MULTIPLE KINDS OF CIRCUMCISION
STUDY TIP: Circumcision is a ritual commonly associated with Judaism. It has application for Christians, however, because God uses it in the Bible as a universal example to represent his attitudes about all kinds of rituals and traditions. When reading the word “circumcision” therefore, it is appropriate to apply whatever God says about circumcision to all other religious concepts (e,g, baptism, communion, Easter, Christmas, Shabbat, Pentecost, etc.).
Most readers will be surprised to learn that there are actually four kinds of circumcision mentioned in the Bible: Flesh of foreskin, ears, lips and heart. We are well acquainted with circumcision of the flesh and understand its meaning, but circumcision of the ear, heart and lips is confusing because we cannot imagine how it is done in the natural sense.
That we have this difficulty is a clue that Biblical circumcision is not about a natural act accomplished on a natural human body. If it were only about physical circumcision, it would not apply to females. Rather, it is a spiritual act for both males and females. It is a good example of the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle.
When we stop to think about it, we can begin to understand that neither circumcision nor any other natural act (i.e. act of the flesh/body) can satisfy God’s commands. If it was possible for physical acts to satisfy God’s spiritual commands, anyone could gain salvation by being physically circumcised. This cannot be so because God only looks at the heart of man — not at the external person.
Jews find the justification for their longstanding history with circumcision of male Jewish infants in the literal words of the Bible.
STUDY TIP: See this link and this link for Jewish reasoning about circumcision.
Interpreting circumcision as a literal event is too easy and simple. Literal interpretation cannot be applied in a way that contributes to teaching, reproof, correction, or training in righteousness because it applies to men only. Furthermore, circumcision is practiced by many religions — not just Judaism. Therefore, to make physical circumcision a religious requirement violates God’s commands that his people should not adopt the religious customs of other nations. So there must be a way to interpret scripture about circumcision as a spiritual — not physical — event.
The short answer to the question is that circumcision is about change of heart. Cutting away the foreskin is a symbolic term for a spiritual event in which God transforms an evil, impure heart into a clean, pure heart. This change is symbolically called circumcision of lips, ears and hearts. These are all spiritual activities accomplished by God — not human hands.
Restating this, it can be said that circumcision is a matter of salvation. People with evil, impure hearts cannot hear God’s spoken voice are spiritually dead because they cannot hear. People with clean, pure hearts are spiritually alive because they can hear God’s spoken voice.
STUDY TIP: See God’s Written Word and God’s Spoken Voice Part 1. Also see Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Forgiveness, Heaven and Hell.
Exactly why God uses the symbolism of circumcision of the male sexual organ to represent a change of heart is not perfectly clear. A reasonable guess, however, that he sees communication (he speaks, and his people hear his spoken voice) as an act of deep intimacy which, in the natural world, is typically represented as human sexuality.
Regardless of why God uses circumcision of the male sexual organ to represent change of heart, circumcision is clearly prescribed in the literal words of the Bible as a condition for being in a right covenant relationship with God. That is why obedience to the command to be circumcised is one of Judaism’s 613 commandments. Most Christians do not subscribe to such legalism, but they have their own list of religious rules (e.g. baptism, communion, etc.) which they say must be followed in order to be in a right relationship with God.
What neither Jews nor Christians understand, however, is that God wants obedience to his spiritual laws — not religious laws. Religious laws are false doctrines because they provides that salvation depends on something that man does — not on what God does. The same criticism applies to all other traditions that depend on man doing something physical to cause a spiritual result. That is what religion believes and practices but it is not how God works: God is the one who circumcises the heart. The spiritual principle is found in this scripture:
Zechariah 4:6: Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.
COMMENTARY: Circumcision of the flesh is accomplished by human effort. Circumcision of the heart can be accomplished only by the spirit of God.
In discussing circumcision we must be careful to remember that circumcision was practiced in ancient pagan religions and is still practiced in some contemporary religions as we see in these links: History of male circumcision; Religious male circumcision. This is a clue that literal circumcision is not something that God commands because doing so would violate his commands not to follow the customs of other religions.
STUDY TIP: See these scriptures for understanding of how God see circumcision.