Romans 2:28-29
"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."
To those of who held to their Jewish heritage as the basis of being right with God, Paul asserts that they really are not Jews right with God unless they've had heart surgery. Until one is touched by the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, receiving a circumcision of the heart, they are not right with God. It is not the circumcision of the flesh that marks one as right with God, but the circumcision of the heart.
Same today. Nothing else makes one right with God except the work of the Spirit within us. Every person of every time and ages needs a circumcision of the heart. While the cutting away of flesh identified those of Israel as being called of God, for that only identified them as a set apart people. They still need a circumcision of the heart. Today, people still circumcise babies, those now as cultural preference. Instead, we need a spiritual circumcision which changes our hearts to fully belong to God.
Of course, a circumcision is essentially a cutting away, and spiritually, everyone needs the hardness of our hearts cut away by the Spirit. God does just that when we come to a saving faith in Christ. The Spirit enters us and takes away the guilt of our sins.
Sure, we still sin, living in the flesh of our bodies and the temptations of this world. But one day, even this will be taken away. That is our hope. That is the promise of the circumcision of God upon us.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I thank you for the cutting away of the sins of my heart and the sins of those of your church. May we not turn back t these sins, but nurture the new heart which you've given us. Amen.
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