In Whom or What Do You Trust?
Philippians 3:2,3 Be careful of the dogs—those men whose work does only harm. They want to cut on everyone who isn’t circumcised. But we are the ones who have the true circumcision—we who worship God through his Spirit. We don’t trust in ourselves or anything we can do. We take pride only in Christ Jesus.
One of the things that frankly makes me wince every time I come across it in the Bible is the subject of circumcision. It was a requirement of the Old Testament law back before anaesthetic was ever invented. Ouch, indeed!
Male circumcision was a physical sign that you were one of God’s people. It was a legal requirement under what we now call the Old Covenant – the old contract between God and His people.
But when Christ came, He fulfilled the law. Those old rituals and legal requirements no longer matter for the one who trusts in His sacrifice on the cross for their forgiveness by God, rather than complying with the 613 commandments and prohibitions enshrined in the Torah – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Happy days … especially for blokes like me! Under this New Covenant of grace it’s all about responding to what Jesus has done for us, rather than keeping the law which no one seemed to be able to do anyway.
But … there are still people insisting on turning the clock back to the Old Covenant. This is what the Apostle Paul says about them:
Philippians 3:2,3 Be careful of the dogs—those men whose work does only harm. They want to cut on everyone who isn’t circumcised. But we are the ones who have the true circumcision—we who worship God through his Spirit. We don’t trust in ourselves or anything we can do. We take pride only in Christ Jesus.
Harsh words, indeed. The point He’s making is that true worship is the worship of God through His Spirit, rather than through rules and regs.
Don’t squander your freedom by falling back again into rule-based legalism. Jesus came to set you free, my friend. You are now under His grace, no longer under the law.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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