REAL CIRCUMCISION Devotion 7 of 39 The early church was troubled with legalistic Judaizers. These were people who placed the emphasis on the procedures of the Mosaic Law, not on the God who gave them. They were fundamentally ignorant of both the presence and nature of the New Covenant. – Tomorrow:
"For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your writtencode 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 written code 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. (Rom 2:25-29, NKJV)
Among these Judaizers were those who insisted that circumcision was still incumbent upon all in covenant with God – even those in Jesus Christ. On one occasion "certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved'" (Acts 15:1). Again, "there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses" (verse 5).
To the unspiritual mind, it all seemed to make sense. After all, Jesus had given no indication that circumcision would be abrogated. The few words He said about it did not seem to indicate the ordinance would ever end. "Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day?" (John 7:22-23).
These law-binders could point to chapter and verse to confirm their insistence that all males be circumcised. There was no question about the wording of these texts. "He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:11).
The Galatians confronted false teachers who "compelled" them "to be circumcised." Their doctrine was flawed, and their motives were not pure. "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh" (Gal 6:12-13).
These teachers, besides having corrupt hearts, did not know the nature of the new covenant. They did not impose the will of God upon the people, but their own corrupt understanding of that will. Their requirements were a troubling factor. They did not clarify the will of God, the benefits of the New Covenant, or the extent to which God intended to bless those in Christ Jesus.
Four hundred and fifty years after Abraham, Moses spoke of the necessity of a higher form of circumcision – a form that would involve the change of man's essential nature. "Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer" (Deut 10:16). Realizing they were incapable of doing this, he also foretold the time when God would accomplish the circumcision of the heart. "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" (Deut 30:6). A "better covenant," "established upon better promises" was needed if men were to become truly righteous (Heb 8:6).
In view of these things, those who draw men to empty form and lifeless ritual are troublers just as surely as those ancient Judaizers. They make it mote difficult for God to work in the individual because they glory in appearance rather than lasting spiritual substance.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, help me to never resist forms you have ordained for those who come to You through Christ. Likewise, grant me grace to reject any and every form that is not validated and made effective by Christ Jesus.