Circumcision . . . not exactly a word used a lot today . . . not really a procedure talked about at social gatherings . . . but, in the economy of God, it’s kind of a big deal . . . even today. Paul brings it up this morning, as I continue in Romans, as he calls out those who claim to be God’s chosen people but whose lives don’t bear it out . . . “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom. 2:13). It’s not heritage . . . it’s not who was given the law . . . it’s not who has the physical sign of covenant relationship . . . it’s not a matter of anything done in the flesh . . . instead, it’s a matter of the heart.

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (Romans 2:28-29 ESV)

“Cutting around” . . . that’s the literal meaning of the word . . . and it was commanded of God to Abraham and established as a national ordinance for his descendants. It was the sign of covenant (Gen. 17:10-11) . . . it symbolized consecration . . . it was the mark of those chosen . . . it was an outward sign that was private. And, it had become a matter of boasting for the Jew . . . it had become the “proof” by which they claimed sole possession of being God’s people . . . regardless of the degree to which they sought (or didn’t) to live like God’s people.

And so, Paul calls them out . . . “circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision” (2:25). God delights in obedience over sacrifice (1Sam 15:22) . . . He seeks walk over talk . . . He desires righteousness above ritual. The issue was not about what they had cut away or given up, but what they had embraced and were determined to pursue. And this pursuit could not be sourced in the external and physical, but was internal and of the heart.

A matter of the heart, not the flesh . . . a work of the Spirit, not the letter of the law . . . performed by God, not by men . . . that, says Paul, is the true mark of the people of God. “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.” (Col. 2:11-12).

Oh, to know the reality of a circumcised heart . . . the things of the flesh cut away . . . the seal of the covenant embedded on my inner man . . . the essence of consecration wired into my DNA . . . the reality of “the procedure” evident through the life that is led. Oh, to submit to God’s on-going work of cementing such a mark upon my heart . . . recognizing that some things may have to go . . . understanding that it can sometimes be painful . . . believing and knowing that, always, it will be worth it all . . . as a friend says, “For my goodness, and for His glory.”

It’s a matter of the heart . . .