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1 COR. 10:11; HEB. 1:2; HEB. 9:26,28; 1 PET. 1:20
- Dec 10, 2013
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In my humble opinion God's holy word is superior to my opinion:
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God".
Genesis 17:7-8
KJV
Oh really?
The Importance of Circumcision!
The Chosen Seed And Circumcision Part 1
At this juncture, we must take note of a vital issue that is virtually ignored in the modern discussions about Israel and God's promises to her, and that is the subject of circumcision. It is all but impossible for moderns to appreciate the passion that this topic generated in the New Testament times. To Christians, circumcision is about hygiene; to the Jews it was about God's covenant. It was about being a child of God, their election by Him. It was about the Land. It was about the Temple. It was everything.
What Paul taught about circumcision was considered "the offense of the Cross" (Galatians 5:11), by the Jews and Judaizers. The Jews wanted to kill Paul for what he taught about circumcision. And what did Paul teach? He taught that, "If you become circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing"; "I testify to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law"; "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love" (Galatians 5:2-6). So what is the big deal about this? As just noted, we today cannot easily grasped why Paul's doctrine about circumcision would incite such violent reactions. The reason why we have such a difficult time appreciating this is because we are unfamiliar with the true meaning of covenant.
For brevity, we will list just a few of the main themes associated with circumcision in the mind of the Jews.
1.) Genesis 17:7-14 -- Circumcision and the Identity Of God's People.
When Jehovah called Abraham, He made a covenant of circumcision with him. The Lord told Abraham that if anyone was born in his house or a slave purchased by any of descendants was not circumcised, "he shall be cut off from the people" (Genesis 17:14). This meant he was to die.
Simply stated, no circumcision meant you were not of the Abrahamic seed, and if you were not of the Abrahamic seed, you were "outside". For Paul, prior to Christ, there were only two classifications of mankind, the circumcised and the uncircumcised, and the uncircumcised were, "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world." (Ephesians 2:11f). To put it another way, no circumcision, no hope.
Now, if you had been taught, as a people, for 1,500+ years that circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with you, to identify you as His, and all of a sudden someone started saying that circumcision now meant nothing, how would you react? If this act identified you as a child of God, blessed above all people and now you were told that it no longer had any special significance in God's eyes, wouldn't you consider that man a heretic, a rabble-rouser and a revolutionary?
2.) Joshua 5 -- Circumcision and the Land.
As Joshua led the children of Israel to the borders of the promised land, it was realized that the men had not been circumcised. The generation that had come out of Egypt had died out, and failed to have their sons circumcised. As a result, Israel could not possess the land.. Joshua had all the men circumcised and God said: "This day have I rolled the approach of Egypt from you" (Joshua 5:9). Now if, even as a descendant of Abraham, you could not possess the land if you were not circumcised, how incredible was it for Paul to say, "Circumcision avails nothing." Covenantally, no circumcision meant no land. And now, Paul said circumcision avails nothing. The umbilical cord between circumcision and the Land was being cut by the gospel of the Messiah.
3.) Acts 21:27f -- Circumcision and the Temple.
In Acts, the Jews thought Paul had taken Trophimus, an uncircumcised Greek, into the Temple. A riot broke out, and Paul would literally have been killed on the spot had not the Roman commander rescued him. It will be remembered that although the Romans had removed the authority of capital punishment from Israel prior to this occasion, they had actually made exceptions in cases involving violation of the Temple. Thus, there were plaques placed all around the Temple complex, with inscriptions warning all Gentiles that to proceed past a certain point would result in their death.
The Temple was the most sacred place in the world. It was the center of the world for the Jews. The privilege of worshipping there was one of the greatest blessings in the world. Circumcision provided passage into those hallowed courts. Without circumcision, no one could enter its holy gates. No circumcision, no Temple privileges.
Considering these facets of Israel's identity, perhaps we can begin to have a basic grasp of the passion with which circumcision was viewed by the Jews of Paul's day. No circumcision placed one outside the covenants, outside the land, outside the city, outside of God's favor.
Is it any wonder why Paul considered such a heretic? Is it any wonder why the Jews sought to kill him? Is it any wonder why his gospel was such an offense to them? For Paul to argue that true circumcision is of the heart (Colossians 2:11-12), and belongs to those of faith, not of the flesh (Philippians 3:1-3), meant that God's election of national Israel was coming to a close. It meant that Israel was being re-defined along spiritual lines, as hinted at by the prophets, but never grasped by those focused on earthly things. It meant, positively, that the time of fulfillment had come, the time anticipated in Genesis 28 and 49 when the scepter would pass from Judah. This was truly good news, except to those who were mindful of the flesh and who trusted in the flesh (Philippians 3).
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