A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a supplemental reading for our Life Group curriculum here at Fellowship Dallas. It was an awesome week at our church where we baptized over 25 people who had made a profession of faith and had decided to follow Jesus. Being the nerd that I am, I chose a difficult passage where Paul alludes to the rite of Old Testament circumcision without much in the way of explanation. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col. 2:8-15)
There are a few important reasons that, for the early church, these allusions weren’t as cryptic as they seem today. First, the early church was so intentionally steeped in the Old Testament (OT) and its teachings that allusions like this led to natural connections with the scripture they intimately knew. Secondly, allusions of this sort would challenge the apostle’s audience to dig deeper into further study which resulted in a later gathering where they read through and discussed the things they had uncovered. So, with this in mind, let’s look at the background of circumcision and how it relates, in the apostle Paul’s writing, to baptism as it was originally practised in the early church, a practice that still continues today.
The ceremony of circumcision, for the people of Israel, finds its biblical roots in the OT story of Abraham. Spanning from Gen. 12-25, the life of this patriarch is packed full of thrilling tales concerning God’s work in the life of a man who would ultimately serve as the exemplar of faith for multiple authors of the first century. This was especially true in the case of the apostle Paul (see Rom. 4:9-17; Gal. 3:6-29).
It all began in Gen. 17 when God spoke to Abraham, renewing his divinely established covenant with the patriarch (see Gen. 15) and implementing the ceremonial act of circumcision. This act, of cutting the “flesh of the foreskin” of the male genitalia, served as a tangible sign and a physical confession etched into the male reproductive organ. Although there were other types of circumcision in the Ancient Near East (the geographical area in which the OT takes place), this particular form served to set apart the people of God (who would eventually be known by the name of Israel) in a very noticeable way. In short, circumcision was a potent declaration and confession of God’s powerful work in their lives, a declaration that was meant to point directly to the almighty and one true God.
Like all meaningful traditions that are habitually practised throughout time without introspection and theological undergirding, circumcision lost something important. Rather than an emphatic confession speaking of God’s love and faithfulness to his chosen people, circumcision became something that declared their self-important status. Over time circumcision became a badge of national pride used to maintain an ethnic boundary, while pointing to the people of Israel’s special place among the rest of humanity. The focus shifted from a God-centered act of heartfelt worship to a human-centred celebration of privilege. Basically, the physical sign of circumcision lost the spiritual connection that was supposed to be maintained through a heartfelt devotion to God as it served as a confession of his continued powerful work in their lives.
This heartfelt devotion was such a vital aspect of following God’s commands that Moses, in Deut. 10:16 (right before he records God’s graceful act of giving the Israelites the ten commandments) warned the people of Israel concerning this very thing. It was necessary, before they even attempted to approach the presence of God, that they understood the service of the Lord to involve an individual’s “heart and soul.” Even more importantly, Moses emphasized that God’s love established and undergirded this relational endeavour. This is why they were instructed by Moses to “circumcise the foreskins of their hearts, and not be stubborn.”
This act of introspective devotion is so important that Moses again emphasized this type of spiritual circumcision in Deut. 30:6, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.” In this instance, God is pictured working powerfully in the life of his people as he accomplishes a spiritual act of circumcision, an act that reestablishes the ability of his people to engage in a heartfelt devotion. By promising to be actively involved in the spiritual circumcision of the heart, God shows his people that the physical act of circumcision cannot be divorced from the heartfelt devotion that comes with recognizing his powerful work within their lives. In short, an Israelite with a circumcised heart is spiritually aligned with the physical sign etched in his skin, a sign that serves as a confession of God’s powerful work in both his own life and the lives of the people of Israel.
In summary, from the beginning of the initiation of the ceremony of circumcision (Gen. 17), God has been clear that it was always meant to have spiritual connotations. When these connotations were lost and circumcision became primarily about a badge of national pride or maintaining ethnic boundaries, God himself stepped in and reminded his people that he was the source of their identity. He showed them that their hearts were not in sync with the physical sign etched upon their body and promised to reestablish this connection through the circumcision of their hearts. For Israel, physical circumcision without heartfelt devotion did not benefit them or anyone they would encounter. The confessional aspect of circumcision had lost its divine power and become a very human centred sign that spoke to a reliance on their own status as Israelites rather than on God’s continued powerful work on their behalf.
These passages (and a few others: Jer. 4:4 and Rom. 2:29) provide the background for an understanding of a spiritual circumcision, a “circumcision without hands” (Col. 2:11) in which God acts in a powerful way by sending his son, Jesus, to save us from our body of flesh and the sin within which it is mired.
So, just as the physical act of circumcision originally served as a confession concerning God’s powerful work in the life of his people, the first aspect of the physical act of baptism, which involves being fully immersed under water, serves as a confession that we share in the death of Christ. We are then raised out of the water, the second aspect of baptism, as a confession of our own faith in God, and his powerful work of resurrecting Christ from the dead. Together, these two confessional aspects of baptism declare that we share in the death and resurrection of Christ.
Just like the physical act of being circumcised, these aspects of baptism have no saving power, in and of themselves. If we are taking part in the ceremony of baptism and have not trusted in Jesus Christ as our saviour, the same Jesus Christ who was resurrected by the power of God, our confession itself means nothing to us. It isn’t connected to our heart and our heart’s devotion to God is ultimately what matters.
However, let’s not forget that baptism is an important aspect of our walk with Christ. It declares to the world around us that we were once dead in our trespasses and sins with no heartfelt allegiance or devotion to the one true God. Instead, through our baptism, we confess the devotion of our heart and openly declare that God is powerfully at work in our lives. Baptism screams out to the world around us that we now live as forgiven people in the context of a divinely established relationship with the triune God. In addition, it confesses our desire to live in community with other followers of Jesus Christ as we take part in a family that will call us to grow in our understanding of God and his purpose for our lives.
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