"...This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised..."

Having previously believed that circumcision was obsolete under the new covenant. I was somewhat shocked to find out how exactly this act of faith was viewed through a Hebraic perspective. I would like to walk you through my current understanding of circumcision and show why I believe we should still be circumcising our sons.

The first misconception I had was that circumcision began with what most people call the “old covenant”. I say most because I do not think that they are defined the same as most.

Side note on the “old” versus “new” covenant (see my blog on this subject here: http://messianicmama.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-exactly-is-new-covenant-and-who-is.html ) - I consider the “old covenant” to be alive and in effect for anyone who has not, through faith, followed after the redemptive blood of our Messiah and therefore either remained on the tree or been grafted into Israel under the New covenant. In my opinion both have always existed and will always exist until the end when the old covenant will cease to exist as it requires being saved through following the laws and having perfect righteousness; while the new covenant is being saved by the blood of the redemptive lamb of God whether pre-Yeshua or post-Yeshua. For Scripture to back this up just read Jeremiah 31:31-34 and note who the new covenant is for and when it will come to completion. It is for the House of Israel and the house of Judah and it will only be completed when no one has to learn any longer and everyone knows YHVH. 

Now back to circumcision: When did the “old” covenant begin according to most Christians? At Sinai with Moses and the giving of the law right? Yet circumcision began way before that with Abraham.

Genesis 17:9-14 “God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.”This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.”And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. "A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cutoff from his people; he has broken My covenant."

Notice in this passage who is commanded to be circumcised, not only the relatives of Abraham, but his GENTILE servants and anyone else residing in his household. This was a covenant with all that followed the God of Abraham and for all generations to follow whether gentile or Jewish, it preceded Israel. In Galatians we are told that the law that came 430 years after does not annul a previous covenant. This passage is referring to the covenant made with Abraham which came exactly 430 years before the law was given on Mt. Sinai. 

Galatians 3:17: “What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.”

So the law did not nullify the covenant God made with Abraham, this covenant included circumcision.  So why on earth would we think that the “new” covenant nullified the commandment of circumcision? Aren’t we saved the same as Abraham? Aren’t we considered the sons of Abraham?

Galatians 3:7-9: “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”

If you go back and read this entire passage you will see that Paul is discussing faith versus works. He points out that Abraham was saved by faith before being circumcised. Faith in the Messiah to come! In fact Abraham heard the gospel according to this passage. But I would like to point out that Abraham did go on to be circumcised as he was commanded by God to do. And Abraham was blessed because of his obedience to God’s laws.

Genesis 26:4-5 “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws."

 Why are we any different than Abraham? In the verses above you can see that all Gentiles who follow after the God of Abraham in faith are saved before circumcision. The argument made by the Jews of Paul’s day was that the new Gentile believers needed to convert to Judaism BEFORE being saved. In order to convert one had to be circumcised, have a baptism (mikvah) and bring a sacrifice to the temple; this entire process was termed “circumcision” as a shortened way of saying conversion. Interestingly as a Gentile convert to Judaism came out of the water of the Mikvah after conversion they were actually considered to be “born again”. From that point forward they were part of Israel and saved along with the naturally born Israelites.  According to the Jews of Paul’s day circumcision, a mikvah, bringing a sacrifice and submitting to the ruling authority were ALL required to be saved as you were not considered part of Israel until you underwent this conversion process.  And until you were part of Israel there was no salvation for you. This is what Paul was fighting so adamantly against in his epistles. The Old Testament scriptures as well as Yeshua and Paul all taught that salvation was attained through faith alone with no works required. The current Jewish leadership was teaching that one could not be saved unless they became Jewish through the man-made conversion ceremony created by the leaders. Paul was not teaching that you no longer should undergo the physical act of circumcision; he taught that circumcision was indeed part of a person’s walk once choosing to follow the God of Abraham, yet not the initial thing that made one saved.  In fact Paul actually has Timothy get circumcised. Why would he do this if we were no longer to be circumcised?

Acts 16:3 ‘Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”

Some will say that he doesn’t require Titus to be circumcised in the following passage.

Galatians 2:3 “But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”

Yet, does Paul actually say that Titus is justified in not being circumcised? Or does he say that Titus being a Gentile convert has not been compelled to be circumcised? You see we are not required to be circumcised in order to be saved, but we are expected to follow God’s commandments as we learn them and are convicted of them. I believe this is what Paul was referring to with Titus. He was saved and learning the commandments as a disciple under Paul, but he had not yet had a conviction to be circumcised in the flesh.

Some might also say that the circumcision of the heart has now replaced the circumcision of the flesh. Yet this just doesn’t really make sense in light of the fact that we are the sons of Abraham. If Abraham was commanded to be circumcised in the flesh and the commandment was for all of his generations, then that includes us as the sons of Abraham. And furthermore the circumcision of the heart was not a new thing; it was rooted and found in the Torah!

Deuteronomy 30:6 “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.”

So while circumcision of the heart is definitely important, and even more important as it is needed for salvation, circumcision of the flesh is still a commandment and should follow our circumcision of the heart.

So why is the church today so confused over circumcision? Why do they teach that it is obsolete and unnecessary under the new covenant? I personally think it stems from a misunderstanding of the term “circumcision” as used by the early leaders such as Peter, Paul and James, who were all very Jewish by the way! Circumcision was a term used by the Jews of that day to refer to the entire process a gentile must undergo in order to be accepted as Jewish by the rabbinic leaders of that day. When Paul states that “circumcision is nothing” he is not telling us that we should not circumcise our children according to the promise given to Abraham, which we inherit. He is telling us that being Jewish by blood does not save an individual. It is not enough to be born Jewish; you must have a circumcised heart to go along with your birth right. And if you are not born Jewish you must also have a circumcised heart to be adopted, or grafted, into Israel. No one gets a free pass because of their blood line. But just as James tells us, “faith without works is dead”, meaning that a true faith will produce good works. One of those works is circumcision.

In conclusion, I see no reason why we should not be circumcising our sons. Personally I think it should even be done on the 8^th day, just as commanded by God to Abraham and all of the generations to follow. If we are truly “sons of Abraham” then why wouldn’t we do the deeds of Abraham?

John 8:39 “They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.”

You see Abraham was saved by his faith but his faith produced obedience to God’s commandments, one of which is to circumcise your sons.

Shalom!

Is keeping God’s Law Falling from Grace?

Recently I was involved in a discussion online regarding grace and the law. I was accused of falling from grace and going back under the law. This is a serious accusation right? After all if I am truly living “under the law” and I truly have no grace then I am not saved.

So I decided that a blog was in order to explain my understanding of Scripture on this topic. What is grace and how exactly are we saved?

The word grace means favor. To be in someone’s good graces is to be accepted by them as good. When we are given grace by God we are accepted as good by Him. So what is God’s standard for being good or righteous? How does God measure our goodness or our righteousness? We are told in Scripture that our works are as filthy garments to God.

Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

And James tells us that if we break one law of God we break them all.

James 2:10 "For whoever keeps the WHOLE law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."

So we are guilty! We are sinners just as Paul tells us.

Romans 3:21-26 “But now apart from the Law righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

So it is abundantly clear that we are justified only through our faith in Yeshua (Jesus). But let’s dig into this passage a bit further. So our righteousness comes apart from the law, yet it is testified of in the law and the prophets. All who believe are given righteousness before God. We see this with Abraham.

Romans 4:9 “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, "FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS."”

This is a direct quote from the Torah.

                                                             

Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Abraham was found righteous before God, he was given grace! Even before Yeshua (Jesus) came to the earth.  As were so many others according to the author of Hebrews. (Hebrews 11) But how could those that came before Yeshua (Jesus) be saved by faith? What is the law for then?

And what exactly are we to have faith in? It can’t be just belief in God because James tells us that even the demons believe.

James 2:12 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

Let’s move on in Romans 3 because I think we will find the key. Our faith must be in Jesus Christ as our covering. We must recognize our sin (breaking of God’s law) and our utter unrighteous standing before God. Then we must approach God with that understanding in repentance recognizing the mercy He has given us in the perfect sacrifice of Yeshua (Jesus). Because of the blood of Yeshua (Jesus) we are justified. This is our only justification before God. And because of this perfect sacrifice we are made righteous in the sight of God, if we accept it. So we are now clean, but why? How could Jesus dying do anything for us? Well in order to be that sacrifice He had to be perfectly righteous in our substitute. How does one do this? Paul gives a clue.

Romans 7:12 “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”

Hold on, did you catch that? The law is righteous, holy and good. What, didn’t we just learn that the law can not make us righteous? Why? Because we can not keep it, no man ever has. All men sin, it is the breaking of God’s law that makes us unrighteous.  But there is one who did keep it perfectly. His name was Yeshua (Jesus). He kept the whole law, every tiny bit of it so that He could become righteousness for us. So that He could intercede in heaven for us and present His righteousness in the place of ours.

Awesome! May God be glorified for the way that He has provided for us to approach Him and come into His grace!

But the story does not end there. Let’s read on in Romans 3.

Romans 3:31 “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”

And what does Paul tell us in Romans 6?

Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”

So even though we are saved by grace and by no works that we could possibly do we are still told to keep the law. We are told not to sin. So what is sin? It is the breaking of God’s law.

1 John 3:4 "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

When we break God’s law we are trampling on the grace that God provided for us through the perfect sacrifice of Yeshua (Jesus).

Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Wow! If we set aside the Law of Moses after gaining the understanding that it is the standard for righteousness and that sin is defined by the breaking of the Law of Moses, God’s law, there is no grace for us! There is no longer a sacrifice for our sins. This is scary business and should make us sit up and take notice! Please note, I am not saying that all who have disregarded the Law of Moses are unsaved. I truly believe that many are misguided and have been taught wrongly. In this case they have not really received a complete knowledge of the Truth and their sin is not willful. Willful sin is a sin that is committed even though a person realizes that what they are doing is defined as sin. Many in the church today just do not realize what sin really is. They have been taught that sin is breaking of some laws. But that breaking the Law of Moses is not sin. But God Himself defines sin as the breaking of the Law of Moses. So once this is shown to a person and they realize that they are sinning by breaking the law, then and only then can they be held accountable by God.

Check out what James has to say about this.

James 2:14 "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?"

James 2:17 "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;"

Did you get it? Works of the law are what prove our faith. If there are no works then we just might not have faith. This is scary business because we are told that sin is the breaking of God’s law. So if we are choosing to break God’s law on purpose over and over again with no repentance that is an indication that our faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as our mediator might not be real. We may have been deceived. But we are told this might happen.

Luke 13:25-27 “"When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' "then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.'”

Matthew 7:20-22 “So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

The word translated as “iniquity” in the first passage means “lawless”. These are supposed believers who claim to have had faith in Messiah but they were lawless. They were practicing lawlessness, the breaking of God’s law.  By our works our faith is made known.

Here’s more.

2 Peter 3:15 “and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,”

The word here translated as “unprincipled men” literally means “the lawless”. So those who are not keeping the laws, who are unlearned (have not learned the laws) will distort Paul’s Words and the rest of Scripture to say that we should not keep the laws. Do you see how easily we are deceived?

So knowing we are not justified by laws we put our faith in Messiah for our righteousness. Then what? Well, if we are a true believer we should have a new heart, a heart of flesh that renews us and makes us love God and desire to please Him. And how does God tell us we are to love Him?

1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

2 John 1:6 "And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it."

It is by keeping His commandments. From our faith we should produce fruit (righteousness, works). And what are these works? They are the very same commandments and instructions on how to live righteously that Jesus kept perfectly and that have been in existence since the beginning of time. The definition of how to love God is to keep His commandments. Not just some of His commandments, but the very same commandments given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. God’s law is our instruction and guide on how to live righteously.

So now we best get busy learning those commandments the same way we would get busy learning what pleases our spouse. We do it out of our love for our God and what He did for us by becoming flesh and dying as a sacrifice so that we could even approach Him. Otherwise we might just end up as the unlearned men that use Paul’s Words and the other Scriptures to preach lawlessness. And we need to heed the warning’s given to us to not insult the Spirit of grace by willfully sinning against the commandments of God.

Shalom!