Theme
Circumcision/Uncircumcision
In The Old Testament and It's Spiritual Implication in the New Testament
Defining The Term
Circumcision
Surgical removal of the foreskin of the male reproductive organ. In Bible times circumcision was the seal of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gn 17:1–14).
In the Old Testament.
In the Bible the practice of circumcision began in Genesis 17 as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. God promised Abraham a land and, through a son yet to be conceived, numerous descendants, from whom kings would come. Blessing would come upon Abraham and through him to all nations (Gn 12:1–3). After the covenant was formally inaugurated (Gn 15), God sealed it, ordering Abraham to be circumcised along with all the males in his household (Gn 17:9–13).
Circumcision was to be an expression of faith that God’s promises would be realized. Because Abraham’s faith had lapsed (Gn 16) even after he had seen the awesome display of God’s majesty (Gn 15:9–17), a permanent reminder of God’s covenant promises was placed on his body and the bodies of his male descendants (Gn 17:11). This sign was so closely related to God’s covenant promise that the rite itself could be termed the “covenant” (Gn 17:10; Acts 7:8).
Circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day after birth (Gn 17:12; Lv 12:1–3; see Gn 21:4; Lk 1:59; 2:21; Acts 7:8; Phil 3:5), customarily by the boy’s father (Gn 17:23; 21:4; Acts 7:8), at which time a name would be given (Lk 1:59; 2:21). Flint knives were used in the early days (Ex 4:25; Jos 5:2, 3). Later the rite was carried out by a trained practitioner called a mohel. Medical research has determined that prothrombin, a substance in the blood that aids in clotting, is present in greater quantity on the eighth day than at any other time in life.
Theological Meaning. Circumcision had to do with the fulfillment of God’s promise concerning Abraham’s descendants (Gn 17:9–12). Because it was applied to the reproductive organ, the sign involved the propagation of the race. Its application to the eight-day-old infant demonstrates the gracious character of God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants and indicates that God’s people are in need of cleansing grace from birth (Lv 12:1–3). The promises of the covenant were reaffirmed to each generation before the recipients were able to respond in either faith or unbelief; nothing in the hearts of the chosen people could either bring about or thwart the ultimate fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham and his posterity.
Circumcision also had to do with the fulfillment of God’s promise concerning the land (Gn 17:8). The land was God’s holy possession, and the Israelites had to be holy to possess it. When Joseph and his descendants were in Egypt, they continued to circumcise their sons. But following the great sin at Mt Sinai after the exodus the unbelieving Israelites failed to place the covenant sign upon their children as they wandered in the wilderness. Because the new generation had not been circumcised, the people were unprepared to enter the Promised Land. Therefore God ordered Joshua to circumcise the men of Israel. The people’s obedient response was an act of faith, since the armies of the enemy were camped nearby as the Israelite warriors lay incapacitated by the surgery (Jos 5:2–9).
From the beginning, participation in the covenant promises was open to persons outside Abraham’s household (Gn 17:17). Exodus 12:43–49 gives non-Israelites the opportunity to participate in the Passover if they are willing to fulfill the same stipulation placed upon the Jews—that of circumcision.
The provision for admission to God’s people by reception of the covenant sign was abused by Jacob’s sons when circumcision was made a precondition for intermarriage with the Shechemites: while the Shechemites were disabled by their wounds, Simeon and Levi killed them, plundering the city and raping the women to exact retribution for the rape of their sister Dinah (Gn 34).
The sign of the covenant was not to be treated lightly. The penalty of excommunication rested upon the uncircumcised (Gn 17:14). The strange incident recorded in Exodus 4:24–26 seems to have been God’s reminder to Moses of the stipulations of the covenant made with Abraham. Moses had proved an unfaithful servant of the Lord by neglecting to circumcise his son, but was rescued from judgment when his wife Zipporah took a flint rock and circumcised the boy, throwing the bloody foreskin at her husband’s feet.
Spiritual Significance
The hygienic act of circumcision symbolized the need for cleansing if the holy God was to enter into relationship with an unholy people.
At first it was God’s intention to let the ritual teach its own lesson. In Genesis 17:9–27 the observance merely serves as the covenant seal; Abraham is given little explanation of the significance of the rite itself. Later Moses used the expression “uncircumcised lips” to describe his unskilled speech (Ex 6:12, 30). When Israel entered the Promised Land, the yield of its fruit trees was to be considered “uncircumcised” for the first three years; after that it would be holy to the Lord (Lv 19:23, 24).
By the time of the exodus it became evident that circumcision had to do with ethical as well as physical considerations. In Deuteronomy 10:16 Moses exhorted the people to circumcise the foreskins of their hearts, and in Deuteronomy 30:6 this command assumes the form of a promise: “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Sin in the lives of the chosen people made their circumcision meaningless before God. Thus Moses told the Israelites to humble their uncircumcised hearts (Lv 26:41). The prophets further develop this teaching. Jeremiah urged the citizens of Judah to remove the foreskins of their hearts to avoid God’s wrath because of their evil ways (Jer 4:4), warning that the “uncircumcised ears” of Israel were not sensitive to the word of the Lord (Jer 6:10, RSV margin). Judgment will come upon Egypt, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah, declares God, for “I am going to punish all who are circumcised only in flesh … for all these nations, and the whole House of Israel too, are uncircumcised at heart” (Jer 9:25, 26 JB). Through Ezekiel the Lord complains that the temple has been profaned by the admission of aliens uncircumcised in heart and flesh (Ez 44:7, 9). Isaiah looks forward to the day when there will be a new Jerusalem into which the uncircumcised and unclean would no longer come.
Uncircumcision
Natural state of the male, that is, with the prepuce covering his glans penis. Since the Jews, among many other peoples, surgically removed this as a sign of their covenant with God (Gn 17:9–14; Ex 12:48; Lv 12:3), the term came to designate “Gentile” or “non-Jew” (Philistines, Greeks, and Romans did not circumcise, but Egyptians and many Semitic peoples did). By extension it meant metaphorically “those outside the covenant,” whether because they were Gentiles or because they were Jews living in disobedience to God.
The term “uncircumcision” occurs 20 times in the NT, most of the time meaning simply “Gentile” as opposed to Jew. In Acts 11:3 the Jews are shocked that Peter entered the house of a (by definition ritually impure) Gentile. Paul, however, argued strongly against making such distinctions. For Paul, the attitude of the heart, obedience to God, was important and not ritual law, which had nothing to do with salvation. An obedient Gentile was as good as a circumcised Jew (Rom 2:25–27). Commitment to God, or faith, operates in the uncircumcised state as well as in the circumcised, as for example in the case of Abraham (Rom 3:30; 4:9–12). Formerly Gentiles were outside the people of God (Eph 2:11–12), but now Jew and Gentile believers have become one in Christ (Gal 2:7; 5:6; 6:15; Col 3:11). Paul refused to give way to those demanding circumcision for full church membership.
Yet Paul did not ignore the realities of culture. On the one hand, he advised uncircumcised Gentiles not to be circumcised upon conversion, for the operation was unnecessary; but on the other hand, Jewish believers could use their state in a mission to fellow Jews. A reversal operation was neither necessary nor useful (1 Cor 7:17–19).
In one passage (Col 2:8–15), Paul speaks of uncircumcision metaphorically, meaning a person’s unregenerate state. Here uncircumcision is equivalent to “the flesh” (meaning one’s evil impulse or natural state). As literal flesh is cut away in the rite of circumcision, so this “flesh” is cut away by Christ in conversion, as symbolized in baptism. The baptized person is one purified from “uncleanness” as a circumcised Gentile is purified from previous uncircumcised uncleanness.
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (pp. 462–463). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Circumcision
Surgical removal of the foreskin of the male reproductive organ. In Bible times circumcision was the seal of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gn 17:1–14).
In the Old Testament.
In the Bible the practice of circumcision began in Genesis 17 as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. God promised Abraham a land and, through a son yet to be conceived, numerous descendants, from whom kings would come. Blessing would come upon Abraham and through him to all nations (Gn 12:1–3). After the covenant was formally inaugurated (Gn 15), God sealed it, ordering Abraham to be circumcised along with all the males in his household (Gn 17:9–13).
Circumcision was to be an expression of faith that God’s promises would be realized. Because Abraham’s faith had lapsed (Gn 16) even after he had seen the awesome display of God’s majesty (Gn 15:9–17), a permanent reminder of God’s covenant promises was placed on his body and the bodies of his male descendants (Gn 17:11). This sign was so closely related to God’s covenant promise that the rite itself could be termed the “covenant” (Gn 17:10; Acts 7:8).
Circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day after birth (Gn 17:12; Lv 12:1–3; see Gn 21:4; Lk 1:59; 2:21; Acts 7:8; Phil 3:5), customarily by the boy’s father (Gn 17:23; 21:4; Acts 7:8), at which time a name would be given (Lk 1:59; 2:21). Flint knives were used in the early days (Ex 4:25; Jos 5:2, 3). Later the rite was carried out by a trained practitioner called a mohel. Medical research has determined that prothrombin, a substance in the blood that aids in clotting, is present in greater quantity on the eighth day than at any other time in life.
Theological Meaning. Circumcision had to do with the fulfillment of God’s promise concerning Abraham’s descendants (Gn 17:9–12). Because it was applied to the reproductive organ, the sign involved the propagation of the race. Its application to the eight-day-old infant demonstrates the gracious character of God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants and indicates that God’s people are in need of cleansing grace from birth (Lv 12:1–3). The promises of the covenant were reaffirmed to each generation before the recipients were able to respond in either faith or unbelief; nothing in the hearts of the chosen people could either bring about or thwart the ultimate fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham and his posterity.
Circumcision also had to do with the fulfillment of God’s promise concerning the land (Gn 17:8). The land was God’s holy possession, and the Israelites had to be holy to possess it. When Joseph and his descendants were in Egypt, they continued to circumcise their sons. But following the great sin at Mt Sinai after the exodus the unbelieving Israelites failed to place the covenant sign upon their children as they wandered in the wilderness. Because the new generation had not been circumcised, the people were unprepared to enter the Promised Land. Therefore God ordered Joshua to circumcise the men of Israel. The people’s obedient response was an act of faith, since the armies of the enemy were camped nearby as the Israelite warriors lay incapacitated by the surgery (Jos 5:2–9).
From the beginning, participation in the covenant promises was open to persons outside Abraham’s household (Gn 17:17). Exodus 12:43–49 gives non-Israelites the opportunity to participate in the Passover if they are willing to fulfill the same stipulation placed upon the Jews—that of circumcision.
The provision for admission to God’s people by reception of the covenant sign was abused by Jacob’s sons when circumcision was made a precondition for intermarriage with the Shechemites: while the Shechemites were disabled by their wounds, Simeon and Levi killed them, plundering the city and raping the women to exact retribution for the rape of their sister Dinah (Gn 34).
The sign of the covenant was not to be treated lightly. The penalty of excommunication rested upon the uncircumcised (Gn 17:14). The strange incident recorded in Exodus 4:24–26 seems to have been God’s reminder to Moses of the stipulations of the covenant made with Abraham. Moses had proved an unfaithful servant of the Lord by neglecting to circumcise his son, but was rescued from judgment when his wife Zipporah took a flint rock and circumcised the boy, throwing the bloody foreskin at her husband’s feet.
Spiritual Significance
The hygienic act of circumcision symbolized the need for cleansing if the holy God was to enter into relationship with an unholy people.
At first it was God’s intention to let the ritual teach its own lesson. In Genesis 17:9–27 the observance merely serves as the covenant seal; Abraham is given little explanation of the significance of the rite itself. Later Moses used the expression “uncircumcised lips” to describe his unskilled speech (Ex 6:12, 30). When Israel entered the Promised Land, the yield of its fruit trees was to be considered “uncircumcised” for the first three years; after that it would be holy to the Lord (Lv 19:23, 24).
By the time of the exodus it became evident that circumcision had to do with ethical as well as physical considerations. In Deuteronomy 10:16 Moses exhorted the people to circumcise the foreskins of their hearts, and in Deuteronomy 30:6 this command assumes the form of a promise: “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Sin in the lives of the chosen people made their circumcision meaningless before God. Thus Moses told the Israelites to humble their uncircumcised hearts (Lv 26:41). The prophets further develop this teaching. Jeremiah urged the citizens of Judah to remove the foreskins of their hearts to avoid God’s wrath because of their evil ways (Jer 4:4), warning that the “uncircumcised ears” of Israel were not sensitive to the word of the Lord (Jer 6:10, RSV margin). Judgment will come upon Egypt, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah, declares God, for “I am going to punish all who are circumcised only in flesh … for all these nations, and the whole House of Israel too, are uncircumcised at heart” (Jer 9:25, 26 JB). Through Ezekiel the Lord complains that the temple has been profaned by the admission of aliens uncircumcised in heart and flesh (Ez 44:7, 9). Isaiah looks forward to the day when there will be a new Jerusalem into which the uncircumcised and unclean would no longer come.
Uncircumcision
Natural state of the male, that is, with the prepuce covering his glans penis. Since the Jews, among many other peoples, surgically removed this as a sign of their covenant with God (Gn 17:9–14; Ex 12:48; Lv 12:3), the term came to designate “Gentile” or “non-Jew” (Philistines, Greeks, and Romans did not circumcise, but Egyptians and many Semitic peoples did). By extension it meant metaphorically “those outside the covenant,” whether because they were Gentiles or because they were Jews living in disobedience to God.
The term “uncircumcision” occurs 20 times in the NT, most of the time meaning simply “Gentile” as opposed to Jew. In Acts 11:3 the Jews are shocked that Peter entered the house of a (by definition ritually impure) Gentile. Paul, however, argued strongly against making such distinctions. For Paul, the attitude of the heart, obedience to God, was important and not ritual law, which had nothing to do with salvation. An obedient Gentile was as good as a circumcised Jew (Rom 2:25–27). Commitment to God, or faith, operates in the uncircumcised state as well as in the circumcised, as for example in the case of Abraham (Rom 3:30; 4:9–12). Formerly Gentiles were outside the people of God (Eph 2:11–12), but now Jew and Gentile believers have become one in Christ (Gal 2:7; 5:6; 6:15; Col 3:11). Paul refused to give way to those demanding circumcision for full church membership.
Yet Paul did not ignore the realities of culture. On the one hand, he advised uncircumcised Gentiles not to be circumcised upon conversion, for the operation was unnecessary; but on the other hand, Jewish believers could use their state in a mission to fellow Jews. A reversal operation was neither necessary nor useful (1 Cor 7:17–19).
In one passage (Col 2:8–15), Paul speaks of uncircumcision metaphorically, meaning a person’s unregenerate state. Here uncircumcision is equivalent to “the flesh” (meaning one’s evil impulse or natural state). As literal flesh is cut away in the rite of circumcision, so this “flesh” is cut away by Christ in conversion, as symbolized in baptism. The baptized person is one purified from “uncleanness” as a circumcised Gentile is purified from previous uncircumcised uncleanness.
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (pp. 462–463). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
| Biblical Circumcision Physical By Pastor Harry.pdf |
| Biblical Circumcision Spiritual By Pastor Harry.pdf |
| The Uncircumcised By Pastor Harry.pdf |