The mention of circumcision instantly draws Bible students to the Old Testament. Circumcision was an important element of a covenant relationship with God.
God promised to multiply Abraham, make him father of many nations and give his descendants land (Genesis 17:1-8). The Almighty declared, “Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you” (Genesis 17:10-11).
God made it clear that the uncircumcised male would not remain in a covenant relationship with Him. “And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant” (Genesis 17:14). Those who wandered in the wilderness did not circumcise their boys, and so God commanded they do so as they prepared to enter the promised land (Joshua 5:2).
Circumcision was only effective if one kept the Law perfectly. No Jew, outside of our Lord, ever did that. They were thus lawbreakers, and their circumcision was made ineffective.
Christians are now God’s circumcision (Philippians 3:3). Our circumcision is of the heart. “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 of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28-29).
Christians receive the cutting off of the sins of the flesh in baptism. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).
Anyone who would enjoy the blessings of Christ’s covenant must be circumcised in baptism. Failing to be baptized will result in being cut off from Heaven.
