Genesis 17:1-14 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 17:1-14. Let’s go!
Genesis 17:1-8 (NIV)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.
2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
On verses 1-8: Previously God made a covenant (a legally binding promise) to Abram in Genesis 15, promising to give Abram the land from the Nile to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18). Now, in addition to God telling Abram to walk before Him and be blameless (v1), God confirms His covenant with Abram and gives the covenant more definition, like a sculpture getting more and more refined by its sculptor. Here God confirms that the covenant includes Abram being the father of many nations (v4), with Abram’s name changing to Abraham (meaning “father of many”) (v5). God also confirms that the covenant is an everlasting one for all of Abraham’s descendants (v7) ad that God is giving to Abraham and his descendants the whole land of Canaan (v8).
What can we learn from this? Notice that as Abraham’s faith grows and matures, his understanding of the covenant that God had made with him also grows and matures. As you grow and mature in your faith, along with that you will have a deeper, broader and fuller understanding of all the riches and blessings you possess in Jesus Christ.
Genesis 17:9-14 (NIV)
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner–those who are not your offspring.
13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
On verses 9-14: God tells Abraham that every male in his family must be circumcised as a sign that they are under this covenant (v10-14). God says that this “is to be an everlasting covenant” (v13). Does this mean that male Christians today, as spiritual children of Abraham, should be physically circumcised? No. Physical circumcision was a requirement for the physical descendants of Abraham (i.e. the Jews), to remind them that a covenant existed between God and Abraham. But for the spiritual children of Abraham, that is, those who receive their righteousness by faith like we do, physical circumcision is not a requirement to be saved and accepted by God. That is why, on the debate of whether or not Christians should be physically circumcised, Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 7:18 (NIV)
18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called [i.e. when he believed in Jesus]? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.
By itself, physical circumcision has no spiritual value (Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 7:19). Rather, what counts is spiritual circumcision, which is what Jesus does for us, cutting off the tumour that is our sinful nature, when we believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again to life. As Colossians 2:11-12 says:
Colossians 2:11-12 (NIV)
11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
For more on this topic of why Christians today don’t need to be physically circumcised, see 1 Corinthians 7:18; Galatians 6:15; Colossians 3:11; Romans 2:25-29; Romans 3:30; Romans 4:9-12.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the covenant You made with Abraham, how the blessings of that covenant reach to me, because like Abraham by faith I am made righteous by You and called Your child. Thank You, Jesus, for circumcising my heart and cutting away my sinful nature when I placed my faith in what He did for me by dying on the cross and rising again. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!Save
