What does the Bible say about circumcision? What is the Christian view of circumcision?

Be clear then, dear reader, that the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, plainly teaches that there is no salvation to the one who insists on receiving circumcision. Such a man shows plainly he is trusting to the law to be justified. Only by the grace of our Lord Jesus can any man obtain salvation (Acts 15:11). How then can any man be saved when Christ does him no good whatever, when he is invalidated from Christ, when he has fallen away from grace?

With chapter 4 we closed the portion of our epistle that speaks of the DOCTRINE of law and grace; and with the 5th chapter we begin to see the practical results of each. In the twelve verses now before us we will see how terrible are these results of law. Words could hardly be stronger than in the next few verses. Paul does not say that the Galatians had received circumcision, but he knew well that the Jewish teachers were trying to compel them to receive it. In Acts 15:1 we read: "Certain persons, having come down from Judea, taught the brethren, If ye shall not have been circumcised according to the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved." These teachers were now saying these same words to the Galatians. The one said, "If you shall not have been circumcised, you cannot be saved." Paul replies by the Holy Spirit, "If you should be circumcised, Christ shall do you no good whatever." we must clearly understand that "circumcision" was the mark which separates those who trusted in the law from all other people. This was the outward sign that a man was trusting to law. In 1 Corinthians 7:18 we read: "Is any man called in uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised." No man can trust to Christ and to circumcision, or the law at the same time. He who trusts to Christ does not, and cannot, trust to law. He who trusts to law does not trust to Christ. So Christ does no good to any man who trusts law. The cross of Christ is useless to such a man. The death of Christ is not for this man. In life or in death, in the present time or in eternity, Christ does this man no good. Some people say, "I try and keep the law, and trust to it; and where I fail I trust to Christ!" No, this is not possible. You must choose either Christ or the law. You cannot have part of each. Paul makes his words still stronger by saying first: "See, look, consider! I Paul, I the apostle of the Gentiles, I Paul, with the authority that Christ has given to me, I Paul, for whom you would once have dug out your eyes; it is I who say this to you: If you should be circumcised Christ shall do you no good whatever."

In conclusion, turning to Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, we learn of the attempts made by false teachers to put the Gentile believers under the law, saying that they should be circumcised. We are all aware of the vehemence of the apostle in dealing with the matter. “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law” (Gal. 5:2-3). The rite of circumcision had become tied-up with the law of Moses and the Galatians were in serious danger of becoming entangled in a yoke of bondage. They had started well but were being hindered. The law would only rob them of their liberty and draw their attention away from the source of their freedom, the Son of God, who loved them and had given Himself for them. Twice in Galatians and once in 1 Corinthians a very similar expression is used by the apostle. I quote from Galatians 5:6: “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love”. How vital this is. The two other references are in Galatians 6:15 and 1 Corinthians 7:19.

Further, all who had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins had received the gift of the Holy Ghost (Eph.1:13), and so were Christ's (Rom.8:9), which is the same as being in Christ (Gal.3:28,29). They were also members of His body (1 Cor.12:13). Full Christian blessing, therefore, was theirs already. Abraham's seed they were also as in Christ. What then could circumcision do for them? What could these teachers minister of Christian blessing which was not theirs already? Nothing. But what harm could they do? Much indeed. For any who imbibed such teaching, and kept to it, would fall from grace. No wonder then that Paul earnestly withstood it. It was really, as we learn, subversive of Christianity. In Christ all true believers really were. Now in Him "neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love" (Gal.5:6). And again he states (Gal.6:15) that "neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature [or, creation]." Differing as light from darkness, or as day from night, was the true Christian teaching upheld by Paul from that Judaising teaching sought to be introduced by these unauthorised missionaries. Then too the effect of such doctrine was withering to the spirit. Biting and devouring one another would be displayed, and the observance of days, of months, of times, and of years would be introduced. Writing as to this last, Paul tells the Galatians, who were adopting it, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain" (6:11).

But there is another point of view, which it is especially the Apostle Paul's to bring out, that Christ has wrought a work by virtue of which even those who were under the law are completely brought outside its domain; and those not previously under it, i.e., the Gentiles, are proved to sin against their own mercies, if in any way they pass under its yoke. To this the Apostle Paul has come in our epistle: "Stand fast," he says, "in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Bear in mind this, too, that, among the Galatians, the character of the bondage was not so much what is called the moral law as the ceremonial. I am aware that many would think the latter much more serious than the former. But, on the contrary, the Christian's subjection to the moral law argues a far deeper departure from the truth than if it were the ceremonial; because the ceremonial law, every Christian must feel, derives its whole meaning and value from being a type of Christ. Not so the ten words, which are not a type of Christ, but the direct demand upon the strength and righteousness of men, if he have any. And, therefore, one can understand a Christian's getting entangled with types and shadows. A reasoning mind might say, Is it possible to believe that circumcision, on which God insisted so much with Israel, is to be given up now? If there were no value in it ever, why was it enjoined on Abraham's seed? And if it were so significant and obligatory then, why not now? Besides, does not Christ teach that it was not of Moses, but of the fathers?

All this might furnish a plausible platform for human feeling and argument; but the apostle was led of the Holy Ghost to deal with the question of introducing the thinnest wedge of the law. Take circumcision, the type of having our nature mortified: every believer has this verified in the death of Christ. But believers might have said, There ought to be the outward acknowledgment of it too: why not retain the rite which connects us with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! We are feeble and forgetful; why should we not keep up that which "the elders" prized so deeply, while we also enjoy the blessing that is new? But the apostle deals with it decisively in this epistle. Whatever the use to which God applied circumcision before Christ, it vanishes now. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing" — that is, if you should be circumcised after this: it was not a question of those who had already been. But if they, as Christians, sought it, "Christ shall profit you nothing." He does not mean that, supposing any one had made the gross mistake of being circumcised, this could not be forgiven; but that, if they now passed through that ordinance as necessary to their complete justification, His efficacy was for them made void. Thus, not only is Christ a complete Saviour, but He is an exclusive one. The attempt to add to Christ is in fact to destroy salvation by Christ.

This principle is very important; because you will find it is constantly the resource of ignorance to say, Well, we all hold the same thing to a certain degree; the only difference is, that I believe something more than you do. Yes, but that "something more" is to extinguish faith, and annul the worth of Christ. Bring in anything, no matter what, necessary to be done by you — necessary as a means of "being justified in the sight of God," and I say unto you, warns the apostle, "Christ shall profit you nothing." Nay, look at circumcision, which God once instituted with peculiar solemnity, threatening with death him who did not submit to it; and now see how that same God, having given Christ, puts a stop to it all. It had done its office; and now to bring it in again would be to obscure, dishonour, and even destroy the work of Christ. God had shown by it, in a figure, that the old man was to be treated as a vile and dead thing. But Christ is come; and there is not now a mere disciplinary process on the old man, but a "new creature;" and the idea of mixing up something done to the old, along with the new, as a means of justification, is most offensive to the Spirit of God. "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing; for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law." You may distinguish between the ceremonial part, that had such a blessed meaning, and the moral part, by which, you allow, man cannot be justified; but you know not what you do. You cannot separate circumcision from the law. God has embodied that rite so formally in the whole structure of the law, that though it had existed before, it became an integral part since, and henceforth amalgamates so intimately that you cannot separate the rite from the entire system. If you acknowledge any portion of the ritual as that under which you are, you are responsible for the universal legal system; you are debtor to all its demands. And I would call your attention solemnly to this — "a debtor to do the whole law."

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Paul even avails himself of his personal apostolic authority, and that towards the nations, which was strengthened by the work he had wrought among the Galatians. They had, in fact, received the gospel from his mouth, and had received it with joy. "I, Paul," he says, "I say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." They would have put themselves upon another ground, that of human righteousness by works, not of divine righteousness through faith in Christ. They could not be justified in two ways at once. If they were circumcised, they were bound to keep the law. The thing is very simple: if a man puts himself under the law, he is bound to keep it. If righteousness and acceptance with God are through the law, it must be kept in every point. They were fallen from grace.

In Acts 15:1 we read of "certain men which came down from Judea" to Antioch, and taught the brethren, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." Actually these men, by demanding circumcision, were seeking to put the disciples under the Law of Moses, and were, as Peter said, putting "a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." (Acts 15:10). And Paul wrote: "I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." (Gal. 5:2). This was a desperately important matter: important for us as well as for them: and the Church in Antioch decided to send Paul and Barnabas, with some others, to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. At that time the apostles and elders in Jerusalem plainly stated that the Gentile disciples were not to be put under the Law of Moses, and were not to be circumcised: that "yoke" was not to be put upon their necks.

Another crucial situation now faced the newly established church of God. God had wrought at Antioch to bring many Gentiles to the Lord Jesus and Paul had been a great help to them. There then came some Jewish men from Judea who taught the Gentile disciples that they must be circumcised as Jews were in order to be saved. Paul and others with him therefore went up to Jerusalem to face this most serious issue. There they came together with other apostles and elders and also found some who declared that Gentile converts must be circumcised and commanded to keep the law of Moses (v. 5).

Elsewhere Paul speaks of certain of these men as “false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage” (Gal. 2:4). Paul required a clear pronouncement from the apostles and elders of Jerusalem to settle this matter. The Lord answered clearly by the ministry of Peter, then of Barnabas and Paul, and finally by the pronouncement of James, that God had Himself settled the matter that the Gentiles should not be brought under such bondage. They should not be asked to be circumcised nor told to keep the law, but only reminded to “abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication” (v. 29). Thus the grace of God was left in all its pure reality and blessing. When the Gentile believers heard this they rejoiced over its encouragement.

The question of circumcision is raised again. The Jew boasted in circumcision as placing him into a position of favor and blessing before God. Is this blessedness, justification by faith, sins put away, righteousness imputed, for the circumcision, the Jews, only, or does it come also upon the uncircumcision, the Gentiles? When Abraham was declared righteous he was still in uncircumcision. The historical account in Genesis shows that circumcision followed the declaration "he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness;" circumcision did not precede his faith which was reckoned to him for righteousness. He was in uncircumcision, practically a Gentile, and circumcision was a sign and seal of the righteousness of faith. All this manifests the wisdom of God. It was divinely arranged so that Abraham "might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised (Gentiles) that righteousness might be imputed unto them also; and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had being uncircumcised." Here we have the best possible argument that ordinances, or sacraments so called by man, have no part in bestowing salvation upon man. Baptism is called "a sacrament" and ritualistic Christians hold that it is necessary to receive the blessing of forgiveness. Others who do not hold to corrupt ritualism, also teach that Baptism as an ordinance is necessary for salvation. This portion of the Epistle answers completely these unscriptural claims. "For by Grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This took place before his circumcision. "How was it, then, reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, being yet uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also" (Romans 4: 10-13). Thus, righteousness is apart from the law and circumcision has nothing whatever to do with salvation; neither has baptism or any other ordinance. These Judaizing teachers and perverters of the gospel probably told the Galatians about being linked with Abraham and the privilege of being the children of Abraham. Paul writes them that, as believers, they are without the works of the law and circumcision, the children of Abraham. "Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." And the Scriptures, the Word of God, had anticipated this. The Word of God foresaw that, ultimately, in God's gracious purpose, the Gentiles were to be justified by faith. The Word of God had, so to speak, preached the gospel unto Abraham, the very gospel Paul was heralding among the Gentiles. This gospel-message, preached by the Scriptures, is the announcement, "In thee shall all nations be blessed." The logical conclusion, therefore, is "they which be of faith are blessed with believing Abraham."