»We have heard him say, `I will pull down this Sanctuary built by human hands, and three days afterwards I will erect another built without hands.'«
When eight days had passed and the time for circumcising Him had come, He was called JESUS, the name given Him by the angel before His conception in the womb.
But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision–not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God.
This we know–that our old self was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our sinful nature might be deprived of its power, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin;
For we know that if this poor tent, our earthly house, is taken down, we have in Heaven a building which God has provided, a house not built by human hands, but eternal.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.
For we are the true circumcision–we who render to God a spiritual worship and make our boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in outward ceremonies:
Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations–fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.
But Christ appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are soon to come by means of the greater and more perfect Tent of worship, a tent which has not been built with hands –that is to say does not belong to this material creation–
For not into a Holy place built by men's hands –a mere copy of the reality– did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.