MacArthur on circumcision

From MacArthur’s commentary on Rm 2.25-29, “

Proceeding to a third type of false security (circumcision) in which many Jews placed their trust, Paul clarifies the true significance of that rite.

God had instituted circumcision as a mark of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, declaring that “every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations” (Gen. 17:10–12). Centuries later, when for some reason Moses failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife, Zipporah, performed the rite herself, thereby protecting Moses from the Lord’s wrath (Ex. 4:24–26).

No doubt this surgery was symbolic of the sinfulness of man that was passed from generation to generation. The very procreative organ needed to be cleansed of a covering. So man at the very center of his nature is sinful and needs cleansing of the heart. This graphic symbol of the need for removing sin became the sign of being a Jew.

But as important as circumcision was as an act of obedience to God and as a reminder to Jews of their covenant relation to Him, the rite had no spiritual power. Circumcision is of value, Paul explains, only if you practice the Law, that is, live in obedience to God’s will. To the faithful, obedient Jew, circumcision was a symbol of God’s covenant, His blessings, His goodness, and His protection of His chosen people. But if you are a transgressor of the Law, Paul warned, your circumcision has become uncircumcision, that is, valueless. A Jew who continually transgressed God’s law proved that he had no more saving relationship to God than a pagan Gentile, whom Jews often referred to as the uncircumcised.

Important as it was, circumcision was only an outward symbol. And rather than freeing Jews from God’s law, circumcision made them even more responsible for obeying it, because that ritual testified to their greater knowledge of their sin, of God, and of His will in regard to them.

Circumcision was, in fact, more a mark of judgment and obligation than of salvation and freedom. It was a constant reminder to Jews of their sinfulness and of their obligation to obey God’s law. Speaking about the Judaizers, who were corrupting the church by teaching that Christians were obligated to keep the Mosaic law, Paul wrote, “I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law” (Gal. 5:3). Circumcision was a mark of legal obligation.

Long before Paul’s day the rite of circumcision had become so shrouded in superstition that ancient rabbis formulated sayings such as “No circumcised Jewish man will see hell” and “Circumcision saves us from hell.” The Midrash includes the statement “God swore to Abraham that no one who was circumcised would be sent to hell. Abraham sits before the gate of hell and never allows any circumcised Israelite to enter.”

But the prophets had made clear that mere physical circumcision had no spiritual power or benefit. “ ‘Behold the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised—Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart’ ” (Jer. 9:25–26). Disobedience to God put the circumcised Israelites in the same category of judgment as the uncircumcised Gentiles.

On the other hand, Paul continues, If the uncircumcised man keeps the requirement of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?

The apostle’s point is that the substance of pleasing God is obedience to His will, of which circumcision is but a symbolic reminder. Sincerely keeping the requirement of the Law because it is God’s will is of great value, whereas circumcision without obedience is of absolutely no value. If the uncircumcised man, that is, a Gentile, keeps the requirement of the Law, God will look on him just as favorably as on a circumcised Jew who keeps His law-counting the believing Gentile’s uncircumcision as if it were true circumcision.

Paul’s next devastating salvo at the Jew who had false trust in his Jewish privileges was the declaration that the obedient Gentile who is physically uncircumcised not only pleases God but figuratively will sit in judgment on disobedient Jews, who though having the letter of the Law and physical circumcision are a transgressor of the Law. It is not that such Gentiles will perform the actual judgment, which is God’s prerogative alone, but that their faithful obedience will stand as a rebuke to the faithless disobedience of hypocritical Jews. To the Philippian Gentile church Paul said that the unsaved and disobedient Jews who rejected the gospel of grace were “dogs, … evil workers, … [and] false circumcision” (Phil. 3:2).

Theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “Whenever true religion declines, the disposition to lay undo stress on external rites is stressed. The Jews when they lost their spirituality supposed that circumcision had the power to save them.” Apostasy always moves the religious focus from the inward to the outward, from humble obedience to empty formality.”

John F. MacArthur Jr., Romans, vol. 1, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), 159–161.