Whats the meaning of Ezekiel 44:6-9? Does it mean the uncircumcised will not get into the Kingdom?

[SAAN]

Ezekiel 44:6-9

6 “Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations. 7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. 8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” 9 Thus says the Lord God: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.




Ive heard this passage brought up many times, especially by the Hebrew Roots community stating one must be circumcised of heart and physically circumcised of the flesh to enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

[football5680]

It is talking about the temple and how the Priests should conduct themselves and it is not saying that you must be circumcised to enter heaven. To substantiate this interpretation you would have to say that only the Levites could enter heaven and nobody from the 11 other tribes could and I don't think the people you are talking about would accept this.

 

[Razare]

To understand and reconcile this verse and the verses Paul gives which directly oppose this, most people fall into error. They either say Ezekiel 44:6-9 no longer applies (wrong to some extent), or Paul was wrong. Yet those who say Paul is wrong are wrong, because if you see in Acts, when Paul went before the entire body of believers in Jerusalem with Peter and other members there such as James, Gentiles were not required to be circumcised.

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses." - Acts 15:5

This is shot-down by the Jerusalem church leadership, James states:

19 “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. - Acts 15:19-20

James was Christ's brother, and a Jew who converted to the original "Messianic Judaism", so if we want to reject what he said on the issue, I think we have deviated from Christianity entirely. At which point, we are practicing Judaism with a little Jesus mixed-in, not Christianity.

From that statement we can make a better argument not to eat blood sausage and have blood transfusions, than we can for circumcision.

How do you reconcile the two viewpoints, OT and NT since both are true?

The key to reconcile the viewpoints is to learn prophecy correctly. Not many people get their understanding of prophecy correct. I think it's only possible if you're willing to let God teach you and not presume interpretation of other men, or interpretation you create yourself.

To know truth prophecy, you do not go to a prophecy teacher who teaches it. This does not work because they all say different things and who knows which you believe?

How to learn prophecy from God:

- Ephesians 1:17 - Required prayer to get wisdom from God. Only God can teach you things of scripture, not man or the world at large, only God. Read Proverbs about wisdom and also James which teaches us how to ask for it.
- Romans 1 through 12 - Andrew Wommack study materials I would suggest, but if you read it enough God will show it to you, if you're not leaning on what people have told you in error; the key to learn is salvation by faith and grace, along with mercy, which allows us to conclude we are "the righteousness of God" and actually believe it (stating it is meaningless unless you believe it by the spirit)
- Galatians - Read it, again and again, it teaches grace and justification apart from the law.
- Hebrews 6 basic doctrines of Christianity, you need to learn these six listed from the rest of scripture and be able to fully explain them without error
- 1 Corinthians 13 - Should understand love. Without understanding love, a person can never understand prophecy in scripture. This is because there is a prophetic spirit of fear sent by satan. Love casts out all fear, so a person has to be rooted and grounded in God's love to know prophecy.
- Study on Blood Covenant - Genesis 15; Exodus 12; Exodus 24:8; and others.
- Jeremiah 31 - New Covenant prophesied

If you know all this, and believe it just as the writers believed it, then you can start prophecy and get somewhere. Prophecy can never violate any of those concepts, otherwise it is false prophecy.

What you will eventually learn from true prophecy is that eventually there are 2 domains in heaven. New Jerusalem, and an Earthly Paradise kingdom. Quite likely, everyone in the Earthly end of things, will actually be circumcised in the flesh. While I have not studied this a great deal, I would begin my research in the matter going that direction. The later chapters of Ezekiel deal with this Earthly domain of heaven / eternity.

Those living in the heavenly domain of eternity, New Jerusalem were circumcised by faith and given new incorruptible bodies created by God... this is the Church, you and I. We don't have to circumcise our flesh. I am not even sure we will have genitals when we are raised? I don't know, if we do, they will not be used.

 

[SAAN]

Whats disturbing is how much the Hebrew Roots community is growing, which I can respect as the bible is a Hebrew book, so looking at it from a Hebraic context does clarify some errors, but this passage of scripture is used far too many times saying physical circumcision is mandatory and a requirement to enter the kingdom. Im starting to hear of testimonies of grown men in their 30's+ getting circumcised, because they have come into Torah and hear others using Ez 44 and a few other verses to justify it.

So what happens to women since they cant be circumcised?
Are men who who never had it done doomed, because they die with something they were created with?
Doesnt our flesh all turn to dust when we die anyways?

As silly as these questions sound, im seeing more of these teachings and people are buying this crap too and fearing they will go to hell if they arent cut.

 

[Greg J.]

God, through the New Testament writers, deals with the original poster's question (and the overall issues) very thoroughly.

 

[Standing Up]

It's not for nothing that 8 means the new.

Hebrews 8:8
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

Hebrew roots shouldn't mean turning back.

 

[CCHIPSS]

Galatians 5 address this directly. Specifically Galatians 5:6. Paul was very mad at those that said we must get circumcised to be saved. Because if anyone believe they are saved by works, including circumcision, they must also follow the whole law. So then Christ's salvation have no part in them.

He said these false prophets should just go the whole way and castrate themselves to become eunuchs.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Ezekiel 44:6-9

6 “Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations. 7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. 8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” 9 Thus says the Lord God: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.




Ive heard this passage brought up many times, especially by the Hebrew Roots community stating one must be circumcised of heart and physically circumcised of the flesh to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Without some understanding covenants, it's impossible to understand the Bible.

If the Hebrew Roots movement is saying what you stated above, they are clearly dead wrong, and it doesn't surprise me. This is nothing new. Read the book of Galatians.

 

[Norbert L]

Ezekiel 44:6-9

6 “Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations. 7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. 8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” 9 Thus says the Lord God: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.




Ive heard this passage brought up many times, especially by the Hebrew Roots community stating one must be circumcised of heart and physically circumcised of the flesh to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The apostle Paul was accused of this very thing in Acts 21:28. He speaks in his own defense in front of the governor Felix about them in Acts 24:13-14. "nor can they prove to you the things they are accusing me of doing. But I confess this to you, that I worship the God of our ancestors according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law and that is written in the prophets."

Seems to me Paul not only believes Ezekiel 44:9 but also understands it in a completely different manner from "must be circumcised of heart and physically circumcised of the flesh to enter the kingdom of heaven". I would say such a conclusion from Ezekiel's words is, using Pauls own words in 1 Timothy 1:7, "desiring to be teachers of the Law, understanding neither what they are saying nor that about which they confidently assert."