Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity AD 2026

When God promised Abraham that He would establish an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants, He instituted circumcision as the sign of that covenant. The order is clear: first comes the promise, and then circumcision as the sign and seal of the promise and the covenant.

The fact that God’s covenant with His people rests upon His promise means that it is a gift of His grace. Neither Abraham nor any of his descendants deserved it by their own works, including circumcision, nor could they earn it, for we cannot compel God or change His will.

God’s will, as He has repeatedly revealed, is that no one should perish or die eternally, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. Salvation is possible only by placing all our hope in God’s grace, the supreme expression and fulfilment of which is the Cross of Christ.

Therefore, we have no reason to boast except in the Cross, through which the world has been crucified unto us, and we unto the world, so that we may live for God for ever.