Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study #29 of Romans 2, and we are reading Romans 2:28-29:

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

This is an incredible statement when we think about it. It goes contrary to what the world thinks and what many churches believe. They think that God’s promises and covenant have to do with the physical “Jew,” the physical descendants of Israel, or one who is a Jew in the flesh. He has the outward sign of circumcision upon him.

And yet, that is not what the Lord is saying. He is saying this plainly, although it is full of hidden truth because God has kept the “blinders” on the eyes of many, but He said, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.” And then the Lord goes on to explain who a true Jew is, in the next verse. It says in Romans 2:29:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

He just turns everything upside down and yet, this is the truth. This is the truth. It is not what man thinks, and man always gravitates toward the physical. He understands that which is physical. He recognizes the physical Jew. He recognizes physical circumcision. “What are you talking about with this idea of a spiritual Jew?” It is one who is a Jew inwardly in the heart, in spirit?. That refers to a spiritual Jew, and that “Jew” may not be a physical Jew. So they reject this idea. It does not compute. It does not make sense to natural-minded people. They do not understand the Word of God, the Bible. They do not understand God and the language of the kingdom of God, which is spiritual. And yet, God is making it clear if you have eyes to see it, and not only is that truth here, but we can go over to Galatians 6:11-16:

Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Here, God is stating that neither circumcision or uncircumcision matters, but what matters is becoming a new creature, and becoming a new creature has to do with being born again or being saved. Remember what we read in 2Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

If any man be in a Christ, he is a new creature. That is how Galatians 16:15 concludes, saying that circumcision does not avail anything, nor uncircumcision. Then verse 16 is continuing that idea by saying that “as many as walk according to this rule” (those that have become new), “peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” The Israel of God are the new creatures. They are the ones that are the true Jews because they are the ones that are in Christ Jesus, and they could be Jew or Gentile; that is, it could be any person of any nation in all the world. Earlier in Galatians, God made that point when He referred to Jesus as the promised seed (singular), and then He said at the end of Galatians 3:26-29:

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Being in Christ is the qualification for being counted for Abraham’s seed and for becoming an heir to receive the inheritance of the promise, which is the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. And that is pointing to the new earth and all the promises of God in the Bible, and they are yours if you are in Christ. In Christ, you are that seed that God promised to Abraham that are likened to the stars for multitude, and that is why Abraham would become “the father of many nations.” And the word “nations” identifies with “Gentiles,” so Abraham would be the father of many Gentiles. God’s people, the chosen of God who are spiritual Jews, are from every tribe, and tongue, and nation. This is also the point in Romans 11, and for a long time these verses were not understood, and many still do not understand them today, but the Lord has opened up the understanding of His people to these things. It says in Romans 11:25-26:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Once the fulness of the Gentiles (nations) would come in, then in that manner, all Israel is saved, because you are not a Jew if you are one outward in the flesh due to circumcision. But you are a Jew if something has happened inwardly of the heart and of the spirit. That is, God must circumcise your heart, and that is what God said in the Old Testament directly to the Jewish people. And He gave this Law to help the Jews understand that they were not to look at the “outward sign,” but they were to dig deeper. It says in Deuteronomy 10:16:

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

God is speaking to the people of Israel (and all the readers of the Bible). He says, “Circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” And for those that say you should take the Bible literally and look only for the plain, literal statement, and seek no other meaning and they speak badly of the whole idea of spiritualizing, let me ask, “Well, tell me how you are going to take this verse literally? How are you going to perform it and keep this Law? If you try to keep this Law, you will end up dead because you cannot physically circumcise the foreskin of your heart. First, the heart does not have ‘foreskin,’ and if you try to cut into your heart, you are going to die, and that is not what God intended.” He intended that they realize the heart that is being referred to has to do with the soul, the spirit of man, and that what is needed is a new heart and a new spirit. And in other places God did say that, so they should have understood, and I am sure that God’s elect of Israel would have understood these things to some degree, and they would have searched these things out because that is the nature of God’s people in all generations. As God gave His people ears to hear and eyes to see, they would have realized that this would have to be performed in some kind of spiritual way. There is no way a man can obey God on this point. Even a Jew reading the book of Deuteronomy by itself could have come to a right conclusion because later on in Deuteronomy 30 God gives greater information concerning circumcision of the heart, where he says in Deuteronomy 30:6:

And JEHOVAH thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love JEHOVAH thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

And there is a reference to the “seed” that we saw in Galatians 3. Those in Christ are counted for the seed, and God will circumcise the hearts of that seed, both Jew and Gentile, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” and they will be counted for all Israel, all God’s elect that were predestinated before the foundation of the world. These are the Israel of God, spiritual Jews, and all are circumcised in the heart or soul. God has cut away the sinful nature of their old heart and given them a new heart, and, therefore, they are likened to someone who has been spiritually circumcised. And they are now spiritual Jews, although they may be of any race, color, or creed.

This is the teaching of the whole Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is the teaching of the Word of God. And, again, we wonder how it is possible for so many pastors and churches to read these things and not to “see” it? But that is the nature of (spiritual) blindness. Something can be right before you, but you cannot see them because you are blind, and that is the situation with the churches and congregations, especially now. They are all spiritually dead. They are in darkness and spiritual blindness, so they are deceived into thinking that God has some special plan concerning the nation of Israel and the physical Jews, the descendants of Abraham. They believe that they are the “holy people,” and they do not realize that the Gentiles are considered to be “Jews” by God if they are saved, and the physical Jews are not considered to be a “Jew” if they are not saved by being circumcised in heart, and their circumcision is counted for uncircumcision. That is the language we were reading toward the end of Romans 2. But if someone is born again, they are circumcised in heart, and they will keep the Law, and their uncircumcision is counted for circumcision. That is the point God is making there, and it is really an amazing teaching as the Lord unveils this mystery as He has done.

Let us go back to Romans 2 and go on with the last part of Romans 2:29:

…and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

So the true Jew is one that is circumcised in the spirit and “not in the letter.” We wonder what this reference to “letter” means? If we go to Romans 7, we find the same word, and this word translated as “letter” is the word “gramma,” and it is Strong’s #1121, and it is found several times in the New Testament. It says in Romans 7:6:

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

When God saves someone, they are delivered from the Law where they were held in a spiritually dead condition because of having broken the Law, but now in being made born again and becoming a spiritual Jew, they serve God in “newness of spirit” as a new creature, and they are no longer serving “in the oldness of the letter.” That is, they are no longer trying to keep the Law to get right with God and obtain righteousness through that Law.

The word “letter” is also used in John 5:46-47:

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

The word “writings” is the same word. If you believe not his letters, how will you believe Christ’s Word? Of course, the “letters” of Moses are the first five books of the Bible, so it is the Word of God. So “letters” have to do with the whole Word of God, the Bible, and that is the Law of God, so the word “letters” identifies with the Law.

We also read in 2Timothy 3:-15:

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The word “scriptures” is Strong’s #1121, the Greek word “gramma.”

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Here, the word “scripture” is a related word, “graphē,” Strong’s #1124, and this word is found over 50 times in the New Testament, and it is the usual word for “scripture.” All scripture is given by inspiration of God, so the “holy letters” are related and they are speaking of the same thing that scripture refers to, God’s divine revelation, which is the Bible.

So with that reference to “letter,” let us go back to our verse in Romans 2:29:

…and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter…

The “letter” is the Word of God, the Law of God, wherein you can find God’s commandment to circumcise your child on the eighth day, for example, as Abraham obeyed God and circumcised his house on the eighth day, and as the Lord Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, and so forth. So the reference to the “letter” is a reference to the Law which has commanded man to obey and keep it. And yet, God is setting it up so that a person can either fulfill the Law in spirit by being born again and receiving the righteousness of Christ, or the person can try to keep “the letter” of the Law by trying to keep the commandments, but that will fail.

Then it goes on to say in the last part of Romans 2:29:

…whose praise is not of men, but of God.

That is, the one who is a Jew inwardly and has received the circumcision of the heart and spirit does not have praise of men, but he does have praise of God. And that is because men rejoice and take delight in outward signs. We can see that in Galatians 6, where we already read some of these verses. It says in Galatians 6:12-13:

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

They would glory if a Gentile became a Jew in this manner. “It is so great that this person has taken the sign of the covenant and placed themselves under the Law.” Of course, they themselves are not able to keep the Law, and it has brought condemnation to them, and now it will bring condemnation to another, but they still think this is wonderful that they have the sign of the covenant, and they glory in that. And that person would receive praise of men.

I think this can also be understood in the sense of the New Testament churches. They did the same thing the Jews did. The Jews were given the sign of circumcision, but the New Testament church was given the sign of baptism, and God does tie the two (signs) together in Colossians 2:10-11:

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

And this is pointing to the inward “circumcision” of the heart that we were looking at earlier, and we can know it is spiritual because it says, “without hands,” and you cannot do that work of physical circumcision without hands, but, spiritually, it does not require hands. Then after telling us that, it says in Colossians 2:12:

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Circumcision goes right along with baptism because they are teaching the same spiritual thing. To be circumcised in heart is to put off the body of the sins of the flesh. It is the cutting away of sin as God takes out the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh. Likewise, this is true of being “buried with him in baptism,” as baptism is the washing away of sin. That is the spiritual understanding of baptism in the Bible, and the physical sign of “water baptism” pointed to the cleansing of the sins of the sinner, but that is a spiritual thing. And we were in Christ at the foundation of the world if we are elect of God. Every single one of His elect were in Christ at the foundation of the world as He bore our sins, and God poured out His wrath and slew the Lamb, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In His death, the payment for sin was made, and our sins were washed away by the “fires of hell,” the grave, as Jesus experienced death on our part. And we were washed. We were made new creatures.

So it is the identical spiritual teaching as circumcision of the heart and, therefore, the churches and congregations have made the same error as the Jews. They have gloried in getting numbers of people to be baptized physically: “Oh, our church had five new people get baptized, and at our mission, we baptized 100 people.” And there was great rejoicing and glorying, with the praise of men: “O, hallelujah! Welcome to the family of God. You are saved now!” (And if it was not said, it was definitely implied.) But God says that true salvation is the circumcision of the heart, and baptism is done by the Holy Spirit in salvation. It is all spiritual. Nobody can see it. And there is no celebration of men regarding it, but of God. But of God – it is all of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It is not by the will of man, but of God, we are told. And, so, too, does He have the praise regarding the salvation of His people.