For he is not a Jew who is one
outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a
Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit,
not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. – Romans 2.28-29
Circumcision can be a difficult thing to talk about.
It is not the politest of subjects. It is however a cutting away of flesh that
is a picture of all of the keeping of the Law. It was the beginning of the
process for Law keeping Jews so it is of relevant.
Paul points out that the physical cutting away of
flesh is not what really makes a person a Jew. A Jew outwardly is not what
counts. A true Jew is one who is one inwardly.
This is along the same lines as God judging the
secrets of men. It is easy for us to act religious and go to church and say
amen and be involved in everything the church does and be a good neighbour and
all that, and all those are good things. We can ‘cut off’ our old sins and
reform our lives and clean up our act and become from all appearance be really good
people. It is good to cut off those things. It is profitable in a lot of ways.
But it profits nothing when it comes to eternity. What
matters at the end of the day is cutting of the flesh at the root – in our
hearts. We can’t do anything about that. Only Christ can do that work.
And that is all that really matters.
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