Paul sends his readers back to the order of events in Genesis. Both of his questions press one point: did God count Abraham righteous before or after he was circumcised? The answer decides whether circumcision had any part in it. Gill draws the conclusion: "circumcision could not be the cause of his justification, since it followed it." Barnes puts Paul's answer plainly: "Not being circumcised, or after he was circumcised, but before."

Paul answers his own questions in the same verse: "Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision" (Romans 4:10). He then explains what circumcision was for. Abraham "received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised" (Romans 4:11). The sign confirmed what God had already done; it did not cause it.

Genesis records the order. Abram believed and was counted righteous in Genesis 15:6. Ishmael was born when Abram was eighty-six (Genesis 16:16). Abraham was circumcised at ninety-nine, along with Ishmael at thirteen (Genesis 17:24-25). Gill reckons about fourteen years between the two events. Matthew Henry says "fourteen years, some say twenty-five years." Either way, years passed between Abraham's justification and his circumcision.

The Greek behind "in circumcision" and "in uncircumcision" (en peritome, en akrobystia) describes the state Abraham was in at the time: circumcised or not yet circumcised.

This question shows the order of God's grace. God spoke, Abraham believed, and God counted him righteous. Only afterward did God give the sign. God's acceptance came first; the outward mark followed as a seal.

That order is why Abraham can be father both to believing Gentiles and to believing Jews (Romans 4:11-12). It also prepares Paul's next point: the promise came "not... through the law, but through the righteousness of faith," so that it might be "by grace" and "sure to all the seed" (Romans 4:13, 16).