Romans 2.28-Authentic Jewishness and Circumcision Are Not Based On Externals
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 23, 2007
Romans: Romans 2:28-Authentic Jewishness and Circumcision are not Based on Externals
Lesson # 70
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:28.
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.
This morning we will study Romans 2:28, which teaches that authentic Jewishness is not based upon being a biological descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob nor is authentic circumcision based upon receiving the surgical procedure of circumcision as an eight day old infant.
Romans 2:28, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.”
“For” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a self-evident conclusion that is based upon Paul’s teaching concerning circumcision in Romans 2:25-27.
The self-evident conclusion is that one’s racial background, i.e. being a biological descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or circumcision, did not constitute being a true Jew since being of the Jewish race has no value without faith in Christ and circumcision is of no value without perfect obedience to the Law of God.
“Jew” is the proper name Ioudaios ()Ioudaio$) (ee-oo-dah-yos), which refers to those members of the human race who are descendants biologically of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and thus members of the nation of Israel and thus, denotes nationality distinguishing the Jew from the Gentile.
“Who is one outwardly” describes an authentic Jew as not being identified by mere “outward appearance” or “externals that can be easily seen by the human eye” and refers specifically to the unsaved, self-righteous Jews’ security in his racial heritage or nationality.
Therefore, the statement “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly” destroys the unsaved, self-righteous Jews’ security in his racial background, heritage or nationality, which he erroneously and presumptuously believed would gain him entrance into the kingdom of heaven and protect him from eternal condemnation.
The Lord Jesus Christ also addressed this Jewish pride in their racial heritage.
John 8:31-45, “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.’ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father. They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.’ But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father. They said to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.’ Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”
An authentic Jew is one who has been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
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 15:1-12, “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.”
Romans 2:28, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.”
“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 or saved them and implied that one was obedient to God (Genesis 17).
The statement “Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh” would destroy the unsaved Jews’ security in receiving the ritual of circumcision, which he erroneously and presumptuously believed would gain him entrance into the kingdom of heaven and protect him from eternal condemnation.
“That which is outward” describes an authentic Jew as not being identified by mere “outward appearance” or “externals that can be easily seen by the human eye.”
Authentic circumcision is by means of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and not by the mechanical observance of the written code of the Mosaic Law, which prescribes circumcision for every eight day old Jewish boy.
Romans 2:29, “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.”
Authentic circumcision also takes place the moment a person trusts in Jesus Christ as his Savior, which results in his being regenerated by the Holy Spirit and thus receiving the nature of Christ called the new creation, or new spiritual species.
Galatians 6:15, “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
“Regeneration” is a ministry performed by the Holy Spirit on behalf of a person the moment they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior where He creates a human spirit for the person so that they might receive the imputation of eternal life.
Titus 3:5, “He (God the Holy Spirit) saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”
This act of regeneration makes the believer a new spiritual species, which is the nature of Christ that can never sin and that is described in Scripture by many phrases such as the “new self, new man, newness of life, new creation.”
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new spiritual species; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
The human spirit is the receptacle for eternal life and together they give the believer the capacity to metabolize and apply spiritual phenomena communicated by the Holy Spirit through the teaching of the Word of God and to pray according to the will of God and to worship and serve God.
Philippians 4:23, “May the grace which originates from the Lord Jesus Christ be communicated to your human spirit. Amen.”
According to Colossians 2:11-12, authentic circumcision also involves the “baptism of the Spirit” where the believer in Jesus Christ is identified with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
Colossians 2:11-12, “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, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
The “baptism of the Spirit” takes place exclusively during the dispensation of the church age and is accomplished at the moment of salvation when the omnipotence of the Spirit places the believer in a eternal union with Christ, thus identifying the believer positionally with Christ in His death, resurrection and session.
1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
“Baptized” is the verb baptizo (baptivzw), “to cause the believer to be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
At the moment of salvation, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit causes the believer to become identical and united with the Lord Jesus Christ and also ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Baptism of the Spirit results in the “sanctification” of the believer, which means that the believer has been set apart to serve God exclusively and is accomplished in three stages: (1) Positional (2) Experiential (3) Ultimate.
“Positional sanctification” refers to: (1) What God has done for the church age believer. (2) His viewpoint of the church age believer. (3) Sets up the potential to experience sanctification in time. (4) Provides the believer with the guarantee of receiving a resurrection body (5) Results in eternal security (6) Results in two categories of positional truth: (a) Retroactive (b) Current.
“Retroactive” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His death and burial (Romans 6:3-11; Colossians 2:12).
“Current” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His resurrection, ascension and session (See Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4).
“Experiential sanctification” is the post-salvation experience of the church age believer who is in fellowship with God by confessing any known sin to the Father when necessary (1 John 1:9) followed by obedience to the Father’s will (1 John 2:5), which is revealed by the Spirit through the Word of God (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
This obedience constitutes obeying the commands to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and letting the Word of Christ richly dwell in your soul (Colossians 3:16) and this obedience enables the Spirit to reproduce the character of Christ in the believer (Galatians 5:22-23).
Experiential sanctification is only a potential since it is contingent upon the church age believer responding to what God has done for him at the moment of salvation, therefore, only believers who are obedient to the Word of God will experience sanctification in time.
“Ultimate sanctification” is the perfection of the church age believer’s spiritual life at the Rapture, i.e. resurrection of the church, which is the completion of the plan of God for the church age believer (1 Cor. 15:53-54; Gal. 6:8; 1 Pet. 5:10; John 6:40).
It is the guarantee of a resurrection body and will be experienced by every believer regardless of their response in time to what God has done for them at salvation.
Sanctification is experiencing the holiness of God or in other words manifesting the character of God through one’s thoughts, words and actions.
1 Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’”
All of this gives the believer the capacity to obey the commands of God and reflect the holiness of God in his life.
1 Corinthians 7:19, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”
One of the symbolic meanings of the act of circumcision where the cutting of the foreskin spoke of a surgical removal spoke of a complete separation, from the sins of the flesh so widely prevalent in the world around Abraham and his descendants.
The nations and tribes around Abraham were involved in sins largely centered in the misuse of the male organ in adultery, fornication and sodomy.
Circumcision symbolized to the Jewish man that he was a member of an elect nation, a peculiar people, distinctly holy before God, in relation to sexual conduct, so it came indirectly to speak of holiness in every phase of life.
Leviticus 20:7, “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.”
Therefore, we can see that authentic circumcision involves sanctification and reflecting the holiness of God.