Textus Receptus:
ημεις γαρ εσμεν η περιτομη οι πνευματι θεω λατρευοντες και καυχωμενοι εν χριστω ιησου και ουκ εν σαρκι πεποιθοτες
King James:
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Comments:
we are...worship...rejoice...have no confidence: Three participles describe those who belong to God. All three may relate not only the attitude emerging out of salvation, but also the attitude that would bring a person to Christ to begin with.
circumcision: Paul is claiming that those who have faith in Christ rather than the flesh are the children of God's covenant. So the circumcision of the flesh is of no spiritual value while the circumcision of the heart (having been changed by faith), without a sign in the flesh, is of real spiritual value.
rejoice: This word also means "boast" and "glory" and is used by Paul in Galatians 6:13-14, where the contrast is between those who "glory" in the works of men and Paul's commitment to "glory" in nothing less than the cross of Christ.
worship: This "worship" is "service," the kind that would be performed by a Levite in the Temple, for instance. It implies not only an attitude of reverence toward the object of worship, but also an act of contrition on the part of the worshipper.
have no confidence: This word is translated as "trust" in Luke 18:9, where some trust that they themselves are righteous while despising others. Paul uses the word positively in this book in, for example, chapter 1:6.
Expanded Paraphrase:
The sign of the covenant is no longer a change of the flesh--as in the old circumcision. Our change took place in the heart. Through the Spirit of God we humbly serve and commit to Him. In Christ Jesus we glory and boast. But in the flesh we place no trust whatsoever.
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3 comments:
I posted a question I have on my site. I was hoping I worded it correctly and all. I was wondering if you could glance at it and see if you could answer it...or at least lead me in the correct direction.
I thank God that He looks at my heart instead of requiring me to do a religious ritual to be made right with Him. When the Old Testament was written did God put more emphasis on circumcision than He did having a relationship with man?
Lance's comment is interesting, but leaves an issue unaddressed. He mentions that God is "more interested in circumcising our heart" presumably than in the circumcision of the flesh--a statement which most likely needs no defending. On the other hand, doesn't it seem likely, or even obvious, that God was so similarly more concerned with the heart during Old Testament times as well. Then why is there physical circumcision at all? And why isn't it still important? By the way, I think the key elements of any biblical answer to this question will be that what we DO is important to God and does affect our relationship with Him on one side and that God chooses to change the symbols of our covenenant or walk with Him at times, as He does under the new covenant on the other hand.
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