Set apart for God's service

Believers are called to walk in personal holiness (Gen 17:1-3)

Explanation: The LORD visits with Abram after 14 years to expand the meaning and significance of their covenant relationship. God had previously cut the covenant with Abram (Gen 15), but this time God is going to place an emphasis on Abram’s descendants and the provision for them to be part of the covenant community. As God enters into this aspect of the covenant, He reminds Abram again of His expectation for Abram to live out his faith in a way that is different from his neighbors. He tells Abram that his status of being blameless will follow as a result of living according to the holiness of God (walk before Me).

Argument: The biblical teaching is that humans act according to their nature. Those who are in a right relationship with God will be blameless and upright in their behavior (Gen 6:9; Job 1:1)

Application: The expectation is the same for us. We who are in Covenant Relationship with Christ are called to personal holiness (1 Peter 1:16). Our behavior is the result of the relationship.

Believers will be transformed by the power of God over time (Gen 17:4-8)

Explanation: God changes Abram’s name to Abraham. Abram means “exalted father” while Abraham means “father of a multitude.” Both names were difficult for Abraham to bear up under as he was still childless. But God was the One orchestrating the transformation from barrenness to offspring that could not be numbered.

Example: Jesus changed Simon’s name to Cephas when He first met Simon (John 1:42). The name Cephas (Petros) means “Rock.” The Gospels reveal that Peter was not rock-like in his faith or behavior during Jesus’ ministry. Peter did, however, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit live up to his name. Peter was transformed over time to be the man Jesus had called him to be.

Argument: The biblical truth is that God changes the very nature of His children. God comes to us in our wretchedness of sin (cf. Romans 5:8), but His grace does not leave us in the same condition.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Application: It can be easy for believers to become discouraged as we continually fail to live up to the Name of Jesus. If we have genuinely surrendered our lives to Christ, however, we will persevere. Not based on our own efforts of course, but because “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

The sign of the covenant is a reminder for believers to pass on the heritage of faith to the next generation (Gen 17:9 -13)

Explanation: God gave circumcision as the sign of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Every male in the community of faith (national Israel) was to be circumcised when he was eight days old. Abraham and the males in his household, including Ishmael, were circumcised at that very time (Gen 17:23-26). Provision for outsiders to join the covenant community were established under the Mosaic Law (Exodus 12:43-49), provided they were willing to undergo the act of circumcision for the males.

The rite of circumcision was mandatory for all male members of the covenant community. Failure to apply this procedure resulted in being cast out of the community for breaking the covenant (Gen 17:14)

While circumcision was initially set forth as the act, the covenant sign took on its deeper meaning as God revealed more of His truth. Later prophets understand the sign was more than the physical act and that it pointed to the spiritual condition of the heart.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Spiritual Significance

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Argument: Circumcision was mandatory for ethnic Israel. Members of that community were under the direct rule of God - He was the leader of the Nation of Israel. While instituted by God, it fell short due to the sin of the people. The old covenant has been superceded by the new covenant in Christ. The prophet Jeremiah was given prophetic insight concerning this covenant when he declared,

King James Version Chapter 31

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;

After those days, saith the LORD,

fI will put my law in their inward parts,

And write it in their hearts;

And will be their God,

And they shall be my people

In the Christian era we see this new covenant more clearly. We have the NT which teaches that Jesus poured out the new covenant in His sacrificial death (1 Corinthians 11:25). The seal of the new covenant is performed by an act of the Holy Spirit when He indwells the believer at the time of regeneration:

King James Version Chapter 1

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory (

Application: Physical circumcision was the outward sign of the covenant and most often the entry point into membership in the covenant community. The entry point into church membership in the New covenant Christian era is baptism. Baptism and circumcision are both outward and are in and of themselves, incapable of changing a heart. Paul reflected on this truth when he declared, “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Rom 9:6)

Conclusion: In Genesis 17 God gives circumcision as the sign of the covenant without further explanation. One take away from that is the need for obedience to God’s revealed truth, even when full understanding is not present.

The covenant sign was given in the context of descendants which cannot happen without the conjugal act. The sin nature is passed down through Adam as the male, and the foreskin was an area that physically harbored sickness and symbolized the passing of the sin nature. Removal of the foreskin (circumcision) came to be seen as symbolizing the removal of the barrier between man and God.

In the NT era, the writers of Scripture talk of circumcision of the heart as opposed to the physical rite. Have you allowed God to circumcise your heart? To have him cleanse your sin and give you a new heart?