In Greek verses 11 and 12 are actually one long, involved sentence. For this reason the Good News Translation, along with most other modern translations, breaks this sentence into several smaller units. The first part of verse 11 is literally “and he received a sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith of the in-his-uncircumcision.” “In his uncircumcision” has been rendered by the Good News Translation as before he had been circumcised; but for the sake of the continuity of Paul’s arguments, this information is also introduced in the first part of this verse: he was circumcised later. Moreover, since the word “seal” is in apposition to “sign”, the Good News Translation brings them together and interprets them to mean a sign to prove. In the Jerusalem Bible these words are rendered “as a sign and guarantee.” The New English Bible accepts the same exegetical point of view, but employs a more sophisticated expression: “the symbolic rite … as the hall-mark.” If the initial clause he was circumcised later must be made active, only a reflexive construction can be employed, “he circumcised himself later” or “it was after God accepted him as righteous that he circumcised himself.”
The Good News Translation also transforms a number of other genitive phrases into unambiguous expressions. “Sign of circumcision” obviously means his circumcision was a sign. The next two “of” phrases (“of the righteousness of faith”) are more difficult. We have already pointed out that the Good News Translation takes the two terms “sign” and “seal” together to mean a sign to prove, and so it seems best to take these two phrases as the content of what this sign was intended to prove. In this context “righteousness” refers once again to God’s activity of accepting men as righteous, while “faith” is a specific reference to Abraham’s faith in God. So then the entire construction may be taken to mean (a sign to prove) that because of Abraham’s faith God had accepted him as righteous. The last “of” phrase (“of the in-his-uncircumcision”) has already been alluded to and is not difficult; “of the” refers back to “faith” and so is a reference to Abraham’s faith that he had at the time he was uncircumcised.
In a number of languages the closest equivalent for sign is “a mark,” or, more specifically, “a wound to show” or “a scar to show.” The phrase because of Abraham’s faith may be expressed as a complete clause—for example, “to prove that God had accepted Abraham as righteous because he trusted God.” In some languages the final clause of the first sentence before he had been circumcised may seem unduly repetitious and redundant since the same information is expressed by the first clause he was circumcised later.
And so translates an infinitive expression in Greek which may either indicate purpose or result. If a choice has to be made, purpose is more natural. The connection of this sentence with what has preceded may be expressed in some languages as “and this happened to show that Abraham is….”
The word “father” is taken by the Good News Translation to mean spiritual father, so as not to imply that Abraham was the literal ancestor of all who believe in God in the same way that he did (see Jerusalem Bible “the ancestor of all uncircumcised believers”). The equivalent of spiritual father is in some languages merely “is like a father” or “may be thought of as a father.” This removes the possibility of regarding Abraham as the actual ancestor of all who believe and thus restricting faith to Jews. In some languages the more appropriate equivalent for father would be “grandfather” or “ancestor.” In still other languages a more idiomatic expression may be employed—for example, “the root” or “the headwaters.”
Of all who believe in God is literally “of all those believing,” but the reference is obviously to belief in God. In the phrase accepted as righteous by him (Revised Standard Version “have righteousness reckoned to them”) Paul once again uses the word translated accepted in verse 3.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .