Thoughts on Christian Living Book #2 by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

NEW TESTAMENT CIRCUMCISION

The question has been asked, “Is circumcision a practice to be employed in the New Testament age of grace?” The answer is an emphatic, “Yes!” Of course, the answer demands explanation. So, think about this.

From pre-law days all the way back to Abraham, God required the physical circumcision of males as a sign of covenant relationship. The circular cutting away of loose flesh from the male genital organ symbolized their spiritual separation to God personally, and it is meaningful that the cut was exercised on the member of procreation. They were to see to it that their offspring were separated unto the Lord through intensive instruction from their earliest days. The importance of this rite being perpetuated is underscored by the Lord seeking to kill Moses as he returned to Egypt because he had not circumcised his own sons. Exodus 4:24-26. The lesson is loud and clear: obey the instructions of the Lord or you may lose your life on earth.

Now to extrapolate the idea into the church age of grace, what is there to the idea of New Testament circumcision? Remember, circumcision is a cutting away of flesh. It specifically symbolizes the flesh nature of natural man. Paul put it this way to the Romans, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Romans 2:28-29. He told the church at Corinth,

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. I Cor. 7:19. Therefore, New Testament circumcision is not physically mutilating the body, but a death keel to the flesh nature through commitment to discipleship in Christ. The church at Colossae was told, “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” Col. 2:11.

Thus in being born from above, one is to be obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God to follow Him in baptism.

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