Romans 2:25-29 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Romans 2:25-29. Let’s go!
Romans 2:25-29 (NIV)
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.
26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?
27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.
29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
On verses 25-29: Here Paul is speaking to his fellow Jewish Christians in Rome about circumcision. To those who might take pride in the fact that they were circumcised and who saw their circumcision as evidence of a close relationship with God, Paul clarifies that:
1. If our hearts are not inclined to live for God, the outward signs we wear that show an apparently close relationship to God are of little value and don’t make up for our lack of heart. That applies whether we’re talking about circumcision or wearing a cross or other outward signs that supposedly show one’s spirituality.
2. But if our hearts are inclined to live for God, those outward signs we wear take on special value (v25) only because they’re a reflection of our heart. For it all depends on our “inwardly” (v29) disposition, the attitude of our heart. That is why it is not necessary for Christians to be physically circumcised, for the real circumcision that matters to God is a circumcision of the heart – that is, a putting aside of our old life in exchange for a new life that Christ made possible. As Paul would write elsewhere to Gentile Christians in the city of Colosse, “In him [that is, Christ] 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, 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.” (Colossians 2:11-12).
3. We are living not for the praise of people, but for the glory of God. As Paul writes in verse 29, “a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.”
Father, may I not live for the praise of people, but for Your glory. Here’s my heart today. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
