Circumcision and Paul Explained

Outside The Camp Review

Video | Transcription | Circumcision And Paul Explained | 1 Corinthians 7:18-19 (Outside the Camp)

Summary of Outside The Camp’s Key Points: God’s Law Is Eternal

1. Early Church Fathers vs. Scripture
   • Justin Martyr and others argued that Old Testament commands (dietary laws, Sabbath, circumcision, holy days) were given only to “hard-hearted sinners” (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho).
   • John Chrysostom taught that fearing the law “distrusts the power of grace” and that obeying God’s commandments shows a lack of faith.
2. God’s Own Reason for the Law
   • Deuteronomy 6:20–25 NKJV:“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this service?’ … ‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand … that He might bring us in to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. … And the Lord commanded us to keep all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that He might preserve us alive…’”
   • ➔ The Law—circumcision included—is given by grace, out of God’s deliverance, and “for our good always.”
3. Warning Against “Cheap Grace”
   • Acts 20:29–30 NKJV:“…savage wolves will enter… speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves.”
   • Jude 4 NKJV:“…certain men… turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness…”
   • ➔ “We are saved by grace, but grace leads us to obedience” (cf. James 2:17).
4. Paul’s True View of the Law
   • Psalm 119:160 NKJV: “The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”
   • Proverbs 6:23 NKJV: “For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light…”
   • ➔ Scripture repeatedly affirms the Law’s enduring authority.
5. Acts 21: Paul Honors the Law
   • When accused of teaching Jews to abandon Moses’ Law, Paul submits to a Nazirite vow—including animal sacrifices—to demonstrate he still “walks orderly” and “keeps the law” (Acts 21:20–26 NKJV).
6. Misuse of Circumcision vs. the Commandment Itself
   • 1 Corinthians 7:19 NKJV:“Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God.”
   • Paul condemns those who insist on ritual circumcision as the entry-point to salvation—but never the command itself.
7. Jesus on Circumcision & the Sabbath
   • John 7:19–24 NKJV: Jesus rebukes the Pharisees’ double-standard—circumcising on the Sabbath (to “not break Moses’ law”), yet condemning Him for healing on the Sabbath.
   • ➔ True obedience is measured by love and mercy, not mere ritual.
8. Abraham: Faith Before the Sign
   • Romans 4:10–12 NKJV:“Faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness… not while circumcised but while uncircumcised. … He received the sign of circumcision… a seal of the righteousness of the faith…”
   • Galatians 3:6–7 NKJV: “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”
9. Faith → Grace → Obedience
   • Romans 3:31 NKJV: “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
   • Romans 6:1–2 NKJV: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? … Certainly not!”
   • ➔ The Law drives us to Christ (Gal. 3:24); Christ empowers our love-motivated obedience.
10. Jerusalem Council: Partial Application
    • Acts 15:19–21 NKJV: Gentile converts were asked to abstain from idolatry, blood, things strangled, and sexual immorality—not to abandon the Law outright, but to begin following key statutes while they “attend” synagogue teaching.
11. True Circumcision Is of the Heart
    • Deuteronomy 10:16 NKJV: “Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.”
    • Romans 2:28–29 NKJV: “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly… but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; … circumcision is of the heart.”
12. Analogy: Baptism Misused
    • Just as misplacing circumcision corrupts the Gospel, so would insisting on “valid” water baptism by a particular lineage. True identity in Christ depends on faith, not on human-devised rituals.

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Conclusion:
While rituals like circumcision, Sabbath, and festivals were misused by both legalists and antinomians, God’s eternal Law—“holy, just, and good” (Rom. 7:12 NKJV)—remains the reflection of His character. We are drawn by grace into faith, sealed by the Spirit, and then walk in loving obedience, “establishing” the Law through the fruit of our lives.