DID CIRCUMCISION SAVE?

ROMANS 2:25–29

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised

(Romans 2:25).

Circumcision was the sacred cutting rite that marked a male as a member of the household of Israel, but by New Testament times some rabbis had devised the doctrine that a person would be saved if he was circumcised. We have ideas analogous to this in the church today, one example being the belief held by some that simply being baptized or being a member of a church guarantees salvation.

Automatic salvation

Some Jews believed that circumcision was the passport to heaven. One rabbi wrote, “Circumcision saves from hell.” Another expanded that idea by saying that Abraham sits at the gate of hell and does not allow any circumcised person to go there.

Unlike the Jews, Paul says that circumcision is of value “if.” Circumcision is the sign of your promise to practice the law. But if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision is of no value.

Real righteousness required

Paul returns to his basic point: The only thing that counts on judgment day is real righteousness. All the external signs won’t matter. What matters is whether you are obeying the law or not. To drive his point home, Paul continues, “If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not he regarded as though they were circumcised?” (Romans 2:26). In other words, if those who are Gentiles do the things of the law by nature, God will honor them.

“The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker” (Romans 2:27). Here Paul takes it another step. If the Gentile keeps the law, that will compound the Jew’s guilt, because the Gentile has done more with less light.

CORAM DEO

What Paul says about circumcision applies to baptism and church membership today. Observance of external signs without a corresponding inwardly vital faith will only compound your guilt. Where do you put your trust? If you are unsure, talk with your pastor or a trusted Christian friend.

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