while today

There was a massive controversy in the first century church over this question:  Do the gentiles who have come to faith in Christ need to be circumcised?  There was a faction within the church that said, yes, they must be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1) and it is easy to see why they believed this.  Circumcision had been around since the time of Abraham.  It was a sign and seal of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:11-12, Romans 4:11).  Circumcision was also required under the law of Moses.  Whether under the Abrahamic covenant or the Mosaic covenant, anyone who was not circumcised would be cut off from the people (Genesis 17:14).  So, wouldn’t the same apply to the people of the new covenant, the church?

The answer given throughout the New Testament is, no, gentiles do not need to be circumcised in order to be saved.  In fact, Paul wrote to the church in Galatia that, “if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you,” and every man that receives circumcision “is under obligation to keep the whole Law.”  Paul continues to explain that those who were being circumcised were seeking to be justified by law, and therefore “have been severed from Christ.” (Galatians 5:2-4 NASB95) So not only is circumcision unnecessary, but it is also spiritually deadly (if it is received in order to be saved).  Anyone who does so will cut themselves off from salvation in Jesus!

And yet, all of us in Christ have undergone circumcision.  We have been circumcised in our spirit, through the Spirit of God, by the hand of Jesus Himself.  As Paul says, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter…” (Romans 2:28-29 NASB95).  When were you and I circumcised in heart?  “And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:11-12 NASB95) When we were baptized into Christ, Jesus circumcised (cut away) our fleshly nature.  He circumcised our hearts by His Spirit at that moment.

All of this is extremely important for our daily lives.  Because of God’s spiritual surgery, we have hope of overcoming our flesh and living lives of obedience from the heart.  Thanks be to God for operating on our hearts in this way!     

—Scott Colvin