Sermon – Genesis 17 – Circumcision

  • 1 … Today will conclude our three-week journey in Genesis 17. 

  • 2 … Two weeks ago we studied the names in Genesis 17. 
    • Abram’s name was changed to Abraham. 
    • Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah. 
    • The LORD said He was El-Shaddai or God-Almighty.
    • Isaac’s name meant “he laughs.”

  • 3 … Last week we looked at the command the LORD gave in the first verse.
    • Serve Me faithfully and live a blameless life.

  • 4 … This week we will look at another command the LORD gives as He reaffirms His covenant with Abraham – that being circumcision.

  • 5 … Genesis 17:1-8 (NLT – Abram is Named Abraham) … (1) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai – ‘God Almighty.’  Serve Me faithfully and live a blameless life. 
  • 6 … (2) I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”  (3) At this, Abram fell face down to the ground.  Then God said to him, (4) “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! 
  • 7 … (5) What’s more, I am changing your name.  It will no longer be Abram.  Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.  (6) I will make you extremely fruitful.  Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them. 
  • 8 … (7) I will confirm My covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation.  This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.  (8) And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants.  It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”

  • 9 … Genesis 17:9-14 (NLT – The Mark of the Covenant) … (9) Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant.  You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.  (10) This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 

  • 10 … (11) You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between Me and you.  (12) From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth.  This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. 
  • 11 … (13) All must be circumcised.  Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.  (14) Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”

  • 12 … Genesis 17:23-27 (NLT) … (23) On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought.  Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him.  (24) Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

  • 13 … (25) and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen.  (26) Both Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised on that same day, (27) along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants.  All were circumcised with him.

  • 14 … God reaffirms the covenant to make Abraham the father of many nations, to give the entire land of Canaan to his descendants, and to be their God.

  • 15 … The only requirement that God gives Abraham and his descendants, in this passage at least, is for them to be circumcised – for the flesh of their foreskin to be removed.

  • 16 … So, Abraham agreed and circumcised himself, his son Ishmael, and every other male in his household.  And in the future anyone that joined the Jewish faith had to be circumcised and anyone born into the Jewish faith was circumcised on the 8th day.

  • 17 … God also tells Abraham that He will confirm the covenant with Isaac as well, who would be born the following year at the same time.  God also says that those not circumcised would be “cut off” from their own people; and this could be either expelled from their people or possibly even killed.

  • 18 … What is Circumcision?
    • Simply put, it is the removal of the foreskin.

  • 19 … Who Practices Circumcision?
    • Mainly Jews and Muslims, who both come from Abraham, but there are segments of other religions and even non-religious people that practice this.
    • Some Christians even practice this because Christianity came from the Jewish faith and because Jesus was circumcised.

  • 20 … Reasons for Circumcision Across Religions and Cultures
    • Religious Sacrifice … Rite of Passage … Magic for fertility … Reduce/Remove pleasure

  • 21 … Reasons for Circumcision Across Religions and Cultures (continued)
    • As an aid to hygiene where regular bathing was impractical … Marking those of higher social status … Humiliating enemies and slaves by symbolic castration … Differentiating one group of people from another
  • 22 … Reasons for Circumcision Across Religions and Cultures (continued)
    • Discouraging masturbation and other socially proscribed sexual behaviors
    • Demonstration of a man’s ability to endure pain
    • To copy the rare occurrence of a missing foreskin of an important person
    • As a way to repel demonesses

  • 23 … Why Circumcision in Judaism?
    • Simply put, because God commanded it.

  • 24 … Why This Mark?
    • Why circumcision?
    • Who would see it?
    • Who would know about it?
    • Why a private mark and not a public mark?

  • 25 … Why Circumcision?
    • Think back to what God has promised Abraham.
    • He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations.
    • How is a child created?

  • 26 … Why Circumcision?
    • The male contribution to a pregnancy comes through the same body part that was to be circumcised.

  • 27 … Why Circumcision?
    • God is telling Abraham to trust Him to bring the child of promise and this “mark” is to remind Abraham.

  • 28 … Who Would Know About This Private Mark?
    • God … Parents
    • Mohel (A Jew trained in “brit milah” or the covenant of circumcision)
      • Many are doctors and/or rabbis
    • Wife … Friends / Neighbors (baths – swimming – sports) … Self
  • 29 … Why Not Something Else?
    • Tattoo … Dress … Piercing … Hair Style … Noah got the rainbow – this is crazy!

  • 30 … Why Circumcision?
    • God wanted it this way; and for men and their wives to know that it is God that is in control and for them to lean on Him for support, guidance, and for their family.

  • 31 … What Were The Benefits of Being Circumcised?
    • Those circumcised were a part of the Jewish Faith.
    • They could enter the Temple Courts and worship.
  • 32 … What Happened If A Jew Was Not Circumcised?
    • They were removed – “Cut Off” – from their own people.
    • They could not enter the Temple – couldn’t worship.

  • 33 … Genesis 21:4 (NLT) … Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded.

  • 34 … Exodus 12:48 (NLT) … If there are foreigners living among you who want to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, let all their males be circumcised.  Only then may they celebrate the Passover with you like any native-born Israelite.  But no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal.
  • 35 … Leviticus 12:3 (NLT) … On the eighth day the boy’s foreskin must be circumcised.
  • 36 … So, it was pretty settled that in order for a male to be a Jew – to be able to celebrate the Passover – to enter the Temple – to be able to worship – that he had to be circumcised.
  • 37 … Circumcision made a male a Jew, but circumcision alone did not make a person have a relationship with God, did not force a person to obey God’s commands, did not force a person to have morals.
  • 38 … Jeremiah 4:4 (ESV) … Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.
  • 39 … Circumcision is not only physical, but is also symbolic of the cutting away of the sinfulness of man, so that we can live for the Lord.
  • 40 … Deuteronomy 10:12-16 (NLT) … (12) And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you?  He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases Him, and love Him and serve Him with all your heart and soul.  (13) And you must always obey the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.  (14) Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God.  (15) Yet the LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of His love.  And He chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident today.  (16) Therefore, change your hearts – circumcised them – and stop being stubborn.
  • 41 … Romans 2:28-29 (NLT) … (28) For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision.  (29) No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.  And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit.  And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
  • 42 … Do Christians Have To Be Circumcised?
    • The simple answer is “no”

  • 43 … Acts 15 goes into detail about the debate about whether or not Christians had to be circumcised – or become Jews first – in order to be believers; and if they had to follow the Law as well.

  • 44 … Acts 15:10 (NLT) … Peter Speaking … (10) So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?  (11) We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the underserved grace of the Lord Jesus.

  • 45 … Acts 15:19-20 (NLT) … James Speaking … (19) And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.  (20) Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 

  • 46 … Acts 15:28-29 (NLT) … Letter sent to the churches … (28) For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: (29) You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.  If you do this, you will do well.  Farewell.

  • 47 … Since circumcision was a sign of being a Jew and since Gentile believers were not required to become Jewish first – to be circumcised – what would set Christians apart from the world?

  • 48 … Being saved of course – placing trust in Jesus Christ – trusting in Him as Lord and Savior – living your life with Him as #1 – following His commands – loving others – serving others.

  • 49 … Being a part of the Church – and in Greek it means being called out of the world and to God … ekklesia … ek – out from and to … kaleo – to call …

  • 50 … Being a part of the Church and being part of a local church separates you from the world … when you meet and you are there, you are saying to the world, that you put God first and that you care more about being with fellow believers for prayer, study, worship, encouragement, and accountability instead of being anywhere else or doing anything else.

  • 51 … How do people join a church? … lots of churches have a brief ceremony where a person or people confirm they believe what the church believes and/or what their denomination believes and that they are saved and have been baptized … so it is baptism that initiates believers into the Church and signifies them as Christians.

  • 52 … Romans 6:3 (NLT) … Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we join Him in His death?
  • 53 … Colossians 2:12 (NLT) … For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized.  And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

  • 54 … Galatians 3:27 (NLT) … And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.

  • 55 … 1st Corinthians 12:13 (NLT) … Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free.  But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

  • 56 … Now some have replaced circumcision with baptism as the be all, end all of the faith.  Just like some Jews only focused on outward circumcision to be a part of the faith – some Christians just focus on baptism on bringing people – usually babies – into the faith; and sadly, some just leave it at that.

  • 57 … Where do they get this idea? … partially from Romans 4 where Paul writes that Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of his righteousness; and comparing that with verses that say the Holy Spirit is our seal and the verses that say we are given the Holy Spirit when we are baptized.  (2nd Corinthians 1:22 … Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30)

  • 58 … So, they say, if we are sealed at baptism and given the Holy Spirit, then it is best to baptize babies and lock them.  (beliefs can vary amongst those groups about making a profession when a child comes of age or if baptism is good enough on its own to save).

  • 59 … However, we do not agree with this – we do not teach this – we do not practice this … Just as circumcision did not save anyone, but was a testimony – so is baptism – it shows our participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus – we must endure!

  • 60 … Abraham and his descendants were circumcised as part of their covenant with God – and were also to follow the Law and live righteous lives in keeping with their faith … only “true” Jews were saved, not just those that thought circumcision would save them.

  • 61 … Likewise with us … we are saved and baptized to be part of the New Covenant – one that was established through Jesus’ blood and He said during the Last Supper.

  • 62 … Just like “true” Jews were to have a changed heart, “true” Christians are also to have a changed heart, follow Christ’s commands, exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit, and use their spiritual gifts to build up the Church.

  • 63 … So, my challenge to you is this … circumcise your hearts … remove all sin from your life … repent if needed … replace the sin with righteousness … love others … share the Gospel … pray … come to church … give … serve … don’t just look the part outwardly, but be true inwardly as well.