Circumcision is signing the bondage of the Law in blood. “Bondage!” you cry out. Yes, the Law is binding, as Paul explained in the following passages:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. (Gal 5:1-6)Just like the marriage bond filed with the government official, signing the bond of the Abrahamic Covenant is binding. Normally, in a bond, security is presented. With the Covenant, the security is yourself. In effect, the person who believes and is circumcised promises to pay, upon his or her default, their souls.
The person who is circumcised for spiritual reasons, indenture themselves for perpetuity since the Covenant is everlasting. Surprise! Everyone will default for if anyone says he is without sin, he is a liar (1 John 1:10). The point that God made was that nobody can depend on their own fidelity for the reward; they must trust the fidelity of God’s Word. God’s truth is what makes men free (John 8:32).
How can anyone be born again? They must “marry” Jesus! Marry Jesus! Abraham did that. His willingness to sacrifice his only remaining son was a commitment to that relationship. Abraham became a “bride” to Jesus’s the “Bridegroom.”
Unfortunately, the Hebrews failed to join the marriage ceremony as brides to Christ. Was Abraham’s circumcision effectual in his reward? (We find that he did go to Heaven.) No; the circumcision was merely his signature to the “marriage pact.” Whether he signed it or not, he was still married to Jesus, which marriage could only be broken with fornication against his Bride, or blasphemy (Mat 12:31).
Hence, it is not the “signature” of circumcision which was affective, but the change inside – from unbelief to belief. “Belief” in scripture, is more than believing; it is believing so intensely that there is trust. That trust in God is called “faith.”
The change that Abraham experienced was heart-felt. The human heart reveals our natures. The obvious is hard palpitations with excitement, but more importantly are the peaceful rhythms of contentment. “Heart” is used to describe peace within. We call that “contentment.” “Joy” is when a person is so content, that the heart beats soundly without rapidity because anticipation of the reward is so profound! Thus, the heart is the representative of human emotions. Lust palpitates in the heart and disrupts contentment. People who lust have a I must have that attitude, and like the beasts, the anticipation becomes real! Peace is when lust is bound and people are free and have contentment. Scripture calls that “circumcision” as well, but not of the penis, but the “heart” as can be understood from the next passage:
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. (Deut 10:16-17)Moses could not circumcise himself nor even his son. Zilpporah did the “dirty deed” for him. Neither can we circumcise our own heart and neither can anyone else. God circumcised Abraham’s heart with the gift of faith (Ephes 2:8), and Abraham, although he was making the sacrifice, had nothing to do with receiving the faith but using it!
God circumcised Abraham’s heart and the sword of God cut the flesh from his heart, or as is written, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” God’s Word – Jesus – changed Abraham’s heart, not the sharp blade of the knife! Check that out with the following:
And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. (Deut 30:6)When was Abraham circumcised? When he had enough faith in God that he used it! His heart was circumcised when his faith exceeded his doubt, and his unwillingness changed to willingness. Abraham was born again, not by his own doing, but he knew that someday the blood of Jesus would redeem him and Isaac who he was ready and willing to sacrifice and be sacrificed.
By doing that, he diminished himself and elevated God. Abraham was “born again” as he put Isaac on the altar to please God. That act signified that he was presenting a better sacrifice than even Abel. The Cain part of him was replaced with an attitude like Abel’s! That was Cain circumcised from the nature of him, and replaced by Abel’s nature (Heb 11:4), but better yet, the nature of Jesus whose was better than Abel’s (Heb 12:24).
God supplied the “knife” to Abraham but he had to be willing to use it. As such, Abraham assisted in his “circumcision.” Just as with rebirth, Jesus does the rebirthing, but to be reborn is the willingness to be changed. The second birth, then, is yourself holding the “sword of the Word” with God wielding the power and guiding the sword, not toward our all-too-valuable penises, but to the more valuable heart:
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (Jer 4:4)What happens at spiritual “circumcision?” That is when the old nature is cut off from the creature, and he or she becomes a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and that is a change in the “flesh,” according to 1 Corinthians 5:16, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” In other words, the flesh is no longer important to those who truly believe in Christ.
When is a person’s heart circumcised? Not at baptism, but at rebirth. Baptism symbolizes the circumcision of the heart which precedes. Abraham was circumcised to seal the deal (Gen 17) before he actually trusted enough to participate in the deal (Gen 22). Hence, circumcision was not the important thing, but the willingness to trust God!
Circumcision, then, has no saving value: “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law (Gal 5:3). It merely signifies indebtedness to the Law. There is no gain in circumcision: “For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. (Rom 2:25). In fact, it is burdensome and extraneous, as is written:
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. (Jer 9:25-26)One might ask, “Why, then, was Abraham circumcised?” It was a testimony for him and the Hebrew people that their God was the One True God, unlike any other. They were willing to obey God but still failed to love Him as their hearts were not yet right, not having been circumcised. It was faith that made them spiritually circumcised:
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. (Heb 4:5-11)Therein is much. Foremost is that circumcision has no bearing on righteousness. It is not the blade which imputes righteousness but by God through the gift of faith. Although righteousness is imputed, circumcision remains a seal. What is that similar to? Baptism.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Col 2:10-12)The “circumcision made without hands” is the circumcision of the heart. It is submitting the flesh to Christ for him to handle. It is Christ who circumcises the heart, and it is not of ourselves. Then after speaking of circumcision, Paul writes of baptism. Like circumcision, it is the seal that their hearts were changed.
Circumcision requires someone to wield a blade. Zipporah did it for Moses’ son, but the sword of the Word is done without hands. Thus, lowering someone into the baptismal waters is not saving but symbolic as only Jesus’s hand can save! Since Jews were in bondage to the Law, baptism symbolically washes away the bondage “signature” which is the blood from the knife. The second birth sets free, and baptism is the emancipation ceremony.
Unlike circumcision which testifies to the power of the knife, baptism testifies to the Power of Jesus’s Name! Baptism reveals that although we are not chosen people as the Jews, but are peculiar people of a chosen generation (1 Pet 2:9). Baptism changes Gentiles’ spiritual identities from Gentile to Jew because circumcision is symbolic of baptism: “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom 2:29).
I hope that these three commentaries help to explain circumcision better and compare it to baptism. The order nor necessity of either circumcision nor baptism is important. Scripture has one “must be” and one “must do.” We must be born again (John 3:7) and we “must do” (Exod 18:20) the folliwng: “And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.”
What is the one must do? Like the two things Jesus commanded with the one Greatest Commandment, we must do unto God and others with love!
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