A matter of the heart
by Pauline Simonsen
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
… real circumcision is a matter of the heart – it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God (Romans 2:29).
Read Romans 2:25 – 3:8
Yesterday, we read about one of Judaism’s great badges of honour: having the law of Moses. Today, Paul addresses their other great badge of honour: circumcision. For Jews, the physical mark of circumcision was a sign of their identity as God’s chosen, covenant people. Which it was (Genesis 17:9–13).
Paul’s comment? ‘The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.’
What? ‘Surely,’ says every Jewish male, ‘my circumcision shows I am a true Jew!’
It gets worse. Paul goes on to assert that an uncircumcised Gentile who keeps the law can actually be regarded as circumcised, one of God’s chosen people – more so than a circumcised Jew who breaks God’s law!
This is shocking stuff for the Jews of Paul’s time to hear. All their certainties about who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ of God’s kingdom are being blown out of the water.
Paul is clear: a true Jew – one of God’s people – is circumcised inwardly, spiritually, not just outwardly in their body as a requirement of the law. This is not just a box-ticking exercise, or rather a knife-cutting exercise done by humans. True circumcision is done by God. It’s an internal work: a cutting off of our old sinful nature.
Paul wrote in Colossians 2:11–14b:
In Christ you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code that was against us …
In Christ, the old covenant of the law is fulfilled. In our baptism, by faith, we were joined to Jesus, dying and rising with him. We were spiritually circumcised – both men and women, Jew and Gentile. And we live forever with him now!
All our fig leaves and badges of honour are so much rubbish. Jesus Christ is our boast, our sun of righteousness, our life and our hope!
Loving Father, your great plan to restore humanity to yourself through your Son is amazing. We pray a blessing on your beloved Jewish people and that they come to know Jesus as their sun of righteousness. Thank you for including us Gentiles in your kingdom through Jesus. Bring us all together one day, under Christ Jesus. In his name, Amen.
Pauline lives in sight of the ranges in the beautiful Manawatu region of New Zealand with her husband, Roger, and two cats. She leads a small Bible College there and offers spiritual direction and supervision to people from a wide range of backgrounds and denominations.
- Click here to read previous devotions.
- We are also posting them on LCA Facebook, making it easy for you to share them with family and friends.
- Sign up to receive Daily Devotion in your inbox every morning. If you’re already doing that, please encourage others to sign up. Click here for the link.
