17:13
The covenant applied not just to Abraham’s direct descendants, but to anyone in his household, however they came to be members. This was to be an everlasting covenant. One can understand why the Jews in New Testament times considered circumcision to be so important, and many thought that all members of the new covenant must be circumcised. This is why Paul had to battle so hard on this matter.
17:14
Any uncircumcised male who was not circumcised would be cut off from the covenant. In Exodus we will read of a time when Moses nearly fell foul of this (Ex 4:24-26). Does all this have any relevance for us today? We have already noted that circumcision was not the covenant itself, but a sign of the covenant. In Deuteronomy the emphasis is on being circumcised in the heart (Deut 10:16, 30:6). For today I think we can say that the Bible knows nothing of “nominal Christians”. If you are a “nominal Christian” then you are not a Christian, at least in any sense that the Bible understands.
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