Heart Circumcision

"And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." (Acts 15: 1)

"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." (Romans 3: 1,2)

Circumcision has a long history and tradition among the Jews and certain oriental peoples. It began with Abraham and the "fathers" (John 7: 22), not with Moses and the formal covenant at Sinai. It was a divinely instituted ritual for every male child in Israel (or the stranger converting) and was the standing symbol of the man's participation in the covenant that God made with his ancestors and with his nation.

But, it was never intended to continue permanently. There was a prophesied end to the Old Covenant (Testament), and the establishing of a New and Everlasting Covenant; there would be a fulfillment (Matthew 5: 18) of the Old Covenant, as well as a "time of reformation" (Hebrews 9: 10), and a time when certain laws and practices were to be "abolished" (II Corinthians 3: 13 & Ephesians 2: 15).

Circumcision, like many rituals and ceremonies of the Old Covenant, was designed to teach symbolically the higher and more literal truths of the New Covenant, of the gospel.

For the Jew it was an advantage to have the Old Testament ceremonies and rituals as it helped to illustrate and impart truth to the mind. But, it was wrong, when Christ came, and when the New Covenant was instituted, to affirm that one must continue to keep the Old Covenant's laws and rituals in order to be saved.

The prophets began to communicate this message to the ancient people who practiced circumcision in the flesh. They preached, by God's command, saying:

"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." (Jeremiah 4: 4)

The Apostles also taught that true circumcision was never the physical operation on the male child; rather, the ritual pointed symbolically to something else that occurred in the very center of a man's being, in his heart and soul, when he is made a "new creature" and is operated upon by God, when God "cuts away" from the man's heart, soul, and mind all that is keeping him hardened in his sins and away from salvation.

When the Lord commanded the Israelites to "circumcise" their hearts, it is not to be thought that this implies that the sinner can do this himself, without divine grace. Man can no more regenerate himself than he can create a world. But, he can be made to place his faith in a Physician, and so give consent to have his old heart removed or operated upon, by the Physician. Men can only be circumcised in heart as they look wholly out of themselves, to the Holy Spirit, to Christ and his grace, that they can ever hope to have a new heart.

Here is the New Testament message about true circumcision that relates to salvation.

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." (Galatians 5: 6)

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." (6: 15)

This being made a "new creature" in Christ is the true circumcision that Jeremiah and Paul emphasized, and which the physical ritual of the Old Testament represented.

"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." (Colossians 2: 10-12)

"Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3: 2, 3)

"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 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." (Romans 2: 28, 29)

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." (Ephesians 2: 10-12)

Sinner friend, don't you see that you have a heart and soul problem? Do you not see that your heart is naturally black and hardended because of your sins? You know that you need to repent and turn to the Lord, but will you come in the way of faith to the only Physician who can help you? Come to Dr. Jesus and he can put you through an operation of grace that will truly make you into one "new man"!