So What If You Are Circumcised?

So, interesting verses this week. Paul is in the process of, by the time we get to 3.19 and 3.20, he will have every category of human being condemned. And that's where we're headed. We've seen a couple of things. We've seen that there are three categories of men. There's the heathen man, or you could describe him just as a man. And we covered him in chapter 1, verse 18 through 32. And then there is the moral man. the one who has ethics and his own code of conduct. And we covered him in chapter 2, verse 1 through 16.

And today we're going to condemn the Jew or the religious man. I think if you're going to pick a religious man, at least in the time frame, historical time frame, the Jew would be the perfect one. So we have been working through these verses to discover how God's word is proving that all men are condemned no matter what earthly light that they may have. So the moral man is condemned And out of that moral group, Paul takes out the religious man. He draws the Jews out of that group because they're the moral ones. So last Sunday, Roger gave us a look at what a Jew might place his confidence in in regards to salvation.

One, he had the possession of the law. They were the only nation that God gave the law to, verses 2, 17, and 18. And they were confident that they were a guide, a light, and a teacher to the world, 2, 19, and 20. And they were teachers of others, but they didn't teach themselves. There was inconsistency. So verse 21 through 24. And you know, I can't help but think that if you have possession of the law, you're favored. But the possession of the law is not so much, I don't think from Exodus is so much an idea that just tell me what to do and I'll do it.

What God did is he took Abraham and built a people from him to set them apart. And they had a purpose and their purpose was to demonstrate to the world how man should live. And so what the commandments really are is a lifestyle that a set-apart human being would live to glorify God and to be an example to the world around him.

Now, the Jew with his confidence had a problem because as Roger explained back in verse 17, I'm going to read the Weymouth translation because I think it's pretty good. Since you claim the name of Jew and find rest and satisfaction in law and you make your boast of God and you know the supreme will and can testify things that differ, being a man who receives instructions from the law, how God would have you live as a set-apart one. So possessing the law is an important thing, because no other country, no other person, no other nation got what we call the law.

And then, Waymo says, regarding the guide and the light that they had, you have persuaded yourself. As for you, you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a schoolmaster for the dull and the ignorant, a teacher to the young, because in the law you possess an outline of real knowledge and an outline of the truth." Boy, were they favored. Nobody else got that.

And then they said that they were teachers of others, but they didn't teach themselves. As then you teach your fellow man, Do you refuse to teach yourself? You will cry out against stealing, but you yourself is a thief. You will forbid adultery, but do you commit adultery? You will loathe idols. Do you plunder their temples? You who make the boast in the law, do you offend against its commandments? And so you dishonor God.

And so the conclusion is, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentile nations because of you, as Holy Writ declares. I don't think we in our culture put the emphasis on a person's name like they did. The name was everything to do with the man and the woman. Everything had to do with the name. And to blaspheme that name was, I want to say, an awful thing.

So what we're going to do today, we're going to take a look at the right of circumcision. And we're also going to look at the Jew that thought he was in a special case because Abraham was a place to put the Jews confidence in for salvation, 25 through 29. And then, next week, we're going to take a look at, did the Jews have an advantage? Did they have an advantage from God over the rest of humanity? And the answer is going to be, yeah, they did. And then, the last verses, 3, 5 through 8, we'll talk about the condemnation of the Jews and why.

So Chester McCauley said men are really kind of in two categories, all men. One is based on their conduct. Men do not sin the same sin. One man can be an adulterer, but the guy standing next to him isn't. But he's still a sinner because he's a thief or whatever. And two is, as to light, all men do not have the same light. And that's true, they don't have the same light. But men, when you look at them identically, all men suppress and depress the light that they have.

As we look at the religious man, the Jew, he relies on the law. The law teaches one that there is one true God. That's what the law, the first thing it teaches. And then if there is a one true God, then man knows that this one true God has a will. And he recognizes that if God, there is a one true God and He does have a will, then He has a way that He wants things to be done. So from his will, the man develops a moral judgment of his will, which is verses 17 and 18. And then man can put to the test God's will as whether it's good and evil. The Jews had the most light. They were the most religious people on the planet. The Jew believed he was exempt from God's wrath.

You know why? Because he didn't believe way back in chapter 1 of Romans verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. He thought he was exempt from that because he was so favored. So Why did the Jew believe that he was exempt? Why did the Jew believe that he was exempt from the wrath of God? He thought he was exempt because he did have the law. The things that make one a Jew is they have the law, but if you disobey the law, then you're not really a Jew, which is what we're going to find out. He thought he was exempt because he was circumcised.

Some men today believe that they are exempt because they were baptized or they're a member of a certain church. They believe, well, I'm exempt from this condemnation because I've got these symbols in place. The Jews also believe that they were exempt because Abraham was their father.

So if you take a look at John 8, 33, when the Lord Jesus was pressing the Jews about their conduct, they answered and said, we are Abraham's descendant, and we have never yet been a slave to anyone, as they are now enslaved to the Romans. How is it that you say we will become free? You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

So if you take it, you know, we see these terms for the Jewish people. You see the term Hebrew, you see the term Jew, and you see the term Israelite. And they all mean something a little bit different. A Jew means A Hebrew means that they knew the Hebrew language, and so they were referred to as a Hebrew. A Jew means nationality. Their nationality was Jewish, Acts 21-39. The really cool term, though, is the term Israelite, which means they were divinely chosen.

Paul goes, maybe put it this way, you put all these moral guys, make them a mob. And out of that mob, he picks Abraham. And from Abraham, he creates the nation of Israel because he named, there's Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and he changed Jacob's name to Israel. special, called ones. So you can say the Jews were the ultimate example of a moralist called out of the crowd.

But what's interesting is that God called the Jews in grace, and He called them to be representatives of Him to all men. If you think about it, you start with the Jewish nation in in Egypt, and from the time that God sent Moses in there, all the way to Mount Sinai, all they had to do was walk.

He took care of everything else. Little things, like they didn't get sick, their clothes didn't wear out, their shoes didn't wear out. I mean, He fed them, He took care of them, living under grace. They didn't view it that way. But sometimes when you look at Exodus, you see God's grace sort of sneaking in there.

Exodus 22, 31 says, you shall be holy men to me. You will be set apart to me. Therefore, you shall not. And then he starts to say, if you're set apart to me, then here's what that man looks like. Exodus 23-25, there shall be no one miscarrying or bearing in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. What is he saying? I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you as a nation. In Exodus 24, he says, Now Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and remain there and I'll give you the stone tablets and the law and the commandments which I have written for their instruction.

Now, all of us understand that as believers, we depend on the Bible to teach us what it is to be a member of the body of Christ. We're instructed about that. We learn what our position is. We learn what grace is. We learn our identification. We learn all that we have to do as our identity from God's perspective. in the Word of God.

The Jews had the same thing in the Old Testament. Exodus 31, 12, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, You shall surely observe my Sabbath, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations.

You may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who sets you apart. And you get to observe this thing called the Sabbath. It's the day that I rested, so I want you to rest. Therefore, you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. It's something special for you.

A footnote that Newell's on this subject said, of course, the Sabbath was not part of this work in man's heart, which we went through in Romans chapter one. For although God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, it was because he rested from his own work on that day. And it was into this rest that men failed to enter. They failed. For God first revealed the Sabbath to man when he gave it to Israel by means of the manna and explained it at Sinai. It was God's special token of a covenant between himself and Israel. He had no covenant with no other nation ever. So, they're special. But above all, directly addresses the law. Is there above verses they directly address the law. In the verse Paul says this, he shows that the Jew rested in the law rather than the Sabbath.

He shows that he was proud, the Jew was proud that the will of the true God had been revealed I mean, I feel like, don't you, that the study of the New Testament, God is revealing to us all that He wants us to know about who He is and what He's done and what incredible grace we live under. And He knew that will and was therefore able to approve the things that were excellent. He developed a confidence, here's the difference, in Himself as a guide. A light, a correction of the foolish, a teacher because the law, he had the form and knowledge of the truth.

So many today Christians have that mindset that we got it and you don't have it. And we're proud about it. But we don't apply it to ourselves. They didn't apply it to themselves. His teaching, his practicing, his preaching, His saying, what folks should be, is of whoring idols, his glory in the law. In other words, did they apply any of that to themselves? And the answer is a clear no, they didn't.

So we come to verse 24. Because of that, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, just as this is written. It's interesting to notice that the Gentiles knew about Israel. They knew that they were protected by Jehovah. They didn't have the understanding, but they knew that the Jews were favored. They certainly didn't want to get in a fight with them because they never won. They lost every time except for one. And so the reputation about who the Jews were and who their God was, was widespread.

But because they didn't function like God wanted them to function, they really were in a position where they blasphemed the name of God. So God was blaspheming among the Gentiles because of the selfishness, because of the pride, the covetedness, the general witness of the Jews. Ezekiel 36 says, When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name. And because it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord, Yet they have come out of his land. They also knew, the Gentiles knew, that this was their land, but now they're not in it. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went." So, it's interesting how little the Jews lived up to what God intended for them to be.

Verse 22 says, Therefore say to the house of Israel, lest sayeth the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my holy name, because you are blaspheming my name. which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight." So God's going to take care of it. even though they profane. Now, we went through this maybe a month and a half ago.

Newell lays out seven great principles of God's judgment. The judgment is according to truth, chapter 2, verse 2, according to accumulated guilt, according to works with respect to persons, according to performance and not just knowledge, God's judgment reaches the secrets of your heart. And the last one is what we're going to talk about today, according to reality and not religious profession. So the seventh principle of judgment, that even a divinely revealed religion provides no security to its professor if devoid of reality, whether the Jewish religion at the beginning, dispensation, or even today, Christian religion as it has come to be called. That's a quote from William Newell.

So verse 25 says, for indeed, circumcision is of value if you practice the law. For you are a transgressor of the law. If you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Denny from Newell's Footnotes says the absence of the article before circumcision, it does not say the circumcision, it just uses the term circumcision. that the argument may be extended to everything of the same character as circumcision.

In other words, we can extend it to baptism. Circumcision was the seal of the covenant. You know what a covenant is? Being a realtor, my word for covenant, it's a deal. I'll do this if you do that. And then we'll come to an agreement. I agree to do A, you agree to do B. That's a covenant. So the Jews had made a covenant. God didn't even offer a covenant to anybody else, just them. So a circumcision is the seal of the covenant and as such an assurance given to the circumcised man that he belongs to the race which is the heir of God's promises. God said, I'm going to promise, and circumcision will be the sign. However, if the actual inheriting of the promises has any moral condition, which it does, attached to it, and Paul proceeds to show how it is, then the advantage of circumcision lapses unless it's fulfilled.

So, if I enter into a transaction with one of you and I say, I'm going to do this, And you're going to do that, and I'm going to put $15 in the kitty, and when we're done, you get the $15. If I don't live up to my end of it, or you do live up to your end of it, who gets the $15? I do. Because I lived up to my end. I'm going to give you a sign on the back of your hand. that I promise to do what I say I'm going to do.

That's what circumcision did. But the problem is circumcision is a physical thing. And it demonstrates from a physical standpoint a spiritual arrangement or contract between two people. If you look at the word here for keep the law or practice the law, It means to perform repeatedly and habitually. You know, you didn't get Thursday off. A breaker of the law or is a transgressor or a violator. If you recognize that you're under a law system, then transgression has to do with violating law. If you get stopped for speeding on the way home, you've transgressed the speeding laws. And the word is made or has become is in the perfect tense and with the result that the resulting state is a settled one. It's done. So what does Paul do here? He declares the Jewish circumcision, which was the mark of that nation's separation to God, was good only if one were really separated to God. But that if not, the Jew was really an uncircumcised one, even though he was a Jew.

If you look at Weiss's translation, which I thought was really good here, for indeed circumcision is profitable if you are a practitioner of the law. But if, on the other hand, you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Weymouth says circumcision does indeed not profit if you obey the law. I'm sorry, circumcision does indeed profit if you obey the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, the fact that you have become circumcised counts for nothing. It doesn't count for a thing. So what's interesting about this is that with an outward sign, and we can use baptism, people will say today, well, I was baptized. Do you live a life that goes along with that baptism?

So, verse 26, so if then the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Again, Denny here says if the uncircumcision, which is a person, maintains the just requirements of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be accounted as a circumcision? Because he has really done what circumcision pledged to do. The point is that the inference drawn from the principle laid down in verse 25 is that Paul argues if the uncircumcision, in other words the Gentile, maintains the just requirements of the law, let's just say did, shall not his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? In other words, when it comes time for judgment, will he have met the criteria? Because it is really done what circumcision pledged for the Jews to do. As he has done the circumcision, bound the Jew to do, he will be treated as if he were in the Jewish position. His uncircumcision will be reckoned to him as circumcision. That's what he's saying. So to keep his guard, I've talked about that before.

And the word here regarded is a really interesting word. We could translate it counted. It's that same word that we see in Romans 6, logizimae. Count yourself indeed dead unto sin and alive unto God. You've done, you're an accountant, you've added up the numbers and you've come to the answer and you think it's the right answer. And I've counted, I unloaded the ship, I unloaded 31 boxes and I count, I logizima there are 31 boxes. That means to count, to compute, to calculate, to put to one's account. So this verse says, I put to your account that you really are circumcised because you've lived up to the tenants.

So Newell said an interesting thing here. He said, one is reminded of the Greek philosopher Socrates, highly ethical guy. whose ethics were so exalted that he said that he never did anything in his life which his reason told him was wrong. Knowing totally depraved nature as we do, one is hesitant to accept this statement at its full face value. No kidding. But at least the intent of the pagan heart of this man was one concerning which our present verse speaks, he had the intent." He had the intent.

If you look at Romans 3.30, it says, since indeed God will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Romans 8.4 tells us that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So when you look at Kenneth Weiss' translation of this verse, he says, therefore if the uncircumcision habitually guards righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be computed to his account for circumcision? Then verse 27 says, And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he not judge you who through having the letter of the law and the circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

The word physically means that you were physically circumcised. You could say physically, in our case, baptized. Yeah, I got the water. Dia, which means keeps law or keeps the law. The idea here is it describes a circumcision under which or the accomplishments to which anything is done. In other words, I was circumcised and I kept the law.

The problem is the Jew is a law transgressor. Although the possession of a written revelation of God's will and bears the seal of the covenant circumcision, obliging him to the performance of the law upon his body. So Wiest again says, uncircumcision which by nature is fulfilling the law will judge you who with the advantage of the letter of circumcision are transgressors of the law.

So the Jew has an outward standard which does not vary with his moral condition, like God's law written in a pagan's heart. And what I mean by God's law is that we talked about that in the first verses of chapter 1 where men don't have an excuse because they know God has revealed Himself to them and He requires them to honor Him as God and to be thankful. That's written inside of them. Every man has that. The Jew had an outward pledge that belongs to the people of God.

To encourage him when he is tempted to laziness or despair in both these respects, he has an immense advantage over the Gentile. Yet both are neutralized by this. The Jew is a transgressor. So the Jew was outdone instead and judged by those who, wholly outside the circumcision, feared and walked with God. And these are the two most important verses, I think, in this section.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. So Paul finally declares that a man is not a Jew who is merely one outwardly. In other words, what makes him a Jew? I'm circumcised. He's circumcised. We know in contemporary Christianity there are a lot of outward symbols that are supposed to demonstrate to us that that person is holy. The one that comes to a mind is a white collar worn backwards with a black suit on. That's a holy man. No, it's not. Not really.

Or I wear a vestment, or I wear a thing around my neck, or I dress a certain way, or I have a board ward. those of you who know the board word story, and that God does not regard mere outward circumcision, that only the Jew in God's sight who was a real Jew was an Israelite. Outwardly it means apparent, manifest, evident, known. It refers to that which one can observe on the outside, which means we all observe each other. And if you're a Christian and people know it, they're looking at you for evidence that there is, that you are a Christian.

Donna and I had a conversation this week. She said, well, what's the difference between righteousness, that God declares us righteousness and that James talks about righteousness before men? Well, I'm righteous before God because he put me in Christ and I have his righteousness and that's done. But in James, the righteousness is before men. Can they tell? It's like J. Vernon McGee said, if you got arrested for being a Christian, could they prove their case?

That's what he's talking about. So who is a masculine relative pronoun and refers to the Jew, the ideal Jew here? Then he says that the love of praise from others and religious vanity are Jewish characteristics strongly condemned, strongly commented on by our Lord." Boy, no kidding, he comments on that a lot. So, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter. And this, and his praise, is not from men, but from God."

So, outwardly, or inwardly, in the Spirit, in the letter, it is that behavior of an individual which was in the sphere of man's spirit, his religious God-conscience, inner life. rather than in the realm of an outward, meticulous observation or observance of the law concerning which the apostle is speaking." A quote from Kenneth Weist. It's interesting how this dovetails into what we know and teach here. Inwardly means the inner part of the man's soul life, in spirit, means that it's a behavior of an individual which is in the sphere of a man's spirit. It's what God has given him in new life rather than in the realm of an outward observance.

Denny explains the argument of the foregoing verses assumes that it is stated here and what no one will dispute that what constitutes a Jew in the true sense of the term and gives the name Jew a proper content and dignity is not anything outward or visible, but something inward and spiritual. And the same remark applies to circumcision itself. If you were to read this and look at it just paraphrase it yourself, you would say, not he who is so outwardly as a Jew in the true sense, nor is that which is outward in the flesh the true circumcision, but he who is inwardly a Jew, he's the true Jew, and the heart circumcision in spirit, not in the letter, is the true circumcision. Right here I was thinking that I probably, I don't have to explain to you what physical circumcision is. It's the taking off of the foreskin, which is flesh. So when you were crucified with Christ, what did you get separated from?

The whole entire fleshly person. Atom. We have been separated from Adam. And Adam is the sinful man. He is the one with the sin nature. We have been separated from him. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new. So God gave circumcision as a sign to the Jew that they've been set apart to Him. He gives us His word and teaches us what spiritual baptism is to show us we have been separated everything that's not of Him. Everything. So, to end up, I took some quotes from Miles Stanford. I thought they were really good. Through the centuries, Israel proudly relied upon her own outward fleshly circumcision as her godly pledge.

But there was little or no true inner circumcision. Her heart was far from God. The epitome of this problem is pointed out by the Lord Jesus. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites. For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These ye ought to have done. Paul will guide them away from freshly ritualism of any kind to spiritual reality. Paul said in Philippians 3, beware of the concision.

The concision was a group of men who said you must be circumcised to be a Christian. For we are the circumcision. This is who we are. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That's who we are.

Now, Paul writes to all who are new creations in Christ, you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision not made with hands." In the putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, we died with Him. We died with Him. He separated from all that was sin, and so did we.

The believer's circumcision is not a fleshly ritual, but rather a spiritual reality. Not a part of the flesh cut away, but all. And that not with hands, but by the Spirit through the cross of Christ. It would help us, I think, immensely to recognize that what really happened to us on the cross was that we were separated, used the term circumcised, used the term crucified, totally from all that was Adam.

Such a wonderful fact. just to rest in by faith, just to walk that way. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. And the life I now live in this body, of old fleshly body, how do I walk and live? By the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Let's pray. Dear Father, we thank you for all that you've done. We recognize that that You have completed entirely the process of separating us unto Yourself. And we desire to walk and to live so that we would not dishonor Your name ever, that we would never be considered uncircumcised or uncrucified, that we are now risen in Your Son, the Lord Jesus. And it's in His name we pray. Amen.