Jews: Behold Your God

Chapter 21

Is Circumcision Required for Salvation?

[Note: United Church of God publishes a booklet titled "The New Covenant: Does It Abolish God's Law?" that addresses this issue in detail. It is available free of cost at its web site: www.ucg.org.]

Is circumcision required for salvation?

This question came up before the apostles. Acts 15:1 records, “1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Here certain men from Judea were telling Gentile Christians in Antioch and other cities that they needed to be circumcised in order to receive salvation. This problem was threatening unity in the churches. The apostles then held a conference in Jerusalem to address this issue. After much disputing they all reached a decision that they agreed on and wrote a letter to the Gentile congregations stating their decision:

Acts 15:23-24, “23….The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, You must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment…”Thus the apostles decided that circumcision was no longer required for salvation.

We have proved that both the Jewish scriptures and the New Testament scriptures are the inspired word of God. Therefore the decision of the apostles, who were mostly all Jews, should be accepted. But Paul’s writings do provide justification for their decision.

Moses had mentioned in Deuteronomy 30:6 (NKJV) that in order to live (eternally) circumcision of the heart was required: “6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Paul confirmed the same in Romans 2:28-29, “28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”

Thus Moses and Paul agree that to live eternally (or receive salvation) true Jews and true Christians are to be circumcised in the heart through the holy spirit. Only circumcision of the heart will enable them to love God with all their heart and soul.

Then in Galatians 6:15 Paul further stated, “15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

Paul is explaining here that the New Covenant is not about physical circumcision but circumcision of the heart and becoming a “new creation” in Jesus Christ. We become a new creation by receiving the free gift of God’s holy spirit and God writing His law in our hearts and minds and through the power of the holy spirit enabling us to keep it.

No works of any kind could earn for us the forgiveness of sins or the gift of the holy spirit to become a new creation. Peter the apostle explained in Acts 2:38 (NKJV) how we obtain the free gift of God’s holy spirit: "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'”

As already discussed in the last chapter, these aspects of the law that do not define sin are no longer required. The author of the book of Hebrews, most likely Paul the apostle has explained it thoroughly. But when Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians due to the crisis created by Jewish converts the epistle to the Hebrews had not been written.

UCG booklet “The New Covenant: Does it Abolish God’s Law?” addresses the main causes of the controversy on p. 64:

“The gentile Christians in the province of Galatia were being enticed to accept circumcision so that fellowship barriers between them and the Jews would be dropped. Jews limited their interaction with gentiles to mostly business activities. Eating together at the same table was banned. Even Peter at first hesitated to go against this taboo (Acts 10:25-29).

“Whoever was enticing the Galatians argued that circumcision is essential to be fully accepted among God's people (the Jews). Circumcision would have opened the fellowship door for gentiles to the entire Jewish community. It also would have removed much of the tension between the Christians and the nonbelieving Jews.

“But trying to resolve that issue with circumcision threatened to create a much greater identity issue. Physical circumcision only identified the Jews as natural descendants of Abraham. God was offering Jews and gentiles alike both justification and salvation as His children through Jesus Christ, not through fleshly circumcision. Protecting their properly perceived identity as the justified children of God was what was at stake.

“Therefore, the purpose of Paul's letter to the Galatians was to make it clear that becoming adopted descendants of Judah (the great-grandson of Abraham from whom the term Jew is derived) through circumcision offered the gentiles nothing in regard to salvation. Even circumcised Jews had to be justified through the blood of Christ and afterward live a Spirit-led life.

“Nevertheless, many of the Christian gentiles in Galatia were impressed (or intimidated) by the circumcision argument. They saw it as a reasonable way to change their ambiguous social identity as neither idolaters nor Jews.

“God inspired Paul to see the whole picture very differently. What the Galatian gentiles were being enticed to accept would have changed their entire perception of how important Christ's sacrifice was to them. It would have clouded their understanding that justification is by the grace of God through faith in Christ's shed blood and the faithful obedience that comes through Christ's indwelling by the Holy Spirit.

“Paul perceived that this change would have tacitly presented circumcision and diligent obedience to the law as the way to obtain eternal life. It threatened to undercut their faith in Christ as their Savior and Redeemer. It could have obscured the fact that by justification through faith they had already obtained a better identity as the children of God and heirs to the promise made directly to Abraham than they could ever obtain through physical circumcision.

“His point was, they did not need to be adopted as Jews to become "sons of God" (Galatians 3:26) and receive eternal life.”

The heart of the matter is that the Law defines sin and prescribes the death penalty for any violation of it. Since all have sinned, all of us have earned the death penalty. The Law cannot forgive sin. Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ makes forgiveness of sin possible. Once we have earned the death penalty, no amount of further Law keeping of any kind can forgive sin and cancel the death penalty. No circumcision, animal sacrifices or ceremonial rituals can cancel the death penalty. So what is the point in being circumcised or offering animal sacrifices? The Law cannot give us the free gift of the Holy Spirit without which we are not Christ’s meaning we cannot become members of His Church (Romans 8:9, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”) If we are not Christ’s then our sins cannot be forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ without which we cannot receive the free gift of eternal life and entrance into God’s kingdom.

Paul thus went to the heart of the matter with the Galatians: "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh [i.e., circumcision]?" (Galatians 3:1-2, NRSV).

Accepting the need for physical circumcision, animal sacrifices or any other ceremonial works of the law, would have been a denial of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for justification (which is becoming right with God). It would have substituted physical "works of law" for His sacrifice and help.

UCG booklet states on p. 70: “Paul's conclusion is based on these essential truths:

“Once the death penalty is incurred, law cannot release those who are guilty from that penalty. Therefore, Jesus Christ bore the death penalty for our transgressions at His crucifixion.

“Once we acknowledge through repentance that we have sinned, if we have faith in Christ's death as lawful payment for the death penalty we deserve and commit to now obeying Him with His help, then God reckons us as having "died to the Law"—and, therefore, reconciled to Him.

“For us to be reckoned dead to the law, the law must still be in force. Justification would be meaningless if no law existed to be transgressed.

“Only by having our death penalty forgiven may we become "children of God" and "joint heirs with Christ" of the eternal promise made to Abraham (Romans 8:16-17). Circumcision was merely the physical sign that identified the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh. Though it had symbolic value for the people of Israel, it provides nothing for justification and is of no use in the cancellation of guilt.

“Therefore, the attraction that some of the Galatians had for the offer of circumcision to solve their relationship problem with the Jewish community—primarily not to "suffer persecution for the cross of Christ" (Galatians 6:12)—was about to threaten their relationship with God.

“It was misleading them concerning what is really important to being accepted as His holy people. That acceptance cannot be earned by any "works of the law"—and certainly not by circumcision.”

The conclusion we can draw is that circumcision is not required for salvation.

Jews are likely to have more questions concerning the Law. The author suggests that they read the UCG booklet “The New Covenant: Does it Abolish the Law?” which is likely to answer most of them. It is available free of cost at www.ucg.org.

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