Spiritual Descendants Of Abraham
This is the Tenth post from Chapter 8 of Friends With God: God’s Friendship With Israel And The Church, in which we are exploring the relationship, similarities, and differences between the Old and New Covenants.
The relationship between the New and the Old Covenant needs to be explored in relation to Abraham, who is called the father of the faithful in both covenants. (Gal 3:6-9) Because Abraham was faithful, God created a covenant with him, and this covenant extended to all people associated with him, including his servants. The sign of this covenant was circumcision of all the males, including servants, in Abraham’s household.
Many of the previous posts in this series have been addressing the issue of the requirement or not for circumcision, for those in either the New or the Old Covenant. But there is no discussion in these past posts, nor will be in any future posts, about the health implications of, or the act of circumcision, neither of which is discussed in scripture. Circumcision, as we will see in this post, is symbolic of the state of mind of the individual, even of women, whom scripture does not require to have any sign in their flesh.
The Sign of Abraham’s Faith
The faith of Abraham is symbolized by the act of circumcision - a perpetual reminder in the flesh of Abraham’s faith. This is also why God tells us that Abraham’s male children and servants, were required to be circumcised:
And God said unto Abraham, …This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. … and it shall be a token (evidence or sign) of the covenant between me and you. (Circumcision is a sign of Abraham’s faith, which is written into the flesh of Abraham’s children) … He that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your money (a slave), must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your (descendants and slaves) flesh for an everlasting covenant.
(Gen 17:9-13)
What is the point of circumcision? It was to be everlasting evidence in the flesh of the descendants of Abraham of the covenant God made with him and with them.
The Hebrew word for token means a signal, evidence, or a sign, it also means a miracle. While it was a sign not easily forgotten by the individual, it was not a sign expected to be seen in public! The nature of this ‘sign’ shows how this covenant between God and Man was always to be a personal and private relationship between the individual and God.
Circumcision could also be seen as a miracle, as it was a sign given by God of the miraculous covenant that God had made with Abraham and his offspring.
Photo by author
Women In Covenant With God
It’s also an interesting covenant sign, as it was only for men, as women were not required to have any physical mark in their flesh. Women, however, were certainly in covenant with God in the Old Covenant, just as they are in the New Covenant. (Luke 2:36, Luke 13:16, Acts 2:17, 21:9)
The goal of physical circumcision was, however, to motivate both men and women to circumcise their hearts. (Jeremiah 4:4) For it’s the faith in, and the love of God, that is the foundation of both covenants, not physical signs.
The sign of circumcision was a reminder of the covenant Israelites had with God, and the covenant was passed down to Abraham’s offspring because of his faith in God.
As circumcision was in their flesh it could not be removed, and was thus an everlasting sign. It was to perpetually remind Israelites of the faith of Abraham, such that they should acknowledge his faith by reflecting his faith in their own lives.
Circumcision was not an act of faith on the part of the individual himself- as circumcision was done when eight days old, the child could not possibly assent to it.
When parents hold the miracle of their new-born baby in their arms, their belief in a great creator God is naturally very high. Circumcision of the child was an act of faith of the parents in passing this sign of the covenant with God down to their next generation.
A Spiritual Child Of God, Circumcision Of The Heart
Physical circumcision was supposed to remind Israelites of Abraham’s faith. Yet God often accused them of lacking faith, and therefore being uncircumcised in their heart:
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, (they were already physically circumcised, but not spiritually) men of Judah and people of Jerusalem; lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that none can put it out; because of the evil of your doings. (Jeremiah 4:4)
God is commanding the Israelites to be of the same faith that Abraham had, which, in the New Covenant, is considered to be a Spiritual circumcision:
For he is not a Jew (a child of Abraham) who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that outwardly in flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart; in spirit and not in letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God. (Rom 2:28-29)
The idea of being uncircumcised in heart is also in the book of Deuteronomy, which is a record of Moses’ final very long sermon, in which he recounted all the wanderings and trials of the past 40 years. Moses reminded them of the outcomes that would ensue from loving God in obedience, or not loving God and consequently being in disobedience to his purpose and way of life.
The metaphors which Moses used for them to be obedient to God, was to have a circumcised heart and to not be stiff necked:
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, (to hold Him in awe) to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, … Only the Lord had a delight in your fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) to love them, and He chose their seed after them (the nation of Israel), you above all people, as it is today. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stiff-necked.
(Deut 10:12-16)
The Ideal Of Spiritual Israel
God’s goal for physical Israel was for them to become Spiritual Israel- obeying the spirit of the law, not just the letter. God’s goal for those in the New Covenant is to also become Spiritual Israel, but this does not require physical circumcision, but to love Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
When Stephen was on trial before the Jews, he recounted the rebellious history of Israel, and concluded in similar terms: O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! (Acts 7:51) Not only were they stiff-necked, but also uncircumcised in their heart and ears!
The issue being emphatically hammered by Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, and Stephen is the same: it’s your choice to obey and love God from the heart or not.
Similarly, it’s your choice to obey from your ears or not. And it’s your choice to obey from your neck or not! Don’t be hard hearted, open your ears, bow your neck to God. It all means the same thing- be humble and listen to the truth, and believe God, as did Abraham.
Circumcision for Israelites did not provide anything special of itself- except the responsibility of what it was supposed to remind them of: the necessity to emulate the faith of Abraham their father.
There were many physical blessings, and rituals and requirements, associated with the Old Covenants, be they the covenants with Moses or Abraham, or Isaac and Jacob. Yet the purpose of all these blessings and rituals was to help Israelites to understand and follow the spiritual path of the faith of Abraham.
It was this faith of Abraham that was to raise them to the level of Spiritual Israel. While physical circumcision was to remind them of the covenant Abraham had with God, the purpose of the covenant was not a physical goal, but a spiritual objective.
For Israelites to be circumcised but to not develop in themselves the faith of Abraham, meant that their covenant with God was in vain, as they simply could not keep the spiritual intent of the law. Their unbelief therefore meant that they were effectively not the children of Abraham, but, as Jesus said, they were actually the children of the Devil! (John 8:39-47)
Jews (such as Timothy) after the time of Christ were still physical children of Abraham, and as such they were still required to be circumcised. This did not conflict with the New Covenant, as circumcision is of no importance to those in the New Covenant.
However, Christian gentiles who were convinced that they, too, should be circumcised, (as discussed in the previous post) did not understand the foundation of the law- which, as Jesus said, is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and your neighbour as yourself. (Luke 10:25-30)
In order to do this, no matter if you are Jew or gentile, you must have your eyes opened by God to understand his truth, and then you must choose to circumcise your stony heart, and your hard of hearing ears, and bend your stiff neck to obey God.
Spiritual Descendants Of Abraham
In wanting to be physically circumcised, these Christian gentiles were trying to be justified by keeping the law rather than by faith in God. If they had and understanding of what true faith in God was, they would have realized that both Jew and gentile are “all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus”. (Gal 3:26-29)
They did not need to be ‘adopted’ as physical children of Abraham through the process of circumcision, as all that circumcision accomplishes is to remind people of the faith of their father Abraham.
There was also no benefit in being circumcised in order to gain the blessing of being counted as physical children of Abraham, for Christian gentiles already had the blessing of the Spirit of God, which has the better promise of immortality and the inheritance of the entire Earth as children of God. These promises are better than the physical blessing of inheritance in the land of Israel, given to Abraham’s physical descendants.
Non-Israelites that believe in Christ, don’t need physical circumcision as a sign, as they are now the children of God through the righteousness of faith.
The sign that they are the children of God is their faith, not a mark in their flesh.
They don’t need to become adopted as physical children of Abraham through the act of physical circumcision, as, if they have faith in Christ, they are already spiritual children of Abraham. They are Spiritual Israel, circumcised in the heart. If they have faith in Christ, then that makes them children of God the Father- to be born of the spirit and being one with God, which is a far better than having been born a physical child of Abraham. (John 17:20-23)
The New Covenant took the focus away from the physical descendants of Abraham, and put it onto his spiritual descendants.
Since the New Covenant was instituted, gentiles are not being called by God into the Old Covenant. In this regard it is obsolete for gentiles. However, it is not obsolete for Jews, as all physical descendants of Abraham are called to understand God through the requirements of the Old Covenant, which requires them to love God and neighbour, which is the same requirement as the New Covenant.
Those who are Abraham’s physical children have the birthright of the knowledge of God, and an inheritance within the physical land of Israel. However, their birthright does not include being in the New Covenant; that is reserved for those people whom God calls individually, be they Jew or gentile.
In the next post we will be examining what the New Covenant actually is. As the term “New Covenant”, or “New Testament” is mentioned only 10 times in the entire Bible, it therefore makes it easy to compare and contrast the various aspects of the New Covenant that each verse is talking about.