Lessons #217 and 218
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Concern about circumcision status quo (1 Cor 7:18-19)
18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.
The overall message of 1 Corinthians 7:17-28 that we stated in our last study is there are appropriate and inappropriate concerns of one’s status quo after salvation. This message implies that you should be aware of the right kind of concern you should have and ones you should avoid. In our previous study, we considered in verse 17 an appropriate concern that a believer should have after salvation regardless of the person’s status quo in the society. This concern is to ensure that the believer lives a life that is pleasing to the Lord regardless of the status quo of the believer at time of salvation as we examined in our last study. Thus, we proceed to consider the inappropriate concerns the believer should avoid. We will put these concerns in terms that we would easily identify in our time. As we consider these, be sure that you are not among those who do not want to hear the truth as Israel Prophet Isaiah denounced in Isaiah 30:10–11:
10They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
A first concern the believer in Christ should avoid is that associated with ethnicity. In effect, your ethnicity should never be of concern to you as a believer since in Christ ethnicity has no meaning. Unfortunately, many Christians, especially in this country, do not know this truth often because pastors themselves either do not believe the Scripture or afraid to teach what is in the Scripture. It is also possible that some Christians have been taught this truth, but they reject it or do not enthusiastically embrace it. That notwithstanding, the Holy Spirit emphasized this truth that in Christ ethnicity has no meaning or that it is irrelevant in Christ. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle conveyed this truth severally. To the Galatians, the apostle conveyed this truth when he asserted there is neither Jew nor Greek in Christ, as we read in Galatians 3:28:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Similar truth is conveyed to Colossians in Colossians 3:11:
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
The apostle gave reasons, in Christ Jesus, ethnicity is irrelevant. For example, he conveyed that believers are sons of God and they are in union with Christ through Spirit baptism, as implied in Galatians 3:26–27:
26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
However, writing to the Ephesians the Holy Spirit revealed another important reason ethnicity is irrelevant in Christ. It is because all believers make up the new humanity that is taught in Ephesians 2:15:
by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
This doctrine that ethnicity is irrelevant in Christ is a doctrine that challenges our physical reality. By this I mean that whatever your ethnicity happened to be, that did not change when you were saved. Thus, we face the challenge of how to square what we see physically with our eyes with what the Scripture tell us. The way we should do this is, of course, to remind ourselves of this truth and let it guide us when we act. We are to train our minds to function in accordance with truth of God’s word rather than what we observe; for after all, living in faith requires for us to ignore what we see and trust God and His word. In this situation, we should put no emphasis on our ethnicity one way or the other. In effect, whatever your ethnicity happened to be, it does not provide you any advantage in Christ. True, a person’s ethnicity does often provide certain advantages on this planet, but those advantages are only associated with this world that in the end they do not affect a person’s spiritual relationship with the God of the universe. We are saying that a human advantage or lack of it because of one’s ethnicity does not affect the believer’s standing with God. For this reason, a believer should not be concerned with the matter of ethnicity that people are consumed with on this planet we find ourselves. You could suffer because of your ethnicity, if so, remember that your suffering is temporary and does not compare to the glories of the eternal state if you live out the truth of God’s word. I am saying you should remember the words of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul when he compared present suffering to future glories in Romans 8:18:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Thus, whatever you may suffer on this planet, it is incomparable to the blessings of eternal state. The implication is that we should be more concerned that we please the Lord so He will reward us in eternal state instead of allowing whatever disadvantage or advantage we have in this life because of our human classification affect our spiritual life.
I have stated the first concern the believer should avoid has to do with ethnicity based on the passage that is before us. You may say to yourself that there is no mention of the word “ethnicity” in the passage, so how could I speak of ethnicity. To begin with, we should recognize that our English word ethnicity is derived from a Greek word (ethnos) that means “large group of people based on various cultural, physical or geographic ties,” hence means “nation, people.” The word may also be used for non-Jews, that is, Gentiles. So, you get the idea that it is a word that differentiates people according to some classification. This being the case we are correct to use the word as we will note in what follows. The concept of ethnicity is given in our passage with the mention of circumcision in 1 Corinthians 7:19. To see that the word is concerned with ethnicity, let us explore the word “circumcision.”
The word “circumcision” is translated from a Greek word (peritomē) that refers to the cutting away the foreskin of male children. However, the translators of the NIV translated the word “Jews” four times in the NT. Once the word is translated “Jews” in Colossians 4:11:
Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me.
The word Jews of the NIV is literally of the circumcision. The other three times the translators of the NIV used the meaning “Jews” to translate our word are all in the second chapter of Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. For example, we have the translation “Jews” used in Galatians 2:7:
On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.
The sentence Peter had been to the Jews is literally Peter to the circumcision. The believers in the early church in Jerusalem who insisted in circumcision for Gentiles were apparently those Apostle Paul referred as “circumcision group” that caused Peter to act hypocritically, as we read in Galatians 2:12:
Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
The circumcision group refers to the group of Jewish Christians who stilled believed in the necessity of circumcision to become God’s people. To justify this answer, we need to briefly consider the subject of “circumcision.”
Circumcision as it relates to the Hebrews, or the Israelites goes back to the time of Abraham. To the descendants of Abraham, it was to take place on the eighth day of birth, as stated in Genesis 17:12:
For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
Since there were others that practiced circumcision, it became uniquely a requirement for the Israelites to do this on the eighth day, as reiterated in Leviticus 12:3:
On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.
By the way, other groups that practiced circumcision are mentioned in Jeremiah 9:25–26:
25 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
However, in the ancient world, especially in the NT time, circumcision was that which describe the Israelites or Jews as exclusive of other people.
Be that as it may, the Greek word (peritomē) translated “circumcision” in 1 Corinthians 7:19 is used in two general ways in the NT. It refers to “circumcision” that is to be understood both literally and figuratively. Literally, it is used in sense of the rite of circumcision, as the word is used by the Lord Jesus Christ in John 7:22:
Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath.
Figuratively, it is used for spiritual circumcision to describe the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in a believer, as it is used by Apostle Paul in Romans 2:29:
No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
The phrase circumcision of the heart refers to regeneration without which a person cannot be spiritually alive and recognized as a child of God. It is this regeneration or spiritual heart transplant that God promised Israel in Deuteronomy 30:6:
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Another usage of the Greek word (peritomē) translated “circumcision” is for a person who is circumcised. In this usage, the word is used both literally and figuratively. Literally, the word is used to describe a Jew, as in Romans 15:8:
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs
The phrase a servant of the Jews is literally a servant of the circumcision. Of course, since the word is used literally for a Jew, it is used to distinguish a Jew from a Gentile, as per the passage we cited previously, that is, Galatians 2:7:
On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.
The phrase to the Gentiles is literally to the uncircumcised while the phrase to the Jews is literally to the circumcised. Apostle Paul was explicit that the term “uncircumcised” is used to describe Gentiles in Ephesians 2:11:
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)—
The Greek word translated “circumcision” is used literally not only for Jews but also for Jews who are believers in Christ or Christians. Hence, the word is used to describe believers who are Jews that accompanied Apostle Peter when he preached the gospel to the Cornelius and those assembled with him, as we read in Acts 10:45:
The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
Figuratively, the Greek word (peritomē) translated “circumcision” in 1 Corinthians 7:19 is used to describe all believers. This is the sense that Apostle Paul used it to describe believers in Christ, Jews and Gentiles, in Philippians 3:3:
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
Our examination of the Greek word (peritomē) translated “circumcision” in 1Corinthians 7:19 indicates that it can be used to describe an ethnic Jew as well as believers in Christ whether Jews or Gentiles. Nonetheless, in 1 Corinthians 7:19, the apostle used it to describe Jewish believers. Thus, the word conveys a sense of ethnicity in the ancient world or in the NT times. To ensure that we understand that the word is used to describe ethnicity, the apostle used the word “uncircumcision” in 1 Corinthians 7:19.
The word “uncircumcision” is translated from a Greek word (akrobystia) that in the Septuagint is used to translate a Hebrew word (ʿārlāh) that means “foreskin” as it is used to describe the genitals of the Philistines that Saul demanded from David as bride price for marrying his daughter, as stated in 1 Samuel 18:25:
Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
In the NT, the word may mean “uncircumcised” as it is used to describe those in Cornelius’ house that Peter ate with, as we read in Acts 11:3:
and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
The word may mean “uncircumcision” as a state of being, as it is used in Romans 2:25:
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.
The sentence you have become as though you had not been circumcised is more literally your circumcision has become uncircumcision describing a state of being of those the apostle referred. The word may mean “Gentiles” as those not circumcised, as in the passage we cited previously, that is, Galatians 2:7:
On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.
The phrase the gospel to the Gentiles of the NIV is literally the gospel to the uncircumcision so we see that the translators of the NIV interpreted the Greek word to mean “Gentiles.” It is in both literal and figurative usages that our Greek word is used in Colossians 2:13:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
The phrase the uncircumcision of your sinful nature is taken by some to refer to being physically uncircumcised while others take it to mean being uncircumcised in the spiritual sense that a person is not regenerated. However, it seems that the apostle used it in both senses to refer to those who were spiritually dead in the sense of not having a relationship with God. This was the state of Gentiles who were also not circumcised physically. Anyway, it is in the sense of being physically uncircumcised that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 7:19 since those addressed were believers. Those who were not circumcised physically were Gentiles since every Israelite was circumcised in the time the apostle wrote this epistle. Therefore, the word “uncircumcision” in our passage refers to Gentile believers who were not circumcised. Because the word “uncircumcision” refers to Gentile believers and the word “circumcision” refers to believers of Jewish origin, we are correct to use the term ethnicity in our declaration that a first concern the believer in Christ should avoid is that associated with ethnicity.
Again, our use of the word “ethnicity” may be difficult for some to grasp from the passage of 1 Corinthians 7:18-19 that we are considering since the passage used the words “circumcision” and “uncircumcision.” However, as we have argued, these two words define how believers would have classified themselves in the early church. In the early church, a person was either a Jew or a Gentile, so it is proper to apply such classification in terms of ethnicity in our day. There is no doubt that for many Christians who are not well taught in the Scripture that this is a problem for them. It is for this reason that it is important for those who teach the Scripture to believers to be careful to convey to them that their ethnicity should never be of concern one way or the other when it comes to their relationship with the Lord or other believers. The believer should recognize that his/her ethnicity is not a matter of choice as the individual’s salvation is not a matter of choice despite what some would want us to believe. This being the case, a believer should not be concerned about the issue of ethnicity and the local churches should do their absolute best to ensure that it is never an issue in the church of Christ.
In any case, there is nothing anyone could do about his/her ethnicity. You cannot change it since that is how God created you for His purpose. Therefore, you should never feel superior or inferior to another believer who is in the same body of Christ because of that. Our emphasis that a believer should never be concerned with ethnicity is not merely because the believer cannot do anything about it but it is rooted in the fact that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul tells believers in Corinth not to do anything that would alter their ethnic identity even though it is possible to do so. There are two situations that the apostle cited in our passage that could be altered although he did so, using two rhetorical questions. The first situation is that a person was circumcised at the point of salvation. This clearly would refer to one who is of Israelite or Hebrew descent. It is equally possible that it could refer to a Gentile who has converted to Judaism before becoming a Christian. I use the phrase “equally possible” because of scholarly debate on whether circumcision was required of a proselyte, that is, a Gentile who converts to Judaism. Despite the quibbles among scholars, it is more likely that at some point in the history of Israel that anyone that converted to Judaism was required to undergo circumcision. This is because the aliens residing among the Israelites who want to participate in the Passover celebration were required to undergo circumcision as we read in Exodus 12:48:
“An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it.
This instruction would suggest that those who want to become part of Israel’s community in the full sense of participating in their religious celebration were required to circumcise, implying that at some point in Israel’s history, circumcision was required of proselytes. This aside, the first situation is that a person was circumcised at the point of salvation as indicated in the first question of verse 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? The word “circumcised” seems straightforward but that is not the case because it may be understood in one of two ways although in our context it is not difficult to fix its meaning. The word “circumcised” is translated from a Greek word (peritemnō) that literally refers to the cutting off of the foreskin of the male genital organ hence means “to circumcise” as in the circumcision of Jesus mentioned in Luke 2:21:
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
The word is used figuratively in a spiritual sense in connection with believer’s regeneration as implied in Colossians 2:11:
In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
The spiritual usage of the word is similar to that in the OT Scripture, as we find, for example, in Jeremiah 4:4:
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it.
Here “to circumcise” has the sense of requiring Israel to devote themselves to the word of God by obeying the various commands of the Lord to them. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:18, the word is used in a literal sense of having one’s foreskin cut off for ritual purposes. Hence, the apostle here is concerned with a believer in Corinth who is already circumcised literally.
The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul tells the believer that was circumcised at the time of his writing not to be concerned about such a situation. This instruction is given in the next sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:18 He should not become uncircumcised. Anyone who knows what circumcision is but know nothing about history of the ancient world and the practices at that time would say that the apostle stated something that does not make sense since it appears that circumcision once carried out could not be reversed. To understand that the apostle did not say something that does not make sense, let us consider the word “uncircumcised.”
The word “uncircumcised” is translated from a Greek verb (epispaomai) that in classical Greek may mean “to draw or drag one” say by the hair or “to overturn.” It was also used as a medical term so means “draw the prepuce/foreskin forward.” It is this later meaning that is used in the only occurrence of the Greek word in the NT, here in 1 Corinthians 7:18 and so it means “to conceal circumcision,” that is, to stretch or pull one’s foreskin forward in order to conceal circumcision state. This kind of practice is mentioned as being carried out by Hellenizing Israelites who wanted to be accepted as Gentiles as described in 1 Maccabees 1:14–15:
14 So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, 15 and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil. (NRSV)
Removing the marks of circumcision involves a process of pulling the foreskin forward to conceal circumcision. This information we have provided indicates that there were people in ancient world that would undergo an operation or surgical procedure to try to hide their state of circumcision. Thus, the apostle knew what he stated when he told anyone that is disturbed about being circumcised not to hide it.
Why would a person who is circumcised want to hide it, we may ask? The passage of 1 Corinthians 7:18-19 does not tell us the reason. However, based on apocryphal book of I Maccabees that we cited; we can provide a reasonable answer that has application to us today. The reason a person that is circumcised wants to hide his circumcision is probably because he was the only person that is circumcised among believers or because the other believers were making such a person to feel that he does not belong or out of place. This being the case the apostle intended to encourage such a believer not to be timid or shy away from the community of the believers. The application of this truth is quite important to us today. The application is that a local church of Christ that predominantly consists of believers of a different ethnicity or nationality must do their best not to make any believer among them of different ethnicity or nationality feel not wanted or not accepted in the body of Christ. This requires not only believers should try to avoid customs or traditions that are based on ethnicity in a local church but that the spiritual leaders have the sensitivity in whatever they do to avoid making a person’s ethnicity an issue. Anyway, a first situation that enables us to recognize that believers should not do anything to alter their ethnic identity is that the apostle used a first situation that could exist to convey the point. This first situation, as we have stated, is that a person was circumcised at the point of salvation.
A second situation that enables us to recognize that a believer should not be concerned about changing ethnic identity based on what the Holy Spirit said through Paul involves a case a believer was not circumcised at the point of salvation. It is this second situation that is given in the second rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 7:18 Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? The rhetorical question is addressed to a Gentile believing man since only a Gentile would be uncircumcised in the local church in Corinth. All the believers in the local church in Corinth who were of Jewish descent were circumcised. That aside, it is the answer the apostle gave to the rhetorical question that is our concern. He stated, there was no need for such a person to become circumcised as in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:18 He should not be circumcised. This statement indicates that a Gentile was not required to change his ethnic identity as believer in Christ. He is to remain the way he was when salvation occurred. In other words, Christian message does not require people to alter their ethnic identity since that is what God gave them.
Why would a Gentile be concerned about circumcision that warranted the Holy Spirit to give the advice we have about not being circumcised? It is because there must have been Jewish believers in the congregation that were pushing for the Gentiles to become circumcised. The Jewish believers who were pushing for the Gentiles in the local church in Corinth to be circumcised may be classified into two groups: those who have never heard of the ruling of the church regarding the subject of circumcision as it applies to Gentiles or those who have heard of the ruling of the church but refused to accept it. It should not surprise you that we said that there would have been Jewish believers who heard of the ruling of the church regarding the subject but rejected it. This is because when people are so religious, they find it difficult to accept truth that they consider not to be in accordance with their view. In effect, there were believers of Jewish origin in the local church in Corinth that were convinced that only those who are circumcised are truly God’s people. These individuals would belong to the group in Judaism that insisted on proselytes being circumcised in order to be accepted in Judaism.
Be that as it may, our reason for identifying two groups of believers of Jewish descent in Corinth regarding the matter of circumcision of Gentiles is because the issue was settled after the first missionary journey of Apostles Paul and Barnabas, but it was in the second missionary journey of the apostle that the local church in Corinth was founded as described in the eighteenth chapter of Acts. Luke, the human author of Acts, was careful in his writing to be sequential or orderly in what he narrated, as we gather from his statement in the introduction of his gospel record, as we read in Luke 1:3:
Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
This being the case, the second work of Luke was certainly orderly since Acts is his second narrative concerning the movement of the Christian faith from Jerusalem church to Gentiles, as we may gather from his introduction given in Acts 1:1:
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach
Because Luke was orderly in his writing then we are confident that the issue of what the Gentiles should do regarding circumcision was established before the founding of the local church in Corinth. Let me give you a quick summary of events that would convince you that the local church in Corinth was established after the church has decided how the Gentiles should respond to circumcision and so to the Mosaic ceremonial laws.
Apostles Paul and Barnabas concluded their first missionary journey and returned to Antioch, as recorded in Acts 14:26–28:
26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
This passage of Acts indicates that not only did Paul and Barnabas give the report of their mission trip, but they stayed for an undetermined time with the church in Antioch that sent them in their first missionary work. We can be certain that the report of the success of the mission work of Paul and Barnabas in terms of many Gentiles being saved reached Jerusalem, the headquarters of the early church. This news must have triggered some believers in the church in Jerusalem to be concerned that Gentiles should be circumcised. I say this because, prior to the mission work of Paul and Barnabas, the church in Jerusalem knew about those who were saved in Antioch, a city that consisted of a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, as we read in Acts 11:20–23:
20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
Despite this development in Antioch where believers were first described as Christians, we did not hear of individuals coming there to demand that Gentile believers should be circumcised. However, after the return of Apostles Paul and Barnabas from their missionary trip, we read of those who came from Jerusalem to insist that Gentiles should be circumcised that cause the two apostles to be sent to Jerusalem, as we read in Acts 15:1–2:
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
After debating the matter that involved circumcision, the Holy Spirit directed the church to the ruling stated in the letter sent to Gentiles as described in Acts 15:22–29:
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. 23 With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
The letter to the Gentiles did not require them to be circumcised, implying that the Holy Spirit did not want the Gentile believers to become circumcised. To be circumcised would mean a change in their ethnic identity but that was not the instruction of the Holy Spirit through the church. Subsequently, Apostle Paul would have taught this truth to some of the Gentile churches but apparently not in Corinth or if he did, the Corinthians forgot or ignored what he taught them. Hence, the instruction of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians is either new or a reminder of what he taught them. In any event, the fact remains that there must have been those in the local church in Corinth that insisted on the necessity of circumcision for salvation or for Gentiles to be fully accepted as the people of God. Those who took this position were wrong since the Gentiles were already members of the body of Christ when they got saved. Insistence on circumcision is a way that says that the Gentiles should change their ethnic identity to be accepted as members of the body of Christ. Since the Holy Spirit through the apostle said that such a demand is inappropriate, we also assert that it would be improper to demand that a Christian should change his/her ethnic identity to belong to a local church, something that is, of course, impossible.
Ethnicity is a physical characteristic and so has no bearing to the spiritual life of a believer. In effect, as we have been emphasizing; whatever your ethnicity happens to be, it does not provide any advantage over others in the spiritual matter. In fact, a person’s ethnicity is irrelevant in the spiritual matter although ignorant believers do not know this truth. Nonetheless, it is important that we emphasize that ethnicity is irrelevant as it pertains to the spiritual life. It is this reality that is stated by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing.
The word “nothing” is translated from a Greek word (oudeis) that as an adjective means “no” as it is used to indicate what is no longer true of those in Christ in Romans 8:1:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
The Greek word may mean “nothing” in a literal sense as it is used in Luke’s reporting that what Apostle Paul taught regarding Christ’s sufferings and resurrection were not beyond what were already stated in the OT Scripture, as we read in Acts 26:22:
But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—
The Greek word although is translated “nothing” in our English versions but in a nonliteral sense it means “worthless, meaningless, invalid” as that is the meaning of the word when the Lord Jesus said something about self-glorification in John 8:54:
Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.
The sentence my glory means nothing is literally my glory is nothing. The word “nothing” in this passage of John 8:54 has the meaning of “worthless” or “invalid” as reflected in the NEB that translated the sentence my glory means nothing as that glory of mine is worthless. It is in the sense of “worthless” or “meaningless” that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:19 so that when the apostle wrote Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing he meant that circumcision or lack of it is worthless or meaningless when it comes to the spiritual life. This assertion of apostle was certainly earth shaking because he was a Jew and because the Jews held circumcision highly since it is a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. That aside, in keeping with our application of this sentence, what the Holy Spirit states is that ethnicity is worthless or meaningless as far as the spiritual life is concerned. This also is earth shaking to those who place premium on their ethnicity. In effect, humans may place importance to ethnicity as they interact with each other but not so in the spiritual life. It has no value in spiritual matters.
In contrast to putting value on a person’s circumcision status or ethnicity, the Holy Spirit through the apostle tells us what is important. It is living the Christian life under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is this that is given in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians7:19 Keeping God’s commands is what counts. The translators of the NIV gave an appropriate interpretative translation of the Greek phrase that literally reads but keeping of commandments of God. Although it is not difficult to understand that the translators of the NIV implied contrast in their translation, but the Greek is clear that the phrase is intended as a contrast to what precedes it because of the word “but” we used in the literal translation is translated from a Greek particle (alla) that has several meanings. However, in our passage, it has the meaning “but” as a conjunction used to express in an emphatic manner a contrast between the immediate clause and the one preceding it. So, the contrast is between valuing circumcision to valuing obedience to God’s word. You see, the word keeping of the NIV is translated from a Greek noun (tērēsis) that has two meanings in Greek NT. One meaning is “prison, jail” as it is used to describe where Apostles Peter and John were kept after their arrest in Acts 4:3:
They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
Another meaning of the word is “obedience, keeping, observance.” It is in this second meaning that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 7:19. Obedience to God’s word is what is important in the spiritual life since the word “commandments” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (entolē) that may mean “law” as it is used in Jesus’ explanation for permitting divorce in the OT Scriptures as we read in Mark 10:5:
“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied.
The word may mean an order, authorizing a specific action hence means “warrant” as that is the sense that the word is used for the orders of Jewish authority for the arrest of Jesus, as narrated in John 11:57:
But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
The word may mean “command” as in the declaration of the Lord Jesus, recorded in John 14:21:
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
The word may mean “instruction” as in Colossians 4:10:
My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)
The word may mean “regulation” as in description of Christ’s priesthood in Hebrews 7:16:
one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.
In 1 Corinthians 7:19, the word may mean “command” as an authoritative directive or instruction to do something. In a sense, it refers to everything that God has given to believers in the Scripture to carry out. Therefore, it is not your ethnicity that matters in the spiritual life but whether you are obeying God’s word. In effect, the Holy Spirit says to you the believer, that you should be sure you are not hung up on ethnicity but are concerned that you obey God’s word. It is living in compliance to God’s word that is important in the spiritual life. The implication is that you should make it your priority to learn God’s word and then to apply it. Doing these should occupy your thoughts so that you put no value to the subject of ethnicity as the world does today. By the way, it is not only to the Corinthians that the apostle used circumcision to indicate that such is of no value as obeying God’s word, so he did with the Galatians, we read, for example, in Galatians 5:6:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Your ethnicity would not get your prayers answered but your obedience would, as we may gather from 1 John 3:22:
and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
So, fellow believers let us pursue obedience to God’s word and never put value to our ethnicity.