As we know, during his time in Corinth, Paul planted a congregation and eventually had to confront the situations commonly faced by everyone who served the Lord under His Great Commission, just as he did. Many in this church misinterpreted freedom, so he decided to write to them and address the issue from the angles where they stumbled most often. Life and Connection with God generate freedom in the human being, but this freedom is not for lawlessness; rather, it is for taking on the commandments given by God for righteous living within that freedom. Thus, on one of these points, he tells the Corinthians:

“Was anyone among you called while circumcised? Let him remain circumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the state in which he was called.” (1 Corinthians 7:18–20, NKJV adapted).

Paul, like all the apostles and gospel preachers at that time, had a problem with many consequences that arose with the conversion of the Gentiles regarding the issue of circumcision. This was not because God created the problem, but because of the Pharisaic misinterpretation. Firstly, they failed to understand that circumcision was the “sign” that Abraham’s descendants had to adopt if they wanted a covenant with God. But the “sign” (ot) was not the “covenant” (brit) itself, because God was not circumcised. He simply said, “I will do this, and that’s it.” It was then Abraham and his descendants who had to make a “sign” that proved and reflected the acceptance of that covenant with God. Thus, when a millennium later the rabbis said it was necessary to perform brit milah, they were simply running into a problem by elevating the status of that “sign” (milah) to that of “covenant” (brit) when it was not (Genesis 17:11), thereby invalidating God’s plan through distortion. Secondly, with their teachings, they included that “sign” (elevated to “covenant”) as if it were among the 613 commandments (mitzvot), which it is not. While the covenant was necessary to receive the Torah—indeed, they received it precisely because they were already under the covenant, having received the sign of circumcision—the covenant itself was not legislated among the commandments. In other words, circumcision was the sign that they accepted the covenant, and then, in His infinite mercy, God gave them the Torah through Moses. That is why circumcision is spoken of as something assumed, yet it is not legislated.

Now, with the coming of the Messiah, God performs the miracle of Life and Connection in an individual dealing with every person who was dead as a descendant of the first Adam. This establishes in the believer in Yeshua a new condition very different from the one Abraham had, whom God compelled to do something physical as a sign of receiving the covenant when he was still Abram.

Thus, Life and Connection with God produce fruits that become the sign of a group distinct from the rest of humanity, both among the Jews (who were circumcised by their fathers on the eighth day of birth when they had neither Life nor Connection) and among the Gentiles (who did not even know a covenant possibility existed). This new group does not need, like Abram, to make a physical sign that demonstrates acceptance of the covenant, because they have simply already received the promise of the covenant in Life and Connection.

Therefore, for this “specifically” new human being, there is no need to make a physical sign of any kind of covenant, because they are already in the covenant. For example, the malach Michael does not need to make any covenant with God because he is already, through his own nature, under a covenant with God that enables him to live out his service and worship excellently under the standards God has established for His malachim.

Based on this new nature of Life and Connection, Paul states that neither circumcision (because the rabbis still teach today that if a person converting was already circumcised, they must be circumcised again, which is done by pricking the remaining foreskin with a needle) nor uncircumcision matters for those who, having Life and Connection, are in a new covenant, and therefore should remain as they were when they came to the Messiah. This is also the same reason why Paul tells the Galatians that those who become circumcised, having begun with Life and Connection, are as if they were stepping out of that covenant and entering a more limited covenant like the one Abraham lived. They would then have to greet the city from afar, as if they had never entered it (Galatians 5:1–4).

From this problem they faced, and guided by the Holy Spirit, they applied and taught the above. Three questions may arise:

1. Is it unnecessary to practice circumcision? Negative. This is only unnecessary for those who have Life and Connection and live under the New Covenant, but not for their children. Their children simply do not have Life or Connection, and circumcision is the sign that they have been introduced into a covenant with God—a covenant that exists for those who lack Life and Connection—until God produces Life and Connection in them and they transition to the covenant where they do not need that sign, even if they possess it (because even for them, old things must pass away).

2. Is it a sin to be circumcised for someone who has Life and Connection? Not at all. It is simply no longer a sign for those who have Life and Connection, so they cannot be forced or blackmailed with deception (as the Pharisees did in Paul’s time and as some do today for similar reasons).

3. For whom is it permissible to be circumcised today after having Life and Connection? Only for those who desire it for themselves, and the reasons may be: (1) Caring for the body, because even atheist doctors recognize that under circumcision the rate of prostate or uterine cancer is nearly zero. (2) To be able to integrate out of love among those for whom circumcision is indispensable because they do not know or disregard the need for Life and Connection. Hence, Paul, who is accused by superstitious Jews and Gentiles even today of being against circumcision, tells the same Galatians whom he first told not to be circumcised due to compulsion or blackmail: “And I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?” (Galatians 5:11).

Author: Dr. Liber Aguiar.