotiation. But Abraham shows us a different way. He shows us that true faith hears the Word of God and immediately translates it into shoe leather. The gap between hearing and doing is precisely zero. What we have in these closing verses of Genesis 17 is not an appendix or a historical footnote. It is the necessary and immediate fruit of true faith. It is the demonstration that Abraham believed God, not just about the promise, but also about the command.
The Text
Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had spoken with him. Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. Now all the men of his household, who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
(Genesis 17:23-27 LSB)
Immediate and Comprehensive Obedience (v. 23)
The first thing we must see is the speed and scope of Abraham's response.
"Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had spoken with him." (Genesis 17:23)
Notice the two key phrases here: "every male" and "in the very same day." Abraham's obedience is, first, comprehensive. This is not a private act of personal devotion. This is the act of a covenant head. God deals with humanity not as a sea of disconnected individuals, but in covenantal structures, and the most basic of these is the household. Abraham understands this. The command applies to him, to his son Ishmael, to the servants born in his house, and even to the servants purchased from foreigners. Every single male under his authority is brought under the sign of the covenant.
This demolishes the modern, individualistic conception of faith. We are not our own. The faith of a father, the faith of a household head, has ramifications for everyone under his roof. He is their federal head, their representative. His obedience brings them into the visible covenant community and places the sign of God's promise upon them. This is corporate solidarity. The covenant is not with Abraham "and his personal feelings." It is with Abraham "and his seed," his household.
Second, his obedience is immediate. "In the very same day." There is no delay. There is no procrastination. There is no "let me sleep on it." God spoke, and Abraham acted. This is the very definition of living faith. Delayed obedience is a form of disobedience. It is a subtle way of telling God that our comfort, our schedule, or our convenience is a higher authority than His clear command. Abraham heard the word and translated it directly into action. This is what it means to walk before God and be blameless.
The Costly Cut of Faith (v. 24-25)
The text then emphasizes the personal cost of this obedience by highlighting the ages of the two principal figures.
"Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin." (Genesis 17:24-25 LSB)
The Holy Spirit wants us to understand that this was not a trivial thing. Abraham is ninety-nine years old. This is not a simple procedure for a man of his age. It is painful. It is costly. It is a profound act of submission for a great patriarch to subject himself to this bloody and humbling sign. His faith was not cheap. He was willing to put his own flesh under the knife in obedience to God's command. This is a sign of what the covenant requires: the cutting away of the flesh, the putting to death of self-reliance, in order to trust wholly in the promise of God.
And Ishmael is thirteen. He is not an infant. He is old enough to understand what is happening, old enough to fear it, and old enough to resist. Yet he submits to his father's authority. This act of household obedience is a powerful picture of covenantal order. The son submits to the father, and the father submits to God. This is how God's kingdom advances, through chains of faithful obedience.
This sign, placed on the very organ of generation, was a constant, physical reminder that their future, their seed, their legacy, belonged entirely to God. It was a mark that said, "We are not our own; we are bought with a price." And it was a bloody sign, pointing forward to the fact that the ultimate covenant blessings would be purchased with blood, the blood of the promised Seed, Jesus Christ.
The Unmistakable Emphasis (v. 26-27)
Lest we miss the point, the Spirit repeats and summarizes the crucial elements of this event.
"In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. Now all the men of his household, who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him." (Genesis 17:26-27 LSB)
Again, "in the very same day." The immediacy is the lesson. When the Word of the Lord comes, the time for obedience is now. And again, "all the men of his household." The inclusivity of the covenant household is the lesson. The blessings and responsibilities of the covenant extend to the entire household through its head. Whether born into the family or bought into it, they belong to the covenant people and receive the covenant sign.
This is a radical truth in our democratic, egalitarian age. We want to believe that everyone makes their own choices, that every man is an island. The Bible teaches otherwise. It teaches that God has structured the world through headship and representation. A father's faith matters for his children. A husband's leadership matters for his wife. And Abraham's obedience here sets the pattern for how God will deal with His people for all time.
From the Knife to the Water
So what does this bloody, ancient ritual have to do with us? Everything. The covenant that God made with Abraham is the very same covenant of grace that we are a part of. Paul tells us in Galatians that if we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29). The root of the olive tree is Abraham, and we have been grafted in (Rom. 11).
The principles established here in Abraham's household are therefore enduring. The sign of the covenant has changed, but the nature of the covenant has not. The bloody sign of circumcision, which pointed forward to Christ's cross, has been fulfilled. It has been replaced by the unbloody sign of baptism, which looks back to Christ's finished work. The knife has been replaced by the water.
But who receives the sign? The same people as before: believers and their households. The New Testament is not a story of God shrinking the boundaries of His covenant people, suddenly deciding to exclude the children He had always included. No, the promise is still "for you and for your children" (Acts 2:39). Just as Abraham's faith brought his entire household under the covenant sign, so the faith of Christian parents brings their children into the visible church, and the sign of that membership, baptism, is to be applied to them.
And the call for obedience remains. Fathers, you are the Abrahams of your little commonwealths. When God's Word commands you to catechize your children, to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, the time to obey is not "someday." It is "in the very same day." When God's Word calls you to lead your family in worship, to love your wife as Christ loved the church, to put sin to death in your own life, the response of faith is immediate action.
Abraham's faith was not a feeling. It was a verb. It was an immediate, comprehensive, costly, and household-shaping obedience. This is the kind of faith that pleases God. This is the kind of faith that inherits the promises. May God grant us, by His grace, to be true sons of Abraham, believing God and doing, in the very same day, all that He has commanded.