Circumcised heart

DEVOTION

ROMANS

CIRCUMCISED HEART

Rom 2:25-29

25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 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. 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

Here is the heart of all this which Paul has been getting to with all his preceding discussions. What good is it to appear religious if in reality we are not? The idea of being circumcised for the Jew was all about saying we belong to God, we are religious, and we value the Law. Yet Paul is making the point there is no reason to value the Law unless you value it for what it was intended, to lead you to Jesus Christ. But the Jews were saying they value it because God gave it to them and therefor they are going to live by it, but they could not which Paul makes it clear to them. If they break the law, which all men do, no one perfectly keeps the law, then physical circumcision has no value at all. However, what is also clear is that God is making it crystal clear through Paul that what really matters is that our heart has been circumcised by the Spirit. Those who have had the Spirit circumcise their heart are the real Jews, the real people of God, the real chosen people of God. When Paul makes that statement latter about all of Israel being saved this could be what is meant. Although, we will see when we get there, he is still taking about the physical Israel, the nation of Israel, the people who make up the Israelites by birth are being grafted back into the tree. However, that is if they come to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, which is the whole reason this letter to the saints in Rome was written, to show them Jesus Christ is the Messiah, he is divine and part of the Godhead. Yet we are still given this qualifier as to who is Israel. It appears it is not about birthright, but about circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. There is a division spoken about between the Jew and the Gentile. That is by the natural birth process. However, in order for a person to see the Kingdom of God, they must be born again. Jesus told that to Nicodemus. Therefor a rebirth, the old person born in the physical sense must die and a new person reborn in a spiritual sense now lives. This new person now lives with a circumcised heart and is then true Israel. What good does it do for us to act spiritual if our heart is not circumcised? Then we get praise from men, but not from God. When we think about physical circumcision in a male, it is the removal of a covering over the most sensitive physical portion of the male body. This is the sense in which we must see the circumcision of the heart. It is the removal of the covering of sin from the most spiritually sensitive part of the body. God removes the darkness that hides our heart. He cuts away the hardness, and exposes our heart to him. When people refuse to allow the Spirit to circumcise their heart, it is hardened, darkened and filled with sin. But we have allowed God access to our heart and he has done a great work within, removing the diseased part and cleansing it from sin. Do we still commit sin, sure, but our heart wants God, it wants to follow God, it has been circumcised by the Spirit and desires to do that which is right. It is difficult to image that we want to do that which is right and do that which is wrong. Paul understands the concept. Yet the point is still the same, we are Israel and we are saved because we have allowed the Spirit to circumcise our heart.