The Covenant Sign of Circumcision Fulfilled in Christ

Rom. 3:1, 2 — What is the value of circumcision? Actually, there are many advantages.

Jer. 4:4 — “Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me.”

Lev. 26:41-42 — “Then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for their iniquity, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham.”

Rom. 15:8 — Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth to confirm the promises made to the fathers.

Col. 2:11, 13 — In him you also were circumcised – not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ... You were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions.

Eph. 4:22-24 — You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.

– Verses from Daily Light on the Daily Path.

Selah.

Salvation is covenantal, no way around it. And either we are still trying to fulfill the covenant with our own works, frantically trying to complete what makes us right with God (saved today, lost tomorrow), or we are entrusting ourselves to the completed work of Christ on our behalf (resting in His assurance). Thankfully, Christ alone has done this work for us – fully, completely, utterly, by himself. As Messiah says, “My own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me” (Isa. 63:5). “He did this once for all when he offered up himself,” and “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him” (Heb. 7:25, 27). Save to the uttermost = “Save in an absolute, perfect, and consummated manner” (Louis H. Evans, Jr., MNT: Hebrews).

The sign in the Old Covenant pointed to a supernatural work of the heart only possible in Christ – by grace, through faith – the New Covenant of His blood, the circumcision performed by Him on us, in Spirit, "not performed by human hands."

Just as the sign of the Old Covenant signified a reality beyond itself, entered by faith and applied by faith by fathers to children, so we must enter the sign of the New Covenant, entrusting fulfillment in Christ, and apply it in faith: the parental "lead of love," in divine authority. It's all by grace, through faith, and it is the greatest task of loving fathers and mothers to lead by grace and in faith, in Word and Spirit.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your work on my behalf, for the fulfilled sign of circumcision in Christ, and for the circumcision not performed by human hands, in Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the grace that saves us, and for the gift of faith to receive this grace. Amen.