So Abraham took his son Ishmael, everyone born in his household, and everyone bought with money—every male in his household—and circumcised them that day, as God had told him.
“Foreigners may want to celebrate the Lord’s Passover. First, every male in the household must be circumcised. Then they may celebrate the Passover like native-born Israelites. But no uncircumcised males may ever eat the Passover meal.
Be circumcised by the Lord, and get rid of the foreskins of your hearts, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you don’t, my fury will flare up like a fire. It will burn, and no one will be able to put it out, because of the evil you do.
Moses gave you the teaching about circumcision (although it didn’t come from Moses but from our ancestors). So you circumcise a male on a day of rest—a holy day.
“God gave Abraham circumcision to confirm his promise. So when Abraham’s son Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac did the same to his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same to his twelve sons (the ancestors of our tribes).
God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God’s approval is given through faith in Christ’s blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the past.
These people who want to make a big deal out of a physical thing are trying to force you to be circumcised. Their only aim is to avoid persecution because of the cross of Christ.
Remember that once you were not Jewish physically. Those who called themselves “the circumcised” because of what they had done to their bodies called you “the uncircumcised.”
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will live.
We are the ⌞true⌟ circumcised people ⌞of God⌟ because we serve God’s Spirit and take pride in Christ Jesus. We don’t place any confidence in physical things,