Verse 11 And he received, &c.; that is, circumcision, far from being the cause of his acceptance with God, was the seal and consequence of it. The Jews attached ideas of great spiritual efficacy to their religious rites. We see precisely the same tendency in the human mind at the present day. The peculiar religious observances pertaining to our respective branches of the Christian church, which have descended to us from our fathers, and which we have been accustomed to regard from infancy with feelings of solemnity and awe, come at last to be invested in our minds with a certain spiritual efficacy of their own. They lose the character of a symbol and a seal, and assume that of an intrinsic effectiveness, until, at length, we regard them as forming a pale, beyond which, like the Jew of old, we can scarcely believe that there is any salvation.--That he might be the father; the type or exemplar. The meaning of this clause, and of the Romans 4:11,12, clearly is, that Abraham, through his acceptance with God previous to his circumcision, was constituted the father of all believers of every age or nation, and that, by the ceremonial observances afterwards instituted, he became the spiritual representative and head of the Jewish communion; although only those of that communion can consider him as truly their father; who follow his example in the inward spirit of their minds, as well as in outward ceremonies.