In all ages and under all dispensations, the Mosaic, the Apostolic, and the Christian, there have been two antagonistic principles at work, two classes among the professed people of God; the carnal and the spiritual; those who relied on externals, and those who relied on what is internal; those who make religion to consist in outward observances and relations, and those who make everything to depend on the state of the heart; an Israel according to the flesh ( ), and an Israel according to the spirit ( ). The great question between these two classes has ever been and is now, who are the circumcision? That is, who are the true people of God?
I. What is meant by saying, “we are the circumcision?” Circumcision in the Old Testament is presented in two different aspects. First, it was the symbol of regeneration, of inward purity of heart. And, secondly, it was the sign and seal of a covenant. It designated and sealed those who were the people of God. It distinguished them from other men, and assured them of their interest in the blessings of the covenant. The question, therefore, who are the circumcision? is tantamount to the question, who are the people of God in such a sense as to be his spiritual children, and the heirs of his kingdom? The Jews and Judaizers said they were. Paul said that he and his fellow-Christians were.
II. The characteristics of those who are the true people of God, or the true circumcision, as here given, are, 1. That they worship God in the spirit, or as the true reading is, . The sense is the same. Those who serve or worship God under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This includes two things. First, that the inward principle of worship or service is no mere principle of nature, whether fear, or natural reverence, or sentiment, but that love and devotion of which the Holy Spirit is the author. And, secondly, that the mode of worship or service is that which the Holy Spirit has enjoined. It is not a will-worship, not the assiduous performance of things uncommanded of God, whether in matters of worship or of life. This serving God, in the spirit, therefore, stands opposed— (1.) To insincere, hypocritical service. (2.) To mere external, ceremonial or ritual service. (3.) To all such service as the unrenewed, those who are not (spiritual), do or can render. Such was the worship of the Jews generally; such also was that of the Judaizers in Paul’s day; and such characteristically is the worship of the ritualists of our day, whether Romanists or Anglicans, and also of all mere formalists, whether Papist or Protestant.
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The second characteristic of the true circumcision, or people of God, is that they rejoice () in Christ Jesus. That is, they glory in Christ Jesus. This includes (1) The recognition of him as to us the ground of confidence. (2) As the source of honor. (3) As the object of delight. He is that in whom we glory as all our salvation and all our desire. How opposite is this spirit to that of the Judaizers, who gloried in the law, in the theocracy, in their descent from Abraham. How different from the spirit of those who glory in the church as their refuge, as the source of their salvation; who boast that they are the children of God because the children of the church.
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They have no confidence, i.e., they do not confide, in the flesh. “Flesh” includes two things. First, what is external, whether it be descent from Abraham, circumcision, external obedience to the law, or religious rites and ceremonies, or baptism and membership in the true Church. This is not an arbitrary extension of the meaning of the word. It is Paul’s own interpretation, as given in the immediate context.
Secondly, “flesh stands opposed to the spirit.” It means nature. To have no confidence in the flesh, therefore, means to have no confidence in ourselves, i.e., in our own righteousness, in anything in ourselves, not in our own strength. This also is included in Paul’s amplification. Those who do not trust in the flesh, are those who renounce their own righteousness and embrace the righteousness of God, even the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ.
It is by these criteria we are to judge ourselves, and to determine the true form of religion, and of the church.
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