Friday, October 19, 2012

Friday, October 19th

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Matthew 15; Mark 7.
Today's scripture focus is Romans 4:9-12.

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Jews thought and taught that circumcision was what justified Abraham and what justified them.  So, after Paul reminds them that the OT actually teaches salvation through faith and not works, the first thing he's going to have to deal with is the circumcision issue.

Paul reminds them that Abraham was declared righteous by God because he believed, and this declaration was made while he was uncircumcised.  In fact, it was made at least 13 years before Abraham was circumcised.  Abraham was 99 yrs old when when he was circumcised, and Ishmael was circumcised on the same day, when he was 13 yrs old.  But when God declared Abraham righteous Ishmael had not yet been born.  So Abraham lived, justified and declared righteous by God Himself, for at least 13 yrs uncircumcised.  MacArthur makes an interesting point....

You say, "Why did God permit him to wait so long?" I think so that Paul could say this right here ... and end the chaos and the confusion. Circumcision had nothing to do with it. Abraham was made righteous inside the covenant before he was circumcised. Ishmael was circumcised and never was in the covenant. So the circumcision is not even an issue in terms of covenant relationship, in terms of righteousness. And may I extrapolate from that and say no religious rite and no religious ceremony confers any righteousness on anybody ever.

Circumcision doesn't justify you.  Celebrating the Passover doesn't justify you.  Taking communion doesn't justify you.  Being baptized doesn't justify you.

So, what's the point then?  Why did God command Abraham and all his males descendants to be circumcised?

It was a sign.

A sign is never the thing itself, it points to the thing.  For example, if you go on a trip to DisneyWorld and you see a sign for DisneyWorld, you don't stop the van and camp out on the sign thinking you've arrived!  No, the sign is pointing towards your destination.  A sign is not the reality itself, it points to the reality.

Circumcision was a sign.  First, it was a sign of racial identity. God had separated them as a people group and this was the sign that that person was a son of Abraham, a Jew.  Secondly, it was a mark of God's covenant.  Not only had He separated them as a people group, but circumcision pointed to the fact that God was their God, they were the covenant people.

But it's even more than that.  It's a spiritual sign.
It is a seal of the righteousness of Abraham's uncircumcised faith. Every time you see circumcision, you should be reminded that God justified Abraham by faith....Every time you see circumcision occur, let it be a symbol to you that what is occurring on the outside is exactly what God wants to do...where? ... inside. He wants to cut away the sinful covering. He wants to purge. What is the point of circumcision? Yes, it has a racial identification. Yes, it has a covenantal identification. But far more than that Paul says i has as its purpose to be a seal‑‑and by the way, a sign and a seal have a shade of difference, it's not only a sign, it's a seal. A sign points to something, a seal guarantees it. When they put a seal and stamped it, that was a guarantee, that was the authentication, that was the promise that God would fulfill what He said.
And so, circumcision, then, is saying that God wants to circumcise the inside just like you see on the outside. And every time you circumcise a male child, be reminded that that's exactly what God wants to do in the inside is cut away the foreskin of your hearts. And every circumcision is a seal and a guarantee that God will do that for the ready heart.
So, circumcision was laid down by God as the mark borne by every Jewish male to remind them and all the succeeding generations that God desired and was ready to circumcise their hearts.
And, once again, this wasn't anything new!
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.

God always wanted to do that. God always wanted to circumcise the heart. God always wanted to cut away the skin that crowded the heart with sin. God always wanted to purge. And they would have read it in their own Pentateuch. For that was always God's plan and every circumcised child was to be a reminder of that.

Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem
Jeremiah 9:24-26 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh  Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

Wow, I can only imagine the horror of the Jew thinking that they could be punished alongside the uncircumcised Gentile!  But that's exactly what God said He would do to those whose circumcision was only external and not internal.

Taking communion doesn't save us.  It is a sign.  It reminds us that we need to be saved, God wants to save us and He is ready to save us.

Same thing with baptism.  When we are baptized we proclaim unity with Christ in His death and resurrection, but the act of baptism does not save us.  It reminds us again that we need to be saved, and it is an outward expression of an inward reality, of an inward commitment, of faith.

And so was circumcision a sign that God was eager to purge the heart through faith and impute His righteousness by grace. And tragically the Jews had abandoned the reality and they were left only with a disconnected and isolated symbol that meant nothing.

When you turn the sign into the reality you lose grace, you lose faith, you turn it into a works based religion, and it means nothing, and you aren't saved.

The Passover was collective. They all celebrated it together. Circumcision was very individual. Now I see a marvelous parallel there. In the church, we too have two great remembrances. They had the Passover and circumcision. We have communion. That's collective. Baptism, that's individual. And so we have collectively a testimony that God will save. We have individually a testimony that God will save ... just as they did. The Passover sees the saving act as the Lord's Table sees the saving act. Circumcision saw the cleansing of the individual; baptism sees the cleansing of the individual. Marvelous parallels.

No, Abraham was not justified by circumcision.  It simply symbolized on the outside what God wanted to do, what we needed Him to do, on the inside.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 4:13-15
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Matthew 16, Mark 8, Luke 9:18-27

1 comment:

Miriam said...

Very interesting. Great post.