CIRCUMCISE YOUR HEART

For the past several days I have been pondering over just what was Paul  explaining in Romans 2:29, “… he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit …” Paul was writing that Jews   were circumcised because they followed the letter of the Law in accord with the Covenant between God and Abraham.  Paul uses circumcision four ways to signify:  a) the rite itself, b) the Jews as a race of people, c) the Old Covenant, or d) the Old Covenant plus the traditions of the fathers. This ordinance was an outward physical sign of the willingness of the person to obey God and be one of His chosen people.  Yet God tells them in Deuteronomy 10:16 “so circumcise your hearts and stiffen your necks no longer”; in 30:6 God tells them, “Moreover the Lord will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul”. Jeremiah tells the Jews to "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. . ." , Jeremiah 4:4.

Circumcision, that outward physical sign instituted by God was pointing towards the new covenant that would come in effect with the Christ Jesus. There is now a spiritual circumcision which is the circumcision of the heart. Just as the physical circumcision lay bare uncovering the most intimate hidden parts, now as our hearts are circumcised we believers expose ourselves,  as in John Wesley's sermon, this circumcision, “. . . convinces us that we are by nature wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. It convinces us, that in our best estate we are, of ourselves, all sin and vanity; that confusion, and ignorance, and error reign over our understanding; that unreasonable, earthly, sensual, devilish passions usurp authority over our will; in a word, that there is no whole part in our soul, that all the foundations of our nature are out of course.  At the same time we are convinced, that we are not sufficient of ourselves to help ourselves; that, without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing but add sin to sin; that it is He alone who worketh in us by his almighty power, either to will or do that which is good; it being as impossible for us even to think a good thought, without the supernatural assistance of his Spirit, as to create ourselves, or to renew our whole souls in righteousness and true holiness.” (Sermon 17, Preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University, on January 1, 1733)

The physical circumcision is of no value, what is, is the circumcision of the heart, to bare ourselves before the Lord God Almighty and know, and be convinced that we are nothing apart from Him.