Getting to the Heart of Circumcision
Q: There is much mention of circumcision in the Bible. Being raised Catholic; it never came up in their teachings. 1) What was/is the significance of this? 2) Why was it important enough to be mentioned in the Bible? 3) Does it have any significance in today’s world?
A: According to Genesis 17 in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), circumcision began as a physical demonstration of the covenant between God and Abraham and all of Abraham’s male descendants. Eventually, it became regarded as a right of passage. Today, for most, it’s just a cultural tradition or norm that has little meaning and certainly not an act of devotion as a heartfelt covenant with God.
Later, in Deuteronomy 30:6, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” I love the idea of a circumcised heart, or a heart devoted and consecrated to God. In the early 80s I had a wonderful pastor that encouraged us to look at the Old Testament metaphysically, not literally. And take it even deeper, to see Israel’s foibles as a melodramatic play acting out our inner egocentric desires. How Israel would become very devoted, then fall away and fall into bondage, the same way we ebb and flow from passion for truth then fall to the imprisonment of our desires for outer satisfaction.
In the New Testament, Romans 2:17-29, the Apostle Paul, who was very Jewish, essentially tells the rigid, legalistic observers of Jewish law, Good luck (paraphrase). Concluding with verse 28-29, “For a person is not a Jew (child of God) who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.”
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