The saved Jews who had lived according to the Law of Moses and was part of the Abrahamic Covenant when questioning the Apostle Peter about the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the gentiles at the house of Cornellius made this statement found in (Acts 11: 18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Salvation is not by race but by grace through faith(Ephesians 2:8-9). We are not saved because of our race byt because of the Lord’s mercy(Titus 3:5) and the Apostle Paul declared that we were the circumcision that worships God in Spirit and rejoices in Christ Jesus and has no confidence in the flesh(race). In (Genesis 17) the Lord appeared to the now 99 year old Abraham and declared I am Almighty God walk before me and be perfect (Genesis 17:1). The Lord told Abraham I will make a covenant with you and will multiply you greatly. Being in God’s presence caused him to fall on his face and the Lord said I am chaning your name from Abram which means father to Abraham which means father of a multitude or father of many nations.
(Genesis 17: 5-14) 5) Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6) And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7) And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 9) And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10) This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11) And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12) And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 13) He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14) And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
The Lord told Abraham this will be the sign of my covenant between me and you and your seed. Ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your flesh. Every male was circumcised on the 8th day(Genesis 17:12) and also according to the word of God at a males circumcision under the old covenant a child received his name.(Luke 1:59)And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And also in (Luke 2:21) And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Abraham is our father by faith or the father of the faithful and in (Romans 4:11-13) 11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 12) 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. 13) For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Article will be continued next week................