Circumcision – Me From the Inside Out

Inspired by the LGG study, “Christ is All I Need” / Week 3 Day 5

Road Map for Today’s Journey: Colossians 2:11-15 (SOAP: 11-12)

In him you also were circumcised ~ not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hand, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.
Colossians 2:11 NET

I imagine all, if not most of us, are familiar with circumcision as a medical procedure performed on baby boys just days after they are born. However, in Paul’s day, particularly in the Jewish community, circumcision was recognized (known to be) an identifying mark of God’s people. The circumcision that Paul writes about in today’s portion of his letter is not referring to the medical procedure but rather to the spiritual procedure of Christ cutting away our sinful nature. When we come to Jesus in faith for salvation, He spiritually cuts away our sinful nature; thus Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone; the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17)

Faith in Christ changes us from the inside out.

When we came to Christ, we were circumcised, not physically but spiritually, as Christ cut away our sinful nature. Bibleref.com explains it like this: “~what circumcision does, physically, faith in Christ does, spiritually. In other words, what matters this side of the cross (emphasis added) is knowing Christ, not physical circumcision.” As Paul will confirm later in our journey through Colossians, “In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” (Colossians 3:11)

Friends, as Gentiles, we had two strikes against us from the start. We were sinners having no rightful connection to God, and we were ‘uncircumcised’ (meaning we were not identified as belonging to God). Yet by His grace and mercy, God stepped in and rescued us ~ making a way where there was no way ~ bridging the chasm between God and us by the blood of His Son and giving us His identity by making us “new creations in Christ”. Now our sins no longer keep us from God; instead, through faith in Christ, we are offered a living, active relationship with God¹ [Father, Son, Spirit]. We are, as Paul wrote, buried [dying to the old self] with Him in baptism and raised [given new life] with/in Him through our faith…” The old has gone, the new has come! Our sins have not only been forgiven, but He completely canceled the record of the charges against us by nailing it to the cross. “Disarming,” as Paul writes, “the spiritual rulers and authorities” through His glorious VICTORY on the cross! May we never forget or take for granted that it is a victory we share in through Faith in Jesus Christ!

Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead.
Colossians 2:12 NET

Response of Worship

Response of Prayer

Father, thank You for the victory that is ours through Faith, by grace. We are most blessed and forever grateful to be new creations in Christ Jesus…welcomed into a relationship with You…no longer separated from You by our sins! Glory Hal-le-lu-jah! Thank You, Jesus!

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you … (James 4:8) ↩︎

based on the LGG Study, Secure in Christ, w2d3

Read: Ephesians 2:11-13; SOAP 2:13

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands— ¹²that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:11-13 NET (KJV Version)

I love the way Paul writes about this subject to the believers in Colossae, in Colossains chapter 3. Paul reminds believers that they have put off their old nature and should now put on the new nature, get to know God, and become like Him. He goes on to tell them that “In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” Here in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul paints another ‘before-and-after’ picture. Summing the old nature up in verse 12, Paul reminds them that at one time they (the Gentiles, those who were not Jews) were without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel (the Jews) and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That is definitely a very bleak before picture. Yet, Paul doesn’t stop there. Instead, he continues with these words of great hope in a portrait of the “after”: “But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Is there any better news for those of us who were ‘far off’, having no hope and without God in the world, than to learn that by the blood of Jesus Christ we have been brought near to God?

Thank You God for Jesus’ blood, the hope of the world! Thank You for the reminders in Your Word that we were once without hope at all, and no claim to Your covenants of promise. Death and destruction were our ‘fate’! “But now in Christ Jesus,” by Your gift of grace through faith, we have the joy of being “brought near by the blood” of our Savior, Your only begotten Son. – We are a people most blessed! – Amen

The More We Know

It should be noted that Paul is pointing out that the circumcision of old was performed by human hands, while the circumcision of the heart is by the blood of Jesus Christ. Read the following link by Gotquestions.org for more on the important difference …

Set Apart to God –

Tag: Circumcision

Faith Is the Victory

Response of Worship

Response of Prayer

From Having No Hope to Being Brought Near

The More We Know