Post by swordsmith on Dec 13, 2007 15:28:13 GMT -5
6:15 In light of the new spiritual realities in Christ Jesus, Paul goes on to explain that "neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision." Such physical externalities are totally irrelevant to God's order and the expression of God's character of righteousness. Circumcising the male penis does not make one a "new man" spiritually, but only the presence and dynamic of Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). For the factious false teachers in Galatia, physical male circumcision was the primary focus, serving as the supreme mark of identification with God's people, and therefore as an essential basis of righteous behavior. They failed to recognize that the purpose of the cutting off of the male foreskin in the old covenant was only for the prefiguring of God's intent to cut away sin from the heart of man in Jesus Christ (Rom. 2:29; Phil. 3:3). Paul had previously explained that "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love" (5:6). The receptivity of God's activity whereby we derive righteous character from Jesus Christ, the Righteous One (Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14; I Jn. 2:1), is the essence of the kingdom of Christ (Rom. 14:17).
"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (II Cor. 5:17). "There is no distinction...between circumcised and uncircumcised, ...but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11). Therefore, the physical issue of circumcision is not an issue, for the "finished work" of Christ signified by the "cross" has established "a new creation," a newly created spiritual order wherein the living Lord Jesus reigns as King in His kingdom. Jesus Himself, by His Spirit, is the beginning and essence of this "new creation of God" (Rev. 3:14). The completed performance of Christ in His "finished work" of the "cross," whereby He has done everything necessary and continues to accomplish all as the dynamic of His own demands, is the basis of an entirely new order of functionally restored humanity. The old created order fell into the world-order of evil, but God in Christ has re-created the viability of His original intent by regenerating man (re-Genesis), re-breathing the life of God into man (cf. Gen. 2:7) by the "wind of the Spirit" (Acts 2:2). The "new creation" is comprised of "new men" (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) who have become "new creatures" (II Cor. 5:17) by receiving "new life" (Rom. 6:4) by the "renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5), that within the "new way" (Heb. 10:20) of a "new covenant" (Heb. 8:8,13; 12:24) whereby they function in the collective community of a "new humanity" (Eph. 2:15) unto the objective that Christ "makes all things new" (Rev. 21:5) in Himself. Within the kingdom of Christ and within the Church, Christians comprise and function as the "People of God" (Titus 2:14; I Pet. 2:9), in fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises, by the dynamic of the presence of the Christic Creator (Jn. 1:3,10; I Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16), and not by submitting to a ritualistic act of physical circumcision.
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"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (II Cor. 5:17). "There is no distinction...between circumcised and uncircumcised, ...but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11). Therefore, the physical issue of circumcision is not an issue, for the "finished work" of Christ signified by the "cross" has established "a new creation," a newly created spiritual order wherein the living Lord Jesus reigns as King in His kingdom. Jesus Himself, by His Spirit, is the beginning and essence of this "new creation of God" (Rev. 3:14). The completed performance of Christ in His "finished work" of the "cross," whereby He has done everything necessary and continues to accomplish all as the dynamic of His own demands, is the basis of an entirely new order of functionally restored humanity. The old created order fell into the world-order of evil, but God in Christ has re-created the viability of His original intent by regenerating man (re-Genesis), re-breathing the life of God into man (cf. Gen. 2:7) by the "wind of the Spirit" (Acts 2:2). The "new creation" is comprised of "new men" (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) who have become "new creatures" (II Cor. 5:17) by receiving "new life" (Rom. 6:4) by the "renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5), that within the "new way" (Heb. 10:20) of a "new covenant" (Heb. 8:8,13; 12:24) whereby they function in the collective community of a "new humanity" (Eph. 2:15) unto the objective that Christ "makes all things new" (Rev. 21:5) in Himself. Within the kingdom of Christ and within the Church, Christians comprise and function as the "People of God" (Titus 2:14; I Pet. 2:9), in fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises, by the dynamic of the presence of the Christic Creator (Jn. 1:3,10; I Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16), and not by submitting to a ritualistic act of physical circumcision.
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