"For neither circumcision is anything nor uncircumcision but rather a new creation."
-A new creation. This is the end game. This is the unforeseen, paradigm-busting outcome of all that God has set in motion in and thru His Son, Jesus Christ. New life, a brand spankin-new quality of life. Because everything else we see around us, all the brokenness of humanity and of creation, at least this current itieration of it, is about death. Life. Breaking. Down. Broken lives. Broken relationships. It is about whatever and everything that pushes and keeps me apart from my Creator and from my fellow man. Circumcision is precisely one of these things. If anything, what circumcision ultimately did was perpetuate separation. It exacerbated the brokenness. The little ritual of cutting off the foreskin became this massive wedge between peoples, AND it did absolutely nothing to bridge the yawning chasm which separated man from God.
-And so what we see is God, this Word Who was in the beginning, once again speaking into the void and bringing light and life and goodness and blessing and peace. Peace on earth. Goodwill towards and between men. Out of death, life. New, unending, overflowing life, flowing straight from Calvary and the empty tomb. old things have passed away, everything has been made new (2Corinthians 5.17)! And not just a coat of paint, not just a bit of freshening up. We’re talking completely brand new. There is a new outlook on life, and brand new possibilities for reconciliation and relationship which builds bridges across all kinds of dividing lines. Specifically it cut straight across this iron curtain of separation which had been erected over long centuries of ritualized foreskin-ectomies. In the beginning circumcision was a sign of a covenant between God and the new nation of His people who were to spread the knowledge and celebration of His breathtaking goodness to all the families and nations of the earth. But it gradually devolved into a spiritual merit badge which took the place of men trusting in the Lord to be their Savior, and created a religious grand canyon between the circumcised Jews and filthy uncircumcised non-Jews, such that Jews came to have no unnecessary dealings whatsoever with any other nations (Acts 10.28), to whom they pejoratively referred to as Goyim. But in Christ, this barrier has been removed. The wall between God and man, and the wall between peoples. There is no longer any distinction whatsoever. Or at least, there’s not supposed to be. All that matters is being in Christ, a new creation. And if you and I are in Christ, then we are family. Part of God’s forever family. New life, building up, overflowing, life as it was always intended...
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