Is circumcision still required?

Hard question · Salvation and the Christian life · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate

Different times, different covenantsRead in context

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The passages

Genesis 17:10–14

Circumcision is the sign of God’s everlasting covenant with Abraham; an uncircumcised male is to be cut off from his people.

This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Acts 16:1–3

Paul circumcises Timothy, whose mother was Jewish and father Greek, because of the Jews in that region.

Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

Galatians 2:3–5

Paul refused to have Titus, a Greek, circumcised when false brothers demanded it.

But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Galatians 5:2–6

If the Galatians are circumcised Christ will profit them nothing; in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts, but faith working by love.

Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

1 Corinthians 7:18–19

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God.

Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

The objection

God made circumcision the sign of an “everlasting covenant”, and said that any uncircumcised male “shall be cut off from his people”. Paul circumcised Timothy, yet he told the Galatians that if they were circumcised “Christ shall profit you nothing”. Is circumcision required or not?

The answer

Genesis 17 gives circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants. The question in Acts and Galatians is different: must Gentiles who believe in Jesus be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved? That is what some teachers demanded: “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). The apostles answered no (Acts 15:10-11, 19). Paul’s warning in Galatians 5:2 is aimed at that demand. A Gentile Christian who accepts circumcision as a requirement for being right with God is relying on the law rather than on Christ: “whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (5:4). In itself circumcision is neither good nor bad. “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing” (1 Corinthians 7:19), and “neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6).

Timothy’s case fits this exactly. His mother was Jewish and his father Greek, so the Jews of the region would have expected him, as one of Jewish descent, to be circumcised. Paul circumcised him “because of the Jews which were in those quarters” (Acts 16:3), so that he could work among them without giving offence, not to make him acceptable to God. When false brothers demanded that Titus, a Greek, be circumcised, Paul refused, “that the truth of the gospel might continue with you” (Galatians 2:3-5). As he says, “unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews” (1 Corinthians 9:20). Even the Old Testament looked beyond the outward sign to the circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; Romans 2:29).

Still open

Christians agree that circumcision is not required for salvation; they differ on whether Jewish believers in Jesus should still circumcise their sons.

From the classic commentators

the apostle used circumcision not as a duty of the law, as what that required, and in obedience to it, which he knew was abrogated; much less as necessary to salvation, which the judaizing preachers urged; but as an indifferent thing, and in order to gain a point, and secure some valuable endJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Acts 16 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub

Is circumcision still required?

The passages

The objection

The answer

Other answers Christians give

‘Everlasting’

Jewish believers

Still open

From the classic commentators

Sources

Further reading