Spiritual Circumcision vs. Physical Circumcision

(A Post By Nicey)
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Listen I (Paul) tell you this. If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you" - Galatians 5:2

WoW! This made many Jewish leaders in the early church upset at Paul! They were so mad, Paul was accused (and still is) of teaching AGAINST the Law. I too, was once one of those that accused Paul of such behavior. However, if we closely examine what Paul was saying, we will see that he taught just as our LORD. Physical circumcision does not make someone Holy or Righteous just as Water Baptism doesn't make someone Born Again or Saved. We are told in John 4:24 that "God is a spirit and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." So physical symbols of belief in God mean nothing. It is the spiritual manifestation of our belief in God that show rather we are wicked or righteous in His sight. 

In Deut 10, The LORD has turned his anger away from Israel & is giving instruction (through Moses) to the Children of Israel of how to remain His people by saying in v16  "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts and be no more stiffnecked." - The LORD is saying that anyone rebelling against Him must turn from their old wicked ways or be "circumcised' in order to please Him. He had already given them the law about physical circumcision, and to no affect because they continued in sin. The physical circumcision meant nothing if the heart was impure. 

The Old Covenant was physical. When a male-person was born to Jewish parents, or a male-servant for a Jewish Household - they were to be circumcised, rather they had a heart for God or were as wicked as Satan. The spiritual life & walk with God was not connected to circumcision. However, the New Covenant is spiritual. Circumcision of the HEART is to be done by both male & female. This circumcision is best described in Col 2:11 "When you came to Christ you were circumcised but not by physical procedure, it was a spiritual procedure, the cutting away of your sinful nature."

In Galatians, Paul is addressing the churches of Galatia, where both Jewish & Gentile believers in Christ attended. There were Jewish leaders that spoke to these churches beforehand, teaching the Gentile members them that they must be physically circumcised yet the leaders themselves were not walking in the way God would have them. In other words, they were hypocrites. So Paul tells the members, in Gal 6:12-13, that these Jewish leaders are making a show of their "belief" by teaching physical circumcision YET are not righteous themselves & are only teaching this so they can appear holy. Gal 5:6 tells us "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."

So Spiritual circumcision is the importance & the only assurance we have of knowing we are pleasing God. Physical circumcision would be a choice of an individual & holds no validity under the new covenant. 

From a health perspective, circumcision helps lessen the risk or urinary tract infections, penal cancer, and a variety of STD's including HIV. The warm moist area under the foreskins of uncircumcised males can be a breeding ground for infections. However, behavior, lifestyle & proper/improper hygiene is more of a help/hinder to health.