Salvation is purely by grace and cannot be earned through actions. You may not think circumcision contributes to salvation, but neither do practices like baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and church attendance. We must avoid legalistic teachers; they distract from grace. Moses and Jeremiah emphasised the need for a heart change, a view supported by the Apostle Paul, who stated that the Spirit performs true circumcision. I say all that before we read this:
“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.” (Genesis 17 v 9-14)
Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, a physical mark pointing to the spiritual reality that God declares people righteous before Him. Significantly, Abraham was counted as righteous before he was circumcised, proving that the outward sign didn’t create the inward reality. If circumcision itself made someone righteous, then only men could be righteous, an impossibility. Righteousness comes by faith alone, not by works. It is God’s act, not ours. Circumcision was simply the sign pointing to what God had already done.
Has the Holy Spirit circumcised your heart, the real you? That is the question.
This isn’t about outward performance or public display. It’s a private, personal question: Has the Spirit of God marked you with a genuine encounter? Has He removed something from your life? Have you surrendered something precious? Has He painfully broken you—yet brought healing?
Is your heart truly obedient to God? Do you genuinely desire to walk before Him in faithfulness?
If you can answer yes, then your life becomes the sign—a living testimony to Christ and the new covenant. You embody the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness that comes through faith in Him.
You don’t have to prove you are His, and doing so becomes impossible.
Your best attempts to prove you belong to God are futile.
If those who don’t belong obeyed God’s laws (and no one can be that obedient), they would belong more than those who say they belong to God and try to prove it by their efforts.
Missions Paul 