The Issue of CIRCUMCISION

Are male believers in Christ obligated to be physically circumcised? What do the rightly divided Scriptures say?

Let’s start with how the apostle Paul knew how to recognize legalists because he used to be one. Notice how he refers to legalists in this passage:

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Philippians 3:2-3 (NRSV)

Paul was warning the Philippian believers of legalists who taught that non-Jews had to be physically circumcised in order to be truly saved. They were obsessed with it. Notice that Paul doesn’t mince words here. He blatantly calls these legalists “dogs” and “evil workers”!

Calling someone a “dog” was even more offensive in biblical times than it is today. The term referred to people of low moral character. For instance, “dogs” is used in the Bible in reference to homosexual prostitutes (Deuteronomy 23:18), wicked betrayers (Psalm 59:5-6), corrupt leaders (Isaiah 56:10), heathen people (Matthew 15:26-27) and, in this passage, staunch legalists.

How would you like to be called an “evil worker”? That’s pretty harsh, don’t you agree? This is recorded in God’s Word to show us that legalism is utter wickedness in the LORD’s eyes. It cannot be tolerated; it must be confronted, exposed and reproved. And believers need to be warned for their protection.

Roughly a decade earlier, the Judaizers corrupted the churches in Galatia with a “different gospel” (Galatians 1:6), a gospel mixed with Jewish law. Paul said the Galatian believers were “bewitched” for tolerating this heresy and allowing it to corrupt their assemblies (Galatians 3:1). Notice what he blatantly says about these legalists:

If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Galatians 1:9

Paul says that anyone who preached this different gospel should “be eternally condemned!” You know what this means in plain English? “Let ’em go to hell!” Yes, as unbelievable as it may seem, Paul, the greatest figure of Christianity after Jesus Christ, forcefully declared that those who unrepentantly preached a different gospel — a “gospel” which soiled the body of Christ with legalism — should be forever damned!

Needless to say, legalism is a grievous sin in God’s eyes and cannot be tolerated, whether in myself, yourself or others. It must be recognized, corrected and purged ASAP.

This “different gospel” included the practice of circumcision, the cutting off of the male foreskin, which was commanded in the Torah:

On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.

Leviticus 12:3

But physical circumcision is not necessary in the new covenant because believers are circumcised inwardly through spiritual regeneration (Romans 2:29 & Titus 3:5). As such, this is what Paul told the Galatian believers about circumcision:

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. ⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:2-6

Paul blatantly warns the Galatians that, if they allowed themselves to be circumcised, Christ would be of no use to them at all! He equates any attempt to be justified by the Law — including the practice of circumcision — to being “alienated from Christ” and “fallen away from grace.” Lastly, he points out in verse 6 that whether someone’s physically circumcised or not holds no value for those “in Christ Jesus,” meaning believers.

Numerous other New Testament passages teach against the practice of circumcision in relation to the Mosaic Law, including: Acts 15, 1 Corinthians 7:17-20, Galatians 2:1-3, Galatians 6:12-16, Philippians 3:2-3, Colossians 2:11, 3:11 and Titus 1:10.

This is a crushing blow to the arguments of legalists who try to add one element of the Law or another to faith in Christ. How so? Because circumcision was clearly part of the Torah — the Old Testament Law — and the New Testament plainly says that it is not applicable to New Testament believers, just like Sabbath-keeping, observing the feast days and dietary laws. These things were but a shadow of what was to come, the reality is found in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

I should add that Paul had his missionary helper circumcised, but this was so that Timothy wouldn’t hinder the spread of the gospel as they reached out to unsaved Jews (Acts 16:1-3). This was in line with Paul’s missionary strategy, which he put like this: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law” (1 Corinthians 9:19-20).

Circumcision was the Sign of the Abrahamic Covenant

We first hear of circumcision in the Bible as a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham through faith. This contract promised that the LORD would make Abraham “the father of many nations” — meaning he would have countless descendants — and that the land of Canaan would be theirs forever (Genesis 17:3-8). More importantly, God promised that all peoples on earth would be blessed through one of Abraham’s descendants, which referred to the Messiah (Genesis 12:1-3,7 & Galatians 3:16). The outward sign of this agreement was circumcision for Abraham and all his descendants (Genesis 17:9–14 & Acts 7:8). It might help to grasp the concept of an outward sign of a covenant by considering our marriage contract and the corresponding wedding rings.

Four hundred years later, Abraham’s descendants were groaning as slaves in Egypt and cried out to God. Thus the LORD “remembered his covenant with Abraham” (Exodus 2:24) and — being faithful to this agreement — delivered the Hebrews from Egypt and began to lead them to the land he promised their forefather.

During their journey to the Promised Land the Israelites entered into an additional covenant with God, which was the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19-20 & 24:7-8). Like the Abrahamic Covenant, this covenant required an outward sign, which was Sabbath-keeping (Exodus 31:12).

The Sabbath day Law was one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). The Ten Commandments were inscribed on two stone tablets and they embodied the entire Mosaic Covenant, which is why they’re referred to as “the words of the covenant” and “the tablets of the covenant” (Exodus 34:28 & Deuteronomy 9:9). In other words, the Ten Commandments represented the whole of the Law (Torah) of which there were over 600 laws.

When this covenant was made at Mt. Sinai, the Israelites were under two covenants: The Abrahamic Covenant with its sign of circumcision and the Mosaic Covenant with its sign of Sabbath observance.

Three things need stressed: 1. The promise of a redeemer of the world came though the Abrahamic Covenant and this was much more important than the Mosaic Covenant; 2. the Mosaic Law was “added because of transgression until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come” (Galatians 3:19), which indicates that 3. the Covenant of the Law would expire when the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled in Christ. This means that the Mosaic Covenant was a temporary contract.

We clearly observe these points here:

¹⁶ The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷ What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

¹⁹ Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.

Galatians 3:16-19

Verse 16 shows that the future “seed” promised to Abraham ultimately referred to Christ, our Redeemer. And verse 17 points out that the Mosaic Covenant given 430 years later did not cancel out the Abrahamic Covenant.

Verse 19 then reveals 1. WHY the Law was added and 2. that it would only be relevant “until” that Seed had come, meaning Christ. In other words, the Mosaic Covenant of the Law had an expiration date! And that expiration date was the coming of Christ.

Paul goes on to elaborate:

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Galatians 3:23-25

The Law is defined as a “guardian until Christ came.” Ever since Christ came we are “no longer under that guardian.” Could God’s Word be any clearer? To suggest that New Covenant believers are still under the Mosaic Law shouldn’t even be a consideration.

Our conclusion on circumcision is that this practice was an outward sign of the Abrahamic Covenant and a law of the Mosaic Covenant. The former promised Christ while the latter pointed to Christ. Ever since Jesus came and completed his mission as Redeemer of the world the practice of circumcision has become irrelevant. New Covenant believers — male and female — receive an inward circumcision through spiritual regeneration (Romans 2:29 & Titus 3:5).

This article was edited from chapter 6 of Dirk’s book:

THE LAW and the Believer (150 pages) is available here for only $6.99; or you can get the eBook for a mere 99 cents!

Law of Christ—What is It?

Sabbath — What is it? Should Believers Observe It?

Nonkosher Foods — Are Believers Free to Eat Them?

Holidays—Which Ones Should Christians Observe or Not Observe?

Legalism — Understanding its Many Forms