When the patriarch Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God made a contract, a covenant with him. These are the terms of the covenant. Genesis 17:6-8 “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” The sign of the covenant was circumcision. Genesis 17:9-14 “And God said to Abraham: ‘As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.’” Abraham, then later the nation of Israel, and even later those people called the Jews were considered the people of God because the men had been physically circumcised. Jesus and all of his apostles were circumcised as Jews.
Today, many baby boys are circumcised, not to make them Jews, but because some consider it more healthy for the boys to be circumcised. Should a man today become circumcised? Galatians 5:1-3 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.” If a man is circumcised, thinking that will make him one of God’s people, that man is obligated to keep the whole Law of Moses. I don’t think anyone wants to have to do that. 1 Corinthians 7:18-19 “Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.” Physical circumcision is not important; what is important is keeping the commandments of God.
Before, when a man was physically circumcised, that made him a Jew, one of God’s people. When you became a Christian, you also were circumcised, but it was not a physical circumcision but a spiritual circumcision. Romans 2:28-29 “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.” Colossians 2:11 “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” Your circumcision should have been a circumcision of the heart in putting off the sins of the flesh.
Whether or not one is physically circumcised is not important. Galatians 6:15 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” What is important is the fact that you were born again and are a new creation and that your faith is now working through love.
I encourage you to see yourself as spiritually circumcised. Sin has been cut away from your heart and you now worship God in Spirit and in truth. Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”