Christian Crier
Here are six Bible verses that speak about what circumcision is all about.
First Corinthians 7:19 “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.”
This was a common theme for the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. People would receive the message of salvation through grace (Eph 2:8) and not of works (Eph 2:9) but then the Judaizers who followed Paul would come and say, “You can be saved by Jesus Christ but you must also be circumcised” and so Paul wrote, “For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party” (Titus 1:10) but Christians “are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:3).
Jeremiah 9:25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh.”
Jeremiah seems to be writing this to the Jews who centuries later and in Jesus’ day, demand that a person must be circumcised in order to be saved but we know that God wants our hearts circumcised and not the flesh. We are no better than anyone else but we can’t add requirements for others who we might think are not following what we believe they should. No one is justified by the works of the law as the Apostle Paul warned the Galatians that “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” (Gal 2:16).
Colossians 2:11 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.”
The key to this verse is that circumcision of the flesh is useless compared to “the circumcision of Christ,” which means a circumcision of the heart. This circumcision of the heart had nothing to do with that done with the hands as it’s seen as work’s oriented salvation. It is Christ alone Who saves (Acts 4:12); not tradition, ritual, or rites. Works are useless to God (Eph 2:8-9) because it robs God of all the glory since salvation is fully a work of God.
Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
Paul is clearly having trouble with the church at Galatia, thanks in large part I am sure, to the Jews who were constantly hounding Paul. Just after Paul would leave to go on another missionary journey, he would hear reports that the parties of circumcision (the Jews) would swoop in and tell the Galatians that they must add circumcision to their faith or they can’t be saved but that is a works-based salvation that God will clearly not accept. Circumcision counts for nothing; it is only through faith and working in love that God honors.
Romans 2:29 “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.”
This is the main point of all of these Bible verses; God is concerned with the heart and not the outward man. God looks at the heart (1st Sam 16:7) and not at the outward appearance of man or a woman. It is a circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit of God, and “not by the letter” or by the works of the law that a person is saved by. It is the inward person that God is interested because all else is passing away.
Jeremiah 4:4 “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Jeremiah appears to be saying the same thing that Paul would latter write to the church at Galatia that it’s not the outward, fleshly foreskin that God is concerned about but the foreskin of the heart. It isn’t a matter of outward, external works (like circumcision) but an inward working by the Holy Spirit of God to show the need for repentance and faith in Christ. It is not the letter because the letter of the law kills; the Spirit of God saves. The Jews in Jeremiah’s day had all the right rituals and ceremonies down but inwardly they were as wicked as the unconverted were.
Conclusion
I hope you can conclude, as I have, that no one can be saved by works but we are saved for works which God has planned long ago that we should walk in (Eph 2:10) but these works are not to bring us salvation; they are a result of our salvation. God wants our hearts and not our external works. He looks at the heart and not outwardly as most of us do. We cannot see what’s inside a person’s heart like God can so if nothing else, we rest in the work of Calvary that Christ did for us and not in anything that we could ever do or have ever done. That is because it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9).
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.
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