In today's collect we pray that God would grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit that our hearts may be made pure from all sins. In some of the hymnody for today, we sing, "Lord, circumcise our heart, we pray, and take what is not Thine away."
Have you ever been around when a baby boy was circumcised? They scream. It hurts.
And there we go, praying that the Lord would "circumcise our hearts." When He grants us our petition, we probably ought not be surprised when it hurts and we holler in pain.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
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The New Testament says no to physical circumcision: Romans 2:29, Romans 3:30, Acts 15:10, I Corinthians 7:18, I Corinthians, 12: 18, Galatians 5:6, Galatians 5:2, Galatians 6:15, Philippians 3:2, Colossians 2:12, Matthew 9:12
ReplyDeleteThe Bible does NOT say "no" to physical circumcision. It says "no" to earning God's favor through circumcision. Look again at those verses you cited (except for the one from Corinthians which is talking about unity within the body of Christ, and not about circumcision).
ReplyDeleteThe Torah told us that we could not eat shrimp. Many of us do. Maybe someone does not eat shrimp because it's expensive or because he's allergic to it. Is he contradicting the Bible because of refraining to eat what we've been given permission to eat? Of course not. Same with circumcision. Circumcision now is prohibited only when it is done with a faith that says "God will like me better because of this."