Reader Questions/Comments


Isn't circumcision just an Old Testament Jewish thing?


The Netzarim Response


No, it isn't. "Religion" doesn't play a part in Yahweh's commands! As "grafted in" believers to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Messiah Yeshua, every male has to be circumcised. Yahweh said that male babies must be circumcised when they are eight days old (Genesis 21:4). But, remember, Abraham was circumcised at the ripe old age of 99 (Genesis 17:24) which shows us that there is no age limit. Once a man becomes a Torah observant believer in Messiah Yeshua, he must become circumcised.

Genesis 17: 7 "I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you. 8 I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena'an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God." 9 God said to Avraham, "As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. 10 Here is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you, along with your descendants after you: every male among you is to be circumcised. 11 You are to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Generation after generation, every male among you who is eight days old is to be circumcised, including slaves born within your household and those bought from a foreigner not descended from you. 13 The slave born in your house and the person bought with your money must be circumcised; thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who will not let himself be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin - that person will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my covenant." (Stern's)

The key is right here:

Exodus 12: 48 If a foreigner staying with you wants to observe ADONAI's Pesach, all his males must be circumcised. Then he may take part and observe it; he will be like a citizen of the land. But no uncircumcised person is to eat it. 49 The same teaching is to apply equally to the citizen and to the foreigner living among you." 50 All the people of Isra'el did just as ADONAI had ordered Moshe and Aharon. 51 On that very day, ADONAI brought the people of Isra'el out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

As "grafted in" believers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, EVERY male must be circumcized. The death of Yeshua never negated that "forever" command.

1 Corinthians 7: 18. Is a circumcised person called, let him not revert to uncircumcision: and if one uncircumcised be called, let him not become circumcised.[1] 19. For circumcision is nothing, neither is uncircumcision; but the keeping of Elohim’s commands.[2] (AENT)

Footnotes by Andrew Gabriel Roth and Baruch ben Daniel:

[1] Perhaps an odd statement to modern ears. During the conquests by Ptolemies, Seleucids and the Romans, Jews were under pressure to assimilate into the Gentile societies. One of the ways Jew assimilated was to compete at the Olympic Games (see 1 Corinthians 9:24). Since all athletes competed in the nude, a circumcised Jew faced an obvious dilemma. And so, many Jews made the unfortunate decision to reverse the appearance of their circumcision! Ironically, if they had been inspected at the Temple, they would have been barred.

[2] This is the key verse of the whole discourse in this chapter. Making circumcision into a tradition and distorting it into something other than what is intended by YHWH is to bring it to “nothing.” Most Christians tend to read “circumcision is nothing” and stop there, as if that is the message Rav Shaul is sending out. But they fail to grasp the last line, because if keeping Elohim’s commands is what counts, circumcision is most definitely one of these Commandments! The Renewed Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:8) was given to the house of Israel and Judah, but includes all others who join, meaning the Renewed Covenant is not just a “Jewish thing” nor is there a division between what Jews observe and what “Elohim Fearing” non-Jewish disciples of Y’shua observe. The Kingdom of Elohim is open for all souls to enter, and we are all called into His Kingdom on His terms, not ours.