"As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you must be circumcised." Genesis 17:9-10
In Chapter 6 of his book, Covenants: God's Way With His People*, O. Palmer Robertson writes about the importance of God sealing His promises. In Genesis 17 we read about the institution of the seal of circumcision. God reviews His promises to Abraham that he will
- make firm his everlasting covenant
- include Abraham's descendants in the covenant
- be God for Abraham and his seed
- give the land to Abraham and his offspring (pg 52)
God commands Abraham (and his descendants) to circumcise eight day old males but along with that comes the responsibility of being part of the covenant community. Robertson notes that all in the covenant community are to be faithful in keeping the covenant. (This sounds somewhat "federal visionist" but I assure you that Robertson is not a federal vision proponent, but critical of it). Robertson makes the point that circumcision does not have the power to save, "Don't think the seal of God's covenant itself has the power to save" (pg 53). The need for cleansing, regeneration, is necessary for salvation.
"The word used for "sign" includes the idea of both signifying and sealing a commitment. As a sign, circumcision offered a signal to the world. The hygienic cleansing of circumcision signified the cleansing necessary for consecration to God" (pg 53).
Robertson explains that circumcision was effective in signifying the "need for cleansing from sin and the availability of that cleansing" (pg 54). Circumcision was also effective in introducing a person to membership in the "externally constituted community of the covenant" (pg 54). For those who have been chosen by God for the possession of eternal life, circumcision was
"effective in sealing them in consecration to God as ministered by the Spirit. Whether or not this person had been born again of the Spirit of God at the time of his circumcision, he was by circumcision sealed in that sure possession of the promise of God. The one who had been designated by God for eternal salvation before the foundation of the world was sealed by circumcision in the certainty of the ultimate possession of the promise." (pg 54)
Circumcision is thought by some people to be something that is only restricted to Abraham and his descendants, but from the beginning of Israel's formation as a covenant community circumcision was "available to men of all nations" (pg 55). Gen 17:13 makes this plain, "both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised". Also we read in Genesis 17 that it was a serious thing to neglect circumcision for those that did would be cut off from his people (Gen 17:14). Robertson reminds us also that there is a double curse for those that were circumcised yet continue to be unrepentant.
We learn three main lessons from this teaching of God's institution of the seal of circumcision.
- "Physical descent is not enough to make true children of God" (pg 56). Instead, the seal "testified to the necessity of cleansing from the defilement of sin". The same could be said of baptism, "The experience of baptism should bring a person to the point of confessing his sin, his unworthiness, his need for cleansing before God" (pg 56).
- God chooses to deal with families in the "bonds of the covenant" (pg 56). God purposes to restore family units in his plan of redemption although natural descent should not be a basis for the hope of redemption. Believers in Christ "should trust in the promises of God concerning the redemption of descendants" (pg 56).
- "Circumcision symbolized inclusion in the community of the covenant" (pg 57). Instead of being merely a sign of national identity, "it related to the heart of the covenant: "I will...be your God and the God of your descendants" (Gen 17:7).
Robertson reminds us that both circumcision and baptism are signs and seals that are intended to "provide a source of assurance for God's people that they belong to the Lord. When coupled with faith they confirm a person in the possession of the blessings of the covenant" (pg 57).
Posts in this series
A Seal For the Promise - Chapter 6, Covenants: God's Way With His People
Precepts and Problems - Chapter 8, Covenants: God's Way With His People
*Robertson, O. Palmer. Covenants: God's Way With His People. Suwanee, GA: Great Commission Publications, 1987. Print.
*Robertson, O. Palmer. Covenants: God's Way With His People. Suwanee, GA: Great Commission Publications, 1987. Print.
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