Foundations of our Faith: Circumcision (Part 2) (2)

In Genesis 17, the promise given to Abraham that was ratified with circumcision states that a multitude of nations and kings would come forth from him. It was with this promise that circumcision was ratified. In fact, it was to Abraham’s descendants that circumcision is given.

Paul makes reference to this passage, but in this passage He clearly includes the Gentiles.

English Standard Version Romans 9

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Paul references back to Genesis 17 to build his case, the case that the Gentiles will be considered part of Israel.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”

26  “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”

So Paul calls the Gentiles, who have been grafted in according to faith, offspring. They are co-equal inheritors of the promise and covenant of Abraham. This is Paul’s theology, not mine. So what exactly do offspring of Abraham do?

English Standard Version Chapter 17

9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

The only way to truly circumcise our spiritual being is to allow God to make our hearts, lips, and ears circumcised for His purposes. There’s nothing mystical about physical circumcision. The physical circumcision is just a reminder to us of where we’ve been (that He has redeemed us from slavery to sin and death) and where we’re going (a kingdom of king’s and priests, and a land overflowing with peace, justice, and righteousness where the Lord will directly rule over His people as king), and that He has circumcised our hearts to make us suitable for this purpose.

So if Paul uses Genesis 17 to support the grafting in of the Gentiles, and that promise was ratified through circumcision. Why does Paul seem to draw a hard line against circumcision?

Galatians 5:2-4

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Here it seems Paul is drawing a very hard line. Circumcision will sever you from Christ! That’s a very powerful statement.

We’re going to circle back around to this statement, but I’m going to start by offering some context. We’re going to get a bit of a history lesson, so hang in here with me, because it’s not overall unimportant to what’s being said here.

The term Judaism in the 1st century was used differently than how you or I would use it here and now today. Hellenism in the day of Paul was the predominant view of the day. Most of everyone was a Hellenist, and if you weren’t you were considered a “barbarian”. There was really only one ideology that actually had enough of a following to rival that of Hellenism, and that was Judaism. It was named this to identify these unique people hailing from Judea that had a unique set of customs and beliefs that were opposite of Hellenism. It wasn’t an ethnicity the way you or I might use the words “Jewish”.

Early Rabbinic writing outlined 3 essential acts to convert to Judaism:

Circumcision

Immersion

Sacrifice

This entire process in the 2nd Temple period was called “circumcision”. It’s a synecdoche. A synecdoche is a word that refers to the part to represent the whole, as in:

“Check out my new ride.”

“Boots on the ground”.

“He’s got his degree in Chemistry”.

However, why was circumcision the term coined by the Jews to define the entire process.

Not long ago, Antiochus had forbidden them from being able to circumcise.

Hellenistic and Roman societies widely practiced public nakedness. But they abhorred baring the tip of the penis, called the glans. To expose the glans was considered vulgarly humorous, indecent or both.

In short, circumcision represented the distinction and the struggle between Israel and the pagan nations surrounding them at that time. So the Jews became very heavily focused on that subject.

Compare to modern day “deplorables”.

The Jews believed that unless you had completed the entire conversion process, you could not be grafted in and could not be considered a covenant member of Israel, and by extension you were excluded from the Israel of Promise… Messiah’s Israel. To be grafted in was to become Jewish and to become Jewish meant to undergo the process of conversion encompassed by the term “circumcision”.

Enter the great debate.

Let’s jump into Acts 15.

English Standard Version (Chapter 15)

15 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,16  “ ‘After this I will return,and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;I will rebuild its ruins,and I will restore it,17  that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

It was amazing what God had done among the Gentiles. He had justified them without any additional acts or practices. He had poured forth His Spirit upon them, and His seal of the Holy Spirit was enough to settle whether the Gentiles were in the covenant or not. You can’t add anything to the work of the Holy Spirit. Becoming Jewish was neither here nor there, but it was God’s work through the Holy Spirit that would settle the matter of who was in and who wasn’t.

What I’m trying to outline here, is that the discussion revolving around circumcision, wasn’t about the action itself, but the entire belief system and the groups of individuals that held this belief. The debate wasn’t about whether or not people ought to be circumcised or not. The debate was whether Gentiles could be grafted in without becoming Jewish, and how they were considered justified by God.

The difficulty we now have is that the New Testament uses the word circumcision in more ways than just one.

Circumcision can mean the physical acts.

Circumcision can mean the entire conversion process.

Circumcision can mean groups of people identified as Jewish, because they were born into Judaism, converted, or held to the belief that ritual conversion was what justified Gentiles before God.

Here are some examples where the Scripture uses the word circumcision, not to refer to the physical act, but to the people who practiced Judaism and also had either been circumcised from birth or had undergone the conversion at some point or were proliferating the idea that a person was justified before God via the ritual conversion process.

Titus 1:10

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

Colossian 4:11

These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

Now that we’ve established this context. Let’s try to address some of the seemingly problematic passages in Paul’s letters, and better understand what Paul is actually saying.

Romans 2:17-3:4

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Paul here isn’t making an argument against circumcision. He’s distinguishing between the person who is merely circumcised in the flesh, but their hearts are uncircumcised. Their physical circumcision is of no use to them, because they’re also stealing, committing adultery, and breaking all manner of God’s Law. But those people who are circumcised in the heart, even though they haven’t yet been physically circumcised, will be the ones to condemn them on the day of judgment.

Paul goes on to say:

 3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means!

Your circumcision adds nothing to your justification, however, it also doesn’t take away from it. Why? Because circumcision isn’t about justification. Paul is trying to place circumcision back into its rightful place, as an outward reflection of an inward reality.

We’re going attempt a fly by of Galatians, although admittedly, at some point there probably just needs to be an entire series dedicated to this one book. Paul dedicated this entire letter to address this idea of justification, circumcision, and Jewish identity. It’s important to understand that this letter was written shortly after the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 would have happened.

In Chapter 1 Paul lays out a serious issue in the Church of Galatia.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

So now we have to figure out, what “different Gospel” is Paul addressing here, and by now you should be able to work out what it is Paul is talking about. Paul begins to explain his prominence within Judaism. That’s important because we’ve already established, to be or become Jewish was to be circumcised.

Galatians 1:13-14

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

Paul is establishing that for a long time He believed like many of them. He’s establishing his credibility here. He is highly credentialed. He likely used to believe many of the things these espousers of this false Gospel were teaching. He held strictly to the halachic teachings of Judaism.

Paul references the interaction he had with those men in Jerusalem that we read in Acts 15.

Galatians 2:1-3

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.

Paul mentions the dispute he had with Peter, because they were treating the Gentiles as though they weren’t equal as covenant members. They weren’t allowed to eat at the table with them.

Galatians 2:11-14

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

This is clearly about becoming “Jewish”. What did it mean to live like a Gentile, it meant to live sinfully? What was Peter’s sin in this instance? It was betraying the Good News he had been entrusted with out of fear of the party of the circumcision would think of him.

Galatians 2:15-16

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Paul then through the next several chapters, engages in a masterful argument about you can’t add to God’s work of justification. Becoming Jewish, undergoing ritual conversion, no act of the Law, will justify you. The promises of God stand apart from anything you or I can do, and there’s nothing you or I could do that could add to it.

This leads us to the passage we read earlier.

Galatians 5:2-6

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

This is true. If you’re attempting to add to the Lord’s work through any acts of the Law or act of the flesh, you have nullified the entire work of the Messiah. He’s doing nothing for you. You’re doing it all.

However, we can’t take Paul’s words here literally. Being circumcised doesn’t sever you from the Messiah and we have to think about if we want to take Paul literally here.

Most American men are circumcised. Because they have been circumcised are they now severed from the Messiah?

Paul didn’t even take his own words literally.

Acts 16:1-3

16:1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

This is immediately after the chapter in Acts 15, where they had the entire circumcision debate. Is Paul a hypocrite here? Did Paul just sever Timothy from Christ? No! Now, some people argue that Paul did this as a mere ministry tool or for expediency. There’s a glaring problem with that. Paul says on a couple occasions with regard to this issue that he isn’t willing to bend on this issue to appease his Jewish bretheren.

Galatian 1:9&10

As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Remember this different Gospel pertains to this issue of circumcision.

1 Thess 2:3-4

For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

We can see here with Timothy, the issue isn’t with circumcision or uncircumcision, but the issue of undergoing circumcision to becoming Jewish for the sake of justification.

Another reason we know Paul didn’t mean circumcision would literally sever you from Christ is from the following passage.

Acts 21:17-26

17 When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. 18 On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, 21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. 25 But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.