The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 9 -19
Circumcision has received a lot of bad press over the years, much of it from Paul. Inspired bad press, but nonetheless unfairly slanted, because Paul was trying to solve a particular problem –the obsession of the Jews with the laws of Moses –so he didn’t take much time to speak of the good that was accomplished by circumcision.
Paul himself conceded that the law wasn’t against the promises of God (Galatians 3:21). Thus circumcision didn’t prevent you from obeying God through faith (Romans 3:30) –for how else could Abraham have offered Isaac by faith (Hebrews 11:17), long after both were circumcised?
Paul was simply saying that circumcision didn’t matter at all (1 Corinthians 7:18-20). And yet Paul also conceded that circumcision profited you! (Romans 2:25). He just wanted to make it clear that you could accomplish the same result in a different way, without circumcision (Romans 2:26-27). By faith.
In Romans 4:1-12, Paul used a simple logical argument; that Abraham received the promises in Genesis 15:1-5, and in Genesis 15:6 Abraham believed Him. And that belief –when he had still done none of the works God might later ask of him –was counted to him for righteousness, as if he had already done those works.
As you well know, faith is believing God exists; that God rewards the good; and that you are doing good. So when Abraham heard these promises, he didn’t “stagger” at the promises, for he had faith that God existed, and would, and should keep them (Romans 4:17-22).
Abraham’s control over his fractions –and their combined belief in these promises –made him capable of committing to his own future actions; for a threefold cord acting in agreement meant things he had not yet done were as certain as if they had been (Isaiah 46:10).
Just like God Himself, of whom he was a type, Abraham’s belief was all that was truly needed. Thus, though he had not, as yet, made any sacrifices (Genesis 15:7-11); when he had not, as yet, been circumcised; Abraham had already decided to do whatever the Lord asked in Genesis 15:6.
Given that, if it was a foregone conclusion that Abraham would fulfill all the righteousness that God might ever ask of him, wasn’t the righteousness itself redundant? Knowing that he would, when the time came… the Lord didn’t think it was necessary that he do the works first!
The obedience itself was not necessary to have the grace of Christ (Romans 4:13-16) which was promised to him in Genesis 15:1 (see Galatians 3:17). Just as, Paul went to great lengths to establish, it isn’t for us.
THE MEANING OF CIRCUMCISION
God generally tells us why He’s doing something when He commands it the first time; we don’t usually notice, but He usually tells us anyway (Job 33:14). And in this case, the answer is the very first thing God said in Genesis 17:1.
Thus the covenant confirmed in this chapter had a single requirement: to walk before God, and be perfect. Walking before God means, by definition, to stop walking before anyone else. Because God couldn’t truly be his Master, as long as he had any other masters.
Thus, circumcision meant to leave the world behind and accept God as his King-Father-Master-etc. Paul adds to this definition in Galatians 5:3; circumcision, then, is a token of a promise to obey God’s whole law –whatever that might be. And, by extension then, the exclusion of all other laws.
To see how this applied, read Genesis 17:12-13. When a servant became Abraham’s servant, he had to be circumcised; this showed that he was now in Abraham’s house, and pointedly, not in anyone else’s house anymore.
Whether genetically his children or not, if they were part of your house, even mere servants, they had to accept this sign (Exodus 12:43-49). This bound the servant to walk before Abraham, and be perfect; and, by extension, to cease walking before anyone else! For henceforth this servant would be under Abraham’s sole authority.
This sign was the sign of the house of Abraham. More importantly, the sign that you did not belong to any other houses. Therefore, to join the house, you had to accept this mark –as Jacob’s sons later said, albeit in bad faith, to the men of Shechem (Genesis 34:13-16). This sign would make them one people.
Through this symbol, even a stranger to the covenant of God would become as one born in the land. Thus, this was a necessary part of immigration to Israel –for becoming part of Israel meant becoming part of Abraham’s house. And, by extension, rejecting all other houses and masters that have a claim over you.
The point of circumcision –a word which means “cutting off” –was to cut you off from your old houses, ties, loyalties, and relationships. Anyone who refused this mark would be exiled. This punishment was not arbitrary; circumcision signified cutting off the foreskin; anyone who refused to do that would, themselves, be cut off of Abraham’s house!
By circumcision you declare yourself a servant of Abraham, Isaac, or of one of his disciples, but not yet his son. And as Abraham’s servant, you are bound to obey every word Abraham says –for is this not the role of a servant? (Luke 17:7-10). Thus, by circumcision, you are a debtor to obey the whole law of Abraham!
COMMON SENSE
God gave us these symbols not to confuse the truth, but to reveal it; but like all parables, they are “unequal in the mouth of fools” (Proverbs 26:6-9). So to really understand what circumcision means, go back to the most basic possible sense; what exactly happens when the foreskin is cut off?
The foreskin is part of a protective layer of skin, which hides the more tender flesh underneath –not coincidentally called the head, which is what it resembles. Males are born with this skin on, and as a rule it is impossible to expose this flesh until puberty; but it loosens up and stretches naturally at around 13-14 years.
After that, it can reveal the head beneath when needed, but the flap covers it, turtle-like, most of the time. The tip of the foreskin acts like a rubber band that pulls the skin back over the head. Which means that, in a sense, the foreskin acts as a “house” where the “head” dwells.
The head comes out as necessary, but always retreats back to the house for safety and security. If the foreskin is cut off, then literally, the house of the head is cut off! When this is cut off… the old house is destroyed and the head must survive alone… by being immersed in the air around it!
Why then do men have a foreskin at all? Because every head needs to grow up in a house. No one should have to worry about finding food when they’re five years old, or fight off enemies at ten. But the whole point of puberty is the conversion of a child into an adult; and at 14, well-raised children can work at a job; drive a car; go to war; even have children of their own.
This is not to say that it’s wise to do these things, certainly not for most of the children I’ve known; but it’s possible, and over the course of the next 7 years it becomes inevitable that they will do these things as they become “naturally” circumcised.
So then it is this biological circumcision –which isn’t cutting off the foreskin at all, but just relaxing it so that it can be exposed as needed –which correlates with maturing, and preparing to set off and find your own house. But just preparing!
For independence, and the founding of your own house, doesn’t come until age 20 in the Bible. Thus circumcision is the beginning of your journey towards a new house, for it symbolizes the cutting of ties to your old house.
Now theoretically, it shouldn’t be necessary to leave your old house to follow God; provided your old household is, itself, following Him. But you must be willing to instantly and absolutely put God before your physical house; and the reality is, most people can’t resist the constant pressure of their old herd (1 Peter 4:3-4).
Inertia is a powerful force, and unless your family is already perfect, it is almost impossible to grow surrounded by them. Even Jesus couldn’t (Mark 6:2-6). So yes, theoretically, naturally circumcised people –those with a relaxed foreskin –is all that’s necessary. But only in theory.
People who try to get by without forcibly cutting themselves out of their old house end up like 2 Peter 2:18-22. At first they hate their home, and pull the foreskin back… but later, they relax, let down their guard and wind up in their house again.
Is it really worth the risk of getting stuck in Egypt just to avoid being sore for a few days? What does Jesus say? Luke 14:26-27. You can’t be His disciple unless you first leave your old house, which is circumcision. A one-way trip of leaving your house forever.
CIRCUMCISION IN BONDAGE
Ancient nations weren’t understood as lines on a map or governmental structures guided by constitutions; all nations were seen, fundamentally, as houses. The Bible’s general rule was to call a people by the name of their last common ancestor –thus, the nation of Israel was the house of Israel.
Likewise, every time you see the word “Egypt” in your Bible, it’s actually translated from the Hebrew word Mizraim after their ancestor (Genesis 10:6). In fact, to this day, the Egyptians call their country Misr.
I stress this because by calling the Egyptian people and their land Misr, it’s clear that they are the house of Mizraim. So God wasn’t delivering Israel from a nation in the modern sense, but from bondage to the house of Misr; delivering them from Misry, so to speak (sorry).
Which means the Exodus needs to be viewed as a slave trade between houses. The head of one house –God, the legal owner of Abraham –was negotiating with the head of another –Pharoah, head of the house of Misr, to whom Abraham’s seed had wound up indentured in bondage.
Legally, God had priority; but Abraham’s seed had incurred debts to Misr; debts which fell on their own head, God; so God was willing to buy them back (Exodus 6:1-8), with the Passover which purchased Israel from Egypt (Exodus 15:16, Acts 20:28b).
Remember, Israel was purchased by Egypt through Joseph in Genesis 47:23, something the Pharisees conveniently forgot (John 8:33). And before God could buy them back with the Passover, they had to be circumcised (Exodus 12:48-50). Because they were legally part of Pharoah’s house, and had to be cut out of it.
There is no mention of circumcision during the centuries they were in bondage. Probably many continued the practice given to Abraham; yet clearly some didn’t, including Moses himself (Exodus 4:24-26).
If Moses had circumcised his children the 8th day, as Abraham had been commanded, this would have been unnecessary. And if he didn’t, it’s likely the rest of Israel hadn’t been doing it consistently. So this pre-Passover circumcision was the legal cutting off of their old house, preparing to be in God’s house.
This act signified their belief that anything God might ask would be better than their bondage to Egypt –thus, the Genesis 17:13 covenant. This obviously must happen while you’re still in Egypt (for if you’re not in Egypt, you have no bondage to any house, no authority to be cut out of).
And yet this cutting off, in and of itself, does not represent freedom from Egypt; only the preparation for freedom, which didn’t come until they crossed the Red Sea –which Paul called a type of baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Only then were they freed from bondage. Only then were they immersed in a new house!
Until then, in all practical senses, they still weren’t actually in God’s house –for it was hundreds of miles, ten plagues, ten temptations, and forty years away! So for the moment, they were still very much in Egypt, still treated as slaves. But by cutting off their foreskin, they had burned their bridges –from that day forth, there was no turning back into Egypt.
And yet, the baptism in the Red Sea didn’t make Israel FREE, it simply changed their master from Pharaoh to the Lord. It made them free of Egypt… but left them SERVANTS to righteousness! (Romans 6:22).
In exactly the same way, our baptism doesn’t make us free (Romans 7:4-6). It makes us part of the body of Christ. As servants, ministers, disciples, of that body! One day, the Son will make us free… but He hasn’t yet.
WORKS OF THE FLESH
Paul makes a masterful argument that circumcision was not necessary to be justified by faith (Romans 3:29-30). And yet, the only reason it wasn’t required up front was God’s confidence that, when asked, Abraham would do any works of the flesh that He wanted (Romans 3:31).
Had Abraham refused circumcision later, would he still have been saved? Surely not. Indeed, wasn’t it precisely BECAUSE God knew Abraham wouldn’t refuse circumcision, that He imputed the righteousness OF circumcision to him without it? (Romans 4:11).
So in the end, were the works of Abraham’s flesh unnecessary… or simply unnecessary AT THAT TIME? (James 2:21-24). No, I’m not advocating circumcision today. In the end, Paul’s conclusions were inspired, and correct, that physical circumcision offers us no value today (Galatians 6:15).
But today is not the only day; there will be another day, in the future… and along with it, a brand new body, born uncircumcised as all new bodies are. And even if you were circumcised today… all covenants this body has made would be fulfilled by your death.
Which means you would need to be circumcised all over again… whether or not you are circumcised now! So does it really matter if your tabernacle is circumcised, when God knows your temple will be? With that in mind, read Joshua 5:2-9.
Now obviously, once cut, there isn’t much more you can take off of a foreskin. But Joshua explains that it was done because during the wilderness, no one was circumcised. This, alone, is very strange –why suspend a practice that was obviously commanded, even during the wanderings? (Leviticus 12:3, for instance).
Yet apparently, Moses didn’t think it was necessary. Why not? Why didn’t God fulfill His threat to “cut them off from among their people”? (Genesis 17:14). Because God trusted that Joshua would circumcise them all in the Promised Land, when it mattered! So until then, He counted their uncircumcision as if it were circumcision, as He does with all of us –and for the exact same reason.
Now remember, Joshua is the Hebrew form of Jesus. Israel was the Promised Land, a type of the Kingdom of God, and thus the type of the heavenly Promised Land promised to the first resurrection; these people, therefore, pictured the firstfruits who came out of the wilderness of this world, after wandering here for this lifetime.
And it was these people who were circumcised the second time –the newly resurrected saints. God doesn’t require us to be circumcised now, because He trusts that if you simply believe the Lord Joshua, and follow Him today, you will let Jesus circumcise you in the Kingdom –cutting you out of all other houses, and enjoining you to “walk before God, and be ye perfect”.
Knowing that… why would God really care whether you’re circumcised in this life? Because even if THIS body were circumcised… it would just have to be done AGAIN THE SECOND TIME in the Kingdom anyway, for you’ll have a new body with a new foreskin!
Thus, your circumcision or uncircumcision today is “nothing”, just as it was in Moses’ wilderness; not because circumcision itself has no value, but because nothing you do to your flesh today will impact the body God has prepared for you! Only your faith will affect that.
TWO CIRCUMCISIONS OF ABRAHAM
Circumcising your flesh symbolizes that you no longer belong to the world –that you seek a better country, a heavenly (Hebrews 11:13-16), as your hope-to-be-father Abraham once did. But now let’s go back and ask when exactly did that happen to Abraham?
We all know Abraham was circumcised in Genesis 17, but, for the purposes of this pattern we need to find two circumcisions of Abraham, not just one; God is telling the same story, over and over again, remember; so if Joshua circumcised the house of Abraham twice, then Jesus circumcised Abraham twice.
Being circumcised means leaving your old house behind. But not, necessarily, entering your new one just yet. Thus Abraham’s first “circumcision” in this sense was found in Genesis 12:1-4; this was not his freedom! But the preparation for it, the circumcision that led to it!
Like his seed would one day do, he left with all of his possessions (Genesis 12:5) and went into a strange land by faith (Genesis 12:6), not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). After ten years, he eventually came to the covenant of faith in Genesis 15, then had Ishmael by Hagar a year later.
Isn’t that odd; that in response to making the covenant of faith, he had the woman and child of bondage? But then, in response to the covenant of bondage in Genesis 17, he had the wife and child of faith? This is rather the reverse of what we’d expect; but that’s because until today, we’ve never understood what these covenants were actually doing.
See Genesis 15 was the covenant of faith; we would think, based on Paul’s words, that this covenant freed Abraham from all obedience to the law. We of course know that wasn’t true, but you don’t know how much it wasn’t true. Because when you show faith in Jesus, what happens? Galatians 3:26.
When you believe in Jesus, you become the children of God. Your Elohim-conception happens at that point; and what is associated with that event? Acts 8:36-38. Thus, it is the baptism which begins your new life, and in some sense that must have been what happened here, to Abraham!
If you read through Genesis 15, knowing that something here should picture baptism, it’s pretty easy to find Genesis 15:12. Consider the imagery; no, there is no water here. And yet what exactly happened? Abraham fell into a “deep sleep”, which often pictures death in the Bible.
More telling, the darkness “fell upon” Abraham –a symbol of several types of metaphorical baptism, of the spirit for instance (Acts 8:15-16). For if it fell upon him, he was immersed in this “horror of great darkness”!
But we can do even better than that; Psalms 88:3-7, 10-12, 15-18. This clearly connects “terror” and “darkness” to “deep waters” and “death”. Thus, Abraham was baptized in water –more or less –in Genesis 15:12. And why not? For he that believes, should be baptized! (Mark 16:16, Acts 18:8).
The waters of baptism were not the archetype; they were, themselves, a lesser symbol of the true symbol; which is baptism into the spiritual body of Christ. So when the spiritual body of Christ, the thick, dark cloud, fell upon Abraham… was he less baptized than those who were washed by John in the Jordan… Or more?
THE SHIELD OF FAITH
Once again, God tells us in the very first verse what this covenant is about, in Genesis 15:1. The Lord promised to shield him (as a Lord shields His servants), and be His exceeding great reward, as a Master promises His disciples! Which means this was when Abraham joined the body of Christ.
Which, you’ll remember, was the meaning of baptism –therefore the meaning of Genesis 15:12: the baptism into the body of Christ! The entering into of a contract to be the apprentice/child/disciple of the house of the Lord… which, of course, is BONDAGE!
Because Abraham’s faith in the Lord, and the baptism that resulted from it, didn’t make Abraham free. On the contrary, that faith bound Abraham to a Lord and Master who would, one day, make him free! (John 8:32-36). Isn’t that what faith in Jesus does… makes you His disciple? (John 6:69).
Something which Jesus said Abraham, quite specifically, was! (John 8:37-40, 52-58). After all… he was already paying tithes to Melchizedek, something you only do to a father-figure! (Hebrews 7:4-9). Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus’ day, and did see it… and as a result, believed in Him and had everlasting life (John 6:40).
A bondage desirable because only as a servant of Jesus, can you be treated as if you are Jesus by the law; which we very much need, in order to escape dying (Romans 14:7-9). Because if Jesus died, and we belong to Jesus… then WE died (2 Corinthians 5:14).
Thus, for those who are in Christ –which is to say, legally part of His house –there is no condemnation, for He is our shield (Romans 8:1-3). Which, again, were the first words He said to Abraham: that the Lord was going to be His shield, and His exceeding great reward.
And as always, that applies in every sense of the word. For He would shield Abraham from his enemies, shield his soul from the power of his fractions… and also shield him from the judgment of God. The Lord would, then, be a cloud shielding him from the Sun of judgment (Job 22:13)!
Every Protestant knows that Jesus is Lord, whose job it is to intercede for us with the Father (Romans 8:26-27). And throughout Genesis 15, only the Lord or the Lord God are mentioned –both titles of Jesus.
Because the covenant of Genesis 15 was about Christ! (Galatians 3:17). The Lord who shields us from His own Lord, the Father (1 John 2:1). But only until the day when we can handle being in His Father’s presence! Until then, for his own good, Abraham had to remain in BONDAGE!
And when a bondman has children, those children belong to his own master (Exodus 21:2-4). Which is why Abraham could not have free children during those two seven-year cycles between 85 and 99, between Genesis 15 and 17… for during those years, thanks to his belief in Jesus, he himself was not yet free!
Abraham could only put his seed into “Jerusalem which now is”, which, of course, was HAGAR! (Galatians 4:25). He COULD NOT have a freeborn son until after his bondage was over… until after Jesus circumcised him again the second time, to cut him out of Jesus’ house… …making it possible for him to be baptized into the Father’s house! (But that’s a whole other lesson).
INTERNAL CIRCUMCISION
You may have noticed through all this I have strictly avoided talking about circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16); indeed, there is a circumcision of the spirit as well that I avoided mentioning (Romans 2:29).
This is because God’s metaphors must be understood one layer at a time; you can’t mix and match symbols from, say, the stone layer and the water layer; nor use an internal example here, but an external example there, and end up with clear picture. Each layer must be self-complete, and then it can be used to point to the truth in the other layers.
So if we didn’t yet understand external circumcision –and honestly, when I began to write this lesson I did not –how could we possibly understand internal circumcision? Did it replace external? Or was it simultaneous, like how you don’t murder and you don’t hate your brother?
And so in the course of this lesson we’ve arrived at a clear principle, that cutting off the foreskin represents cutting off the old house. That it symbolizes a commitment to say “my family are those who do God’s will, and no one else” (Matthew 12:47-50)… even if you don’t yet know who or where that family is!
What then, does it mean internally? The answer is obvious; it means that your heart leaves your old house too! Acts 7:39. For all that they hated the bondage, Israel’s heart never quit loving the leeks and garlic and melons in Egypt (Numbers 11:1-6).
They hated the result of sin, but they never stopped loving the short-term benefits of sin. But the men of faith in Hebrews 11 did; their hearts were circumcised, committed to never returning to anything in Egypt (verses 9-16). They didn’t want to go BACK to Egypt; their hearts WANTED to go somewhere even better.
The problem with biological “circumcision”, simply pulling the foreskin back, is you can take it back any time. But when you simply have no foreskin, you are committed to never having your old house over you again.
Thus, Abraham’s heart never looked back, never wanted to rejoin Terah’s house. His heart was fully settled never to go back, no matter what. So he was as good as circumcised –for he would never go back again to Haran.
Israel on the other hand, because their hearts couldn’t really believe in the Promised Land, preferred to go back to a known quantity, however unpleasant; it was this faithless, uncircumcised heart that kept them out of the Promised Land (Hebrews 3:7-12). Because they couldn’t stop it from looking BACK. (Exodus 16:3, etc.). They couldn’t stop retreating into their heart’s foreskin!
Which is why if you read the context where God asked them to circumcise their hearts (Deuteronomy 10:11-16), it was about them looking toward their new land and committing themselves to cleave unto the Lord (verse 20).
Likewise in Jeremiah, it was their backsliding into their old habits, loving their old lovers (Jeremiah 4:4, and context in Jeremiah 3:20-4:1). Always looking back to your old father’s house when times get tough (Luke 15:13-19).
And that’s perfectly understandable, and fine under normal circumstances… except God doesn’t want to invest in quitters (Luke 9:62). If He invests in you, He expects you to see it through (Deuteronomy 23:21, Ecclesiastes 5:4-6, etc.); which means simply pulling back your heart’s foreskin isn’t enough. He wants it cut off altogether –even if that’s a painful and bloody process.
Obviously, the same principle applies to the circumcision of spirits: cutting them out of their old house. Spirits are meant to update themselves regularly, as new statutes are needed and old statutes turn out to be imprecise or no longer relevant. But they resist this change, being stiff-necked; and thus, when a new piece of understanding comes along, they say “the old is better”! (Luke 5:39).
Which is why the Pharisees were stuck on the law of Moses; still “bound in the spirit” to the house they were raised in and they didn’t want to walk before God and be perfect; they wanted to walk before Moses, and be SHIELDED (Exodus 20:19). But it was time to circumcise their spirits, cut that veil and turn to the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).
Instead, when Jesus revealed the NC to them they first aggressively (Acts 14:19), then passive-aggressively, sought to bring their old statutes and religion into the ekklesia (Acts 15:1-5). These were not circumcised spirits.
No, they were unbroken spirits, stiff-necked spirits who, while going along with a new religion, constantly tried to reshape the truth into their old religion. And as Jesus said, “this did not Abraham” (John 8:40). And remember what the punishment for refusing circumcision was: to be cut out of Abraham’s house.
Thus, if they refused to circumcise their spirits, those spirits would be cut off of Abraham’s house. The branches they could have become, as the seed of Abraham, would be cut off to make room for others! (Romans 11:17-24). Which is exactly what happened.
When you think about it, it’s quite ironic; for the whole reason Paul argued against circumcision so much… was because the Pharisees themselves were not circumcised in spirit. They believed circumcising the flesh was absolutely necessary;
…but if only they had been truly circumcised …they would have known it wasn’t.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Abraham’s father Terah had been called out of Ur of the Chaldees; thus, Abraham’s whole family had, in a sense, been cut out of Babylonia (Genesis 11:27-32). And yet Terah’s heart never truly left Babylon behind (Joshua 24:2).
Even if his heart had hated Babylon for awhile –which we don’t know –it quickly uncircumcised itself as he began to miss the leeks and onions. And so Terah’s house was not good enough for Abraham to grow up in; so God had to circumcise Abraham out of Terah’s house in Genesis 12:1-4.
Abraham’s circumcision “took”; for he never looked back to Terah. Indeed, he absolutely forbade Isaac from returning to Haran under any circumstances (Genesis 24:1-8). There was no going back for him, nor for Isaac; it was a one way trip out of the world.
So God knew that here was a house that no one would need to be cut out of again. Because by rejecting the world, Abraham had become the friend of God (James 4:4); and so from then on, circumcision became a sign of rejecting all other houses. Because that’s what the head of the house had already done.
This sign would show that this house rejected the authority of the world; that though they were in the world, they were not of the world; that their sensitive head would henceforth be baptized in the spirit, not trust in the flesh (think about it).
No one would ever need to be circumcised out of Abraham’s house, for Abraham’s house was God’s house. No, even better than that: ABRAHAM was God’s house. Remember: the Lord was to BE Abraham’s “exceeding great reward”. Which is the same as our great reward (Colossians 1:27).
As for you, by leaving the world, you made the declaration to the world that you desired to be Abraham’s son. That you were prepared to walk before Abraham, and do whatever he asked. You bound yourself, by covenant, to do this.
This was not, I should add, a sign of BEING Abraham’s son –for all of Abraham’s house, servants included, had this sign –but it was a place to start. This doesn’t make you part of the house of God; indeed, you didn’t know such a thing existed at the time.
Though you were not circumcised in flesh –and if you were, it certainly didn’t mean this –this act indicated that you were circumcised in the heart. For all that means is that you hate your old house. That no matter what may lay out there in the wide world, you don’t want to become your parents.
Likewise, your spirit is circumcised when you decide that your Church could not possibly be what God wanted. That you don’t know what the truth might be, but they don’t have it. That you seek a better country, which is to say, an heavenly, and will settle for nothing less. This is circumcision.
And God notices when someone decides that no matter what happens, they won’t live in Egypt for one more day. That no matter what might await you, up to and including hell, it couldn’t possibly be worse than spending another day with those faithless, blind hypocrites.
Remember, Abraham is a clear symbol of the Father; and when you decide your home, your Church, your world isn’t obeying Him –that you don’t know what is True, but that what they said isn’t –what you are really declaring is your willingness to become like Him.
Your hope, your belief, that because you desire Him, He will grant you understanding. But circumcision declares something else as well; its finality implies your commitment to not be theirs even if He doesn’t want you as His.
That even if He isn’t interested in adopting you, you’d still rather be circumcised as a mere servant than to go to Church (Psalms 84:10). That you’d rather be His bastard, than their son. With that in mind, you can see why Psalms 26 sums up this lesson.
Look at what this circumcised, hopeful servant of God says as proof of his circumcision in Psalms 26:4-5. Look at how he felt about his old house, his old Church. Look at his willingness to be baptized and spread the gospel (Psalms 26:6-7). Look at his desire to be judged by God’s house, and changed by his correction (Psalms 26:1-3).
He tells God of the love of His house (Psalms 26:8), of his determination to live by God’s laws whether God accepts his plea or not (Psalms 26:9-11)… and, in the end, his confidence that, though he has no right to expect it, his feet are safe in God’s hands, and God’s mercy is sure (Psalms 26:12).
These thoughts must be in your heart before you join the house of God; before God even brings you to the house of God. In other words, you must be circumcised before you leave Egypt… to ever hope to cross the Red Sea of baptism.
And when you decide to strike off on your own, not knowing where you are going, or why; when you finally lose sight of shore, burn your bridges, set forth into a strange land without a map, knowing only that what is before you cannot be worse than what you left behind…
…in that moment, you are as circumcised as you’ll ever need to be in this life.