Understanding Circumcision
Circumcision is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Scripture, but it need not be. The concept of circumcision is simple, straightforward, and it makes perfect sense. However, a great deal of confusion has developed because of wide-spread misunderstanding of the Apostle Shaul’s letters.
We have already seen that Nazarene Israel was the original faith of the Apostles. The Church Fathers also tell us that the Nazarenes continued to practice physical circumcision into the Fourth Century CE, when the Roman Christians stamped them out:
“The Nazarenes do not differ in any essential thing from them [meaning the Orthodox Jews], since they practice the customs and doctrines prescribed by Jewish Law; except that they believe in Christ. They believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that the universe was created by God. They preach that God is One, and that Jesus Christ is his Son....
They are very learned in the Hebrew language. They read the Law…. Therefore they differ…from the true Christians because they fulfill till now [such] Jewish rites as the circumcision, Sabbath, and others.”
[The Church Father Epiphanius in his doctrinal work, “Against Heresies”, Panarion 29, 7, Page 41, 402]
We also know that the Torah was given to Israel as a Bridal Covenant; and Yeshua tells us plainly that He did not come to do away with even the smallest aspect of His bride’s Covenant:
17 “Think not that I came to destroy the Law and the Prophets! I did not come to destroy, but (only) to fulfill!
18 For truly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, nothing at all shall pass from the Torah (the Law), till all is fulfilled!
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven!”
[Mattithyahu (Matthew) 5:17-19]
Despite the fact that Yeshua clearly tells us not to think that even the smallest aspect of the Torah has been done away with, the Church attempts to use Shaul’s writings to suggest that the Bridal Covenant is in fact now null and void. This is clearly a violation of Yeshua’s own Words.
While there is any number of things right with the Church’s thesis that the heart of the Law is the main thing, there is also any number of things wrong with the Church’s assumption that the heart of the Law does away with the letter.
Did Shaul suggest that Love destroyed the Law? It cannot be, for near the end of his ministry, Shaul plainly told us that he still believed everything that had been written in the Torah:
“According to the Way which they say is a sect (or a heresy), so I worship the ancestral One; believing all things that are written in the Torah and the Prophets!” [Acts 24:14]
Shaul also parted with a great deal of money to pay the animal sacrifices to separate not just his Nazirite vow, but also the vows of four other men:
23 “Then do this, what we say to you: There are four men (here, besides yourself, also) having a (Nazirite) vow on themselves:
24 Take them, be purified with them, and pay their expenses (so) that they may (also) shave their heads: And then all shall know that what they have
been told about you is nothing; but that you yourself walk orderly, keeping the Law (of Moses!)” [Acts 21:20-24]
The reason Shaul parted with such a large sum of money was simply to demonstrate (by his actions) that he still believed in keeping even ‘the least of the commandments.’ It was intended as a visible display of his continuing commitment to the Torah. By this act, he and the other Apostles hoped to dispel the rumors that Shaul taught against the Covenant.
However, despite the fact that Shaul spent the equivalent of thousands of dollars to prove that he still kept the Torah, Kefa tells us that there were those in his time (in the First Century) who used Shaul’s words to suggest that the Torah (including circumcision) was abolished:
15 And think of the long-suffering of our Master as Salvation (literally: Yeshua), as also our beloved brother Shaul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable twist, to their destruction, as also the rest of the Scriptures.
17 Then beloved, you being fore-warned, watch; lest being led by the error of Lawlessness you should fall from your own steadfastness.
[2nd Peter 3:15-17]
It was, of course, the Christians who were twisting Shaul’s words, and using them as an excuse to do away with the Torah.
While Elohim forgives ignorance (Acts 17:30), Yeshua was quite clear that whosoever should relax even the least of the commandments would be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven:
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven!” [Mattithyahu (Matthew) 5:19]
Circumcision, however, is far from being one of the ‘least’ of the Commandments. To the contrary, it is one of the three eternal signs of the Covenant, and whoever did not keep it was to be cut off:
9 And Elohim said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
[Breisheet (Genesis) 17:9-14]
Circumcision was not the Covenant itself. It was only called a sign of the Covenant in that it reflected a willingness to submit one’s body and life to Elohim; and yet it was called an eternal sign, in that whosoever was not willing to circumcise himself was to be cut off from among the people, for disobedience.
Another one of the eternal signs of the Covenant was the Seventh-day Sabbath:
And YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am YHWH who sets you apart.
14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is set-apart to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, set-apart to YHWH. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed’.”
[Shemote (Exodus) 31:17]
The third of the eternal signs is the Passover:
13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 'So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to YHWH throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
[Shemote (Exodus) 12:13-15]
There are other signs of the Covenant, but these three are eternal. Whosoever failed to keep these three signs in all of their generations was to be cut off from the Nation of Israel.
However, understanding that Love is the heart of the Law (as they do), Christians tend to view outward manifestations of the Covenant with disdain. They wonder how important such things as the Sabbath, the Passover and the Circumcision can possibly be, when Love is the thing that matters most.
What Christians tend to forget is that, in Hebraic thought, obedience is the proof of love. Just as John the Baptist told us that he who does not obey does not truly believe, the Apostle John said that the proof of our love is shown by our observance of His Commands:
2 By this we know that we love the children of Elohim: when we love Elohim, and keep His commandments.
3 For this is the love of Elohim: that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome (to us). [1st John 5:2-3]
Further, Yeshua said plainly that He did not come to do away with even the smallest part of the Covenant. Not one jot, not one tittle would pass away, as long as heaven and earth still existed:
18 “For truly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot, not one tittle shall fall from the Torah (of Moshe) until all is fulfilled!”
[Mattithyahu (Matthew) 5:18]
In spite of the fact that Heaven and earth are still here, the Church tells us that these three eternal signs of the Covenant have gone by the wayside. The Church tells us that the Son came to countermand His own Father.
But did Yeshua actually do that?
The Church’s attempts to use Shaul’s words to show that these signs of the Covenant are done away with also implies that Shaul’s words should be taken more seriously than Yeshua’s: But does that really make any sense?
What we will see in the next several chapters is simply that the Apostle Kefa was telling us the truth: The Apostle Shaul’s words are easily misunderstood; and we need to guard ourselves, so that we will not be led astray by the error of Lawlessness, and fall from our own steadfastness in the Covenant:
17 Then beloved, you being fore-warned, watch; lest being led by the error of Lawlessness you should fall from your own steadfastness.
[Kefa Bet (2nd Peter) 3:15-17]
What the Scripture will show us, time and again, is that the New Covenant had to be easy to misunderstand, because certain misperceptions had to exist for the two thousand years it would take for the Christians to spread their modified version of the Good News to the ends of the earth.
We will also see that Shaul was a first century religious Jew. As such, he commonly used slang terms to describe certain groups of people. When we identify these terms as slang, then their true meanings become clear. However, when we do not know that these words are slang, then his words are very easy to misunderstand.
If you are one of the many who believe that physical circumcision is no longer for today, ask yourself if your belief is not based upon your interpretation of Shaul’s letters.
Alternately, ask yourself if your belief is not based upon what the Church taught you about Acts Chapter Fifteen (the so-called ‘Jerusalem Council.’) We will see that this passage also had to be misunderstood for a long time.
Before we talk about Shaul’s letters, we should understand Acts Chapter Fifteen. However, in order to understand Acts Chapter Fifteen we must first back up to Acts Chapter Ten, when the very first Gentile was brought back to the Nation.