Key Points in Chapter 2
Notes
Transcript
Circumcision of the heart
Circumcision of the heart
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.”
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Circumcision)
In the Hebrew Scriptures the metaphorical use is consistent. Circumcision connotes suitability for participation in what God is doing. It follows that physical, literal circumcision also carried this meaning. Circumcision made Israel fit to participate in God’s activity as God’s people. This meaning for literal circumcision lies behind the requirement that only the circumcised may eat Passover
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised—Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”
God wants to circumcise our lips
God wants to circumcise our lips
And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
The heart is the thinking, willing part of a human being; hence the passages hold up the ideal of a circumcised mind, one which delights in the obedient love of God
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Only those with a circumcised heart can experience the blessings of the covenant of Abraham
that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.”
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Circumcision)
A circumcised heart is a mind of the right kind, one able to participate in a covenant with God. Human beings ordinarily circumcise their own hearts, but God promises to do so after the exile.
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.