This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
Genesis 17:10
This might be an uncomfortable topic for some, but it is integral to the Bible. God instituted circumcision when He changed Abram’s name to Abraham (Genesis 17). No doubt that was an uncomfortable procedure for him and the adult males of his household! As mentioned yesterday, all males henceforth were circumcised on the eighth day after birth, including Jesus.
The physical act of removing the foreskin from the male penis was an outward sign of the Hebrew’s covenant with God. It signified that the man was consecrated to serving Him. The opposite was also true; to be uncircumcised was to be cut off from God’s blessing.
During the life of the early church, there arose a disagreement from the Jewish believers as to whether Gentile converts should be circumcised (Acts 15:1–29). Not surprisingly, this matter was of concern to the Pharisees who had been converted, as their whole lives had been dedicated to observance of the laws of Moses. This matter was taken before the early church council in Jerusalem by Paul and Barnabas.
Peter was also present, and they gave a compelling argument that salvation is through grace, not by keeping the law, including the requirement to be circumcised. It was also obvious to the council that God was doing miracles among the Gentiles and giving them the Holy Spirit as well. So, the decision was made to encourage new Gentile believers to make wise choices about certain specific issues of the day, rather than requiring this physical demonstration of being one of God’s people.
In the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4) Jews were encouraged to circumcise their hearts. In Colossians 2:11, Paul reminded the believers in Colossae (and us) that in Christ “you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ”.
Here’s an application for us to consider today. While God desires for us to do the right thing, we are not saved by works. We are saved for good works (Ephesians 2:10). However, because as children our parents and teachers expect obedience, it is easy to slip into legalism and only “feel good” about ourselves when we are continually doing the right things. Instead, since we have salvation and the Holy Spirit living in our “circumcised” hearts, we should more readily produce good works as a natural result. May that be true of us today.
