Romans 2.25-The Controversy Over Circumcision in the First Century Apostolic Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 16, 2007
Romans: Romans 2:25-The Controversy Over Circumcision in the First Century Apostolic Church
Lesson # 66
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:17.
This morning we will continue with our study of the twelfth and final principle of divine judgment that is contained in Romans 2:17-29, namely, that God judges according to reality and without regard of racial background or religious profession.
The Jews erroneously, presumptuously and arrogantly thought that they would enter the kingdom of heaven because of their racial background as Jews and circumcision as well as the privileges that God had given to them such as possessing the Law given to Moses.
In Romans 2:17-19, Paul destroys their false security, which was based upon six privileges God had given to them, which did not produce obedience in the Jews but rather arrogance towards their relationship with the Gentiles.
In Romans 2:19-20, the apostle Paul lists four pretensions of the Jew and in Romans 2:20c, Paul teaches that this arrogance is based upon “having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.”
In Romans 2:21-23, Paul poses five rhetorical questions to the self-righteous, unsaved Jew, which exposes their hypocrisy.
Then, in Romans 2:24, Paul teaches his unsaved Jewish audience that their hypocritical conduct as a nation caused the unsaved Gentiles to blaspheme the reputation of the character of the person of God.
In Romans 2:25, Paul teaches his unsaved, self-righteous Jewish audience that circumcision can not deliver them from eternal condemnation since disobedience to the Law negates the value of circumcision.
In Romans 2:25, Paul is arguing with his unsaved Jewish audience that physical circumcision does not guarantee entrance into the kingdom of heaven and could never deliver them from eternal condemnation.
Now, as I noted on Thursday before we study Romans 2:25 in detail, I thought it would be helpful and instructive to study the meaning and purpose of circumcision as well as the controversy that it caused in the first century apostolic church.
By doing this, we will gain a greater insight into the impact of Paul’s words in Romans 2:25-29 that were addressed to his unsaved, self-righteous Jewish audience.
Therefore, on Thursday evening we noted the meaning and purpose of circumcision by studying Genesis 17, which records the Lord commanding Abram to circumcise himself and his family as a sign of the covenant between Him and Abram.
This morning, we will study the controversy that took place over circumcision in the first century apostolic church.
Let’s read Romans 2:17-29.
Romans 2:17-29, “But if you bear the name ‘Jew’ and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For ‘THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,’ just as it is written. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? 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 which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”
“Circumcision” is the noun peritome (peritomhv) (per-it-om-ay), which refers to the ritual act of cutting of the foreskin of the male’s penis and was given as a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his biological descendants that they were set apart by God and yet was not given to justify them before God or save them from eternal condemnation.
As we noted in Genesis 17, the ordinance of circumcision could not save man but was to be the distinguishing sign of the Jewish nation from the other nations.
God has not commanded circumcision of the flesh for Christians.
The 1st Church Council in Jerusalem that is recorded in Acts 15 deemed that a person does not get saved through the practice of circumcision but through faith alone in Christ, thus the Gentiles were not required to be circumcised.
Acts 15, “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.’ The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.’ And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are. All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, ‘Brethren, listen to me.’ Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written. AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT. SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME. SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO. Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas -- Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren and they sent this letter by them, ‘The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.’ Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls. It seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell. So when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch; and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message. After they had spent time there, they were sent away from the brethren in peace to those who had sent them out. [But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.] But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others also, the word of the Lord.”
Paul consented to circumcision in the case of Timothy “because of the Jews” (Acts 16:3).
Paul had Timothy circumcised after he asked him to become his co-worker (Acts 16:3).
Acts 16:1-3, “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”
According to the text Paul did this not out of deference to Timothy’s mother but on account of local unregenerate Jews who knew Timothy had not been circumcised.
Timothy’s thoughts about the matter are not mentioned but evidently he willingly complied with Paul’s request.
Paul’s refusal to have Titus, a Gentile by birth, circumcised (Gal. 2:1-5) is not inconsistent with his decision to have Timothy, a Jew by birth, circumcised; both decisions accord with his theology and missionary strategy.
Paul considered circumcision per se as nothing, and the same was true of uncircumcision (Gal. 5:6; 6:15).
If someone insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation, Paul fought against this as false doctrine and refused to permit the uncircumcised person to be circumcised.
But in Timothy’s case circumcision was simply a matter of expediency; and since Paul himself was prepared to become all things to all people so as to win some (1 Cor. 9:19-23), he did not hesitate to ask the same of Timothy.
1 Corinthians 9:19-20, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law.”
Paul would not risk impeding the gospel’s progress among the Jews by having an uncircumcised Jewish-Christian as his associate.
Had he obstinately done so, he would have alienated his audience immediately and forever.
Therefore, Paul regarded Timothy’s circumcision not as a means of salvation but as a legal act to remove a serious obstacle to the presentation of the gospel to unregenerate Jews.
In Galatians 5, Paul refutes the Judaizers and states that a man is saved by faith and not through circumcision.
The Judaizers originated with the Pharisees and those who adhered to their teaching and were composed of both believing and unbelieving Jews who taught strict adherence to the 613 mandates found in the Mosaic Law as well as the oral traditions of the Rabbis, which are now, documented in the Mishna and the Talmud.
Many of the Judaizers were believers since Acts 6:7, 15:5 and 21:20 state that many of the priests and Pharisees who were teachers of the Mosaic Law believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation but after salvation they still adhered to the Mosaic Law rather than the mystery doctrine for the church age that Paul was teaching.
The Judaizers taught that one had to observe and practice the Mosaic Law in order to get saved whereas Paul taught that salvation by grace through faith in Christ and not through the works of the Mosaic Law (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 2:16).
The Judaizers followed Paul throughout his missionary journey’s seeking to discredit and destroy his ministry (Acts 13:45; 17:5).
Paul denounces the teaching of the Judaizers in the book of Galatians since they taught a “different gospel” according to Gal. 1:6 and “distorted the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7).
Galatians 5:1-13, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Galatians 6:12-15, “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
In Philippians 3:2-3 Paul issues a warning to the Philippians to beware of the Judaizers and their legalistic teaching.
Philippians 3:2-3, “Beware of those dogs, beware of those evil workers, beware of the mutilation because we are the circumcision those who are serving (God the Father) by means of the Spirit of God, who are priding themselves in the nature of Christ Jesus, who have no confidence in the flesh.”
“The mutilation” was a term used by Paul to mock the Judaizers who taught one must be circumcised in their flesh in order to be saved.
God is concerned about the condition of the heart and not the male phallus.
1 Corinthians 7:19, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”
Circumcision of the flesh is useless unless there is a circumcision of the heart.
Deuteronomy 30:6, “Moreover 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, so that you may live.”
Colossians 2:11, “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.”
Your faith in Christ is what is important to God and not whether you are circumcised or not.
Abraham was first justified by his faith and then he was given circumcision as a badge or a mark that he was saved and set apart by God.
The Jews in Paul's day believed that because they were physical descendants of Abraham that they could ride into heaven on the coattails of Abraham.
They believed that they were sons of Abraham by right of circumcision, when in reality those who believe God are the true sons of Abraham.