Shabbat shalom chaverim and welcome back to the second part of our study of Acts 15. I had planned to plunge right into the text today but I was reminded by the Ruach/Spirit that we have to do something else first. If we are going to properly understand the relationship of circumcision to the New Covenant and avoid stirring up more controversy between evangelicals and messianics we must first go back to the beginning when circumcision was first commanded and why it was commanded. To do that we have to go all the way back to Genesis 17 and to a very familiar part of the Bible story: Genesis 17 - which is, by all accounts, a strange chapter. So let's open our Bibles and read through that and then we're going to ask some question you perhaps have never heard asked before. I am indebted to Joe Rigney [1] who, to my knowledge, was the first asked them which enabled me to 'round off', as it were, all I have been teaching about circumcision since I first created our circumcision website in 2008. I have borrowed extensively from his work.

So let's read that chapter in the New King James Version:

"17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty Elohim/God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and Elohim/God talked with him, saying: 4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim/God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their Elohim/God."

9 And Elohim/God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an aeonian (age-long, 'everlasting' covenant). 14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."

15 Then Elohim/God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her." 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18 And Abraham said to Elohim/God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" 19 Then Elohim/God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year." 22 Then He finished talking with him, and Elohim/God went up from Abraham.

23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as Elohim/God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; 27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him" (Genesis 17, NKJV).

Today we're going to take a look at two main questions:

• 1. If Yahweh made a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15, as He did (and if you have forgotten that, I'll leave you to read that chapter again afterwards), why does He make a covenant again in Genesis 17? and

• 2. Why establish circumcision as the sign of this covenant? (Remember, circumcision did not exist as a divinely mandated ordinannce between the time of Adam and Abraham until this moment).

When we meet Abram in Genesis 11, he is living with his father Terah and his nephew Lot in the land of Haran en route to the unspecified Promised Land from Ur. He's about 75 years old and he has no children because his wife Sarai is barren. After the death of his father, Yahweh calls Abram to leave his country and his kindred, and makes some very great promises to Him. However, the initial promise is broad and purposefully contains a lot of unknowns so that he can grow in faith. Yahweh gives these instructions and promises:

• 1. Go to the land I will show you (but which land, and how big it is, must wait);
• 2. I will make you great so that you will be a blessing (no mention of children yet); and
• 3. I will protect you for the sake of all the families of the world.

Abram listens and obediently follows Yahweh, and he becomes a family cohen (priest) after the Order of Melchizedek (not what would become the Levitical Order), establishing true worship in the land that Yahweh shows him. He claims the land through Yahweh's mitzvah/command, through worship and building altars where people can call upon the name of Yahweh.

Genesis 13 emphasises the importance of the land. Abram and Lot separate because the land can't support them both. Yahweh gives greater specificity about the land; he takes Abram on a walking tour of Canaan and shows him the region north, south, east, and west. More importantly, we get the first mention of offspring (Gen.13:15-16). The land will belong to Abram's offspring, and they will be as numerous as the dust of the earth. And Abram continues his priestly work, building altars and offering Yahweh simple, basic worship and obedience.

In Genesis 14, we see Abram's increasing maturity and prominence as he rescues Lot from a confederation of kings in the midst of a great war. He defeats kings in battle. He rejects payment from a wicked king. And he pays tribute to a godly king, his priestly overlord, Melchizedek from the City of Salem, where there is a small temple, the place known by the locals as Jebus that David will conquer and rename Jerusalem. In other words, Abram distinguishes between good and evil, which is the definition of Royal Wisdom. Abram is not just a cohen (priest), but a melek (king). He rules in wisdom and exercises dominion over the land Yahweh has given him.

In Genesis 15, we see then Abram as a navi (prophet). He has lived in the land for about 3 years (the reason the animals that Abram sacrificed in Genesis 15 needed to be three years old is that they were an offering of the bikkurim or firstfruits of the land that Yahweh promised to Abram and his descendants). So he is 78 years old, and Yahweh appears to him in a vision, encouraging him in his faith, and addressing the problems with the promise. Yahweh promised offspring; there were no offspring as of yet. And so Yahweh gives Abram more specificity about the promise: "one from your loins, Abram, will be your heir, not your servant Eliezer. And your descendants will be as countless as the stars" (Gen.15:4).

And then we get the strange ritual that is likely about the land: the divided animals represent the weak, divided, war-torn land, and the flaming torch and smoking firepot represent the presence of Yahweh, binding Abram to the land. This is an anticipation of the Exodus, and in fact, Yahweh gives the navi (prophet) Abram greater specific detail about what is to come. "Know for certain that your offspring will sojourn in a foreign land, be afflicted for 400 years. Yahweh will judge the oppressive nation, and Abram's children will come out with great wealth, and then come back to the promised land." What's more, Yahweh gives greater definition to the promised land — it stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates, and includes all the territories of these peoples, a prediction that has not been fulfilled yet and won't be until the Millennium.

And finally, Yahweh's promise becomes a covenant - the Covenant of Abraham. A covenant is a formal relationship - it has order and structure. It involves promises and oaths, blessings and curses. It's as though Yahweh is putting His promise in writing. However, at this point, the accent of the covenant is on Yahweh's initiation and promise, and Abram's simple response of faith. Yahweh's davar (word) carries the force of reality with Abram. He has the assurance of things hoped for, and he's embraced the evidence of the future, unseen things (Heb.11:1).

In Genesis 16, cohen (priest), melek (king), and navi (prophet) Abram is now 85 years old. It's been seven years since Yahweh promised that one from his loins would be his heir. No doubt he and his wife have been trying to conceive a son. But they don't. And so, Sarai finally gets tired of waiting, and Abram and Sarai take matters into their own hands. There are many echoes of Genesis 3 in this passage. Like Adam and Eve, this is Abram and Sarai's fall:

• 1. In Genesis 3, Yahweh gave the command to Adam, who then instructed his wife Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit. In Genesis 15-16, Yahweh made the promise to Abram, who then passed it on his wife Sarah;

• 2. In Genesis 3, Eve believes that Yahweh is withholding something good from them (being like Yahweh, knowing good and evil). In Genesis 16, Sarai believes that Yahweh is withholding something from her, preventing her from having children;

• 3. In Genesis 3, Eve gives the forbidden fruit to Adam. In Genesis 16, Sarai gives her servant to Abram in place of herself to whom the promise has actually been given. In both cases, the couple believes that taking the fruit/Hagar (because it looks good/seems to be the solution) will lead to blessing, honour, and glory; and

• 4. In both passages, seizing what's forbidden leads to shame and blame. Please note that what's forbidden isn't Abram's right to take another wife (which is never forbidden or labeled a sin in Scripture) but attempting to do make a Divine Promise come to pass through fleshy means instead of letting Yahweh fulfil it by HIS means, Sarai. The result is that Hagar looks with contempt upon her barren mistress, just as Adam and Eve knew their nakedness and were ashamed. And then Sarah blames Abram for all of it, just as Adam and Eve blamed others for their respective sins - Eve for disobeying Adam's command, and Adam by saying Eve made him do it, as though he had no agency - Adam became the first crypto-Calvinist, blaming fate in the form of his wife!

Now at this point, we get a variation on Genesis 3. In Genesis 3, Yahweh drives Adam and Eve out of the garden. In Genesis 16, it's not Abram and Sarah who are driven out; instead Sarah, with Abram's permission, drives out Hagar, who flees pregnant, into the wilderness.

Let me clear about one point here about Hagar here. In this story, Hagar is not the temptress. She doesn't tempt Abram to fall. Sarai does. Sarah recruits a legitimate principle, plural marriage, for a misguided purpose. She's trying to cheat. Hagar is the fruit. She's an Egyptian servant, a slave. She's the pawn in this situation, used by Abram and Sarah, and then discarded. Yet she's not completely innocent either - she does show contempt for her mistress. She is both sinned against and sinning. And there are people in here who know what that's like. You've been used by the 'important' people. You've served their needs, and then been rejected once they're done with you. You've been sinned against, and in response, you've sinned back. And you might feel dirty and used and worthless and you might just want to run away. And I want to therefore encourage you with the story of Hagar.

You may have been used by people, but you have not been forgotten by Yahweh. Yahweh meets Hagar in the wilderness. He promises to multiply her offspring so that they too are numberless. He has a purpose in all of this. Hagar's seed isn't an accident, nor is it the fruit of adultery, because plural marriage isn't adultery but rather plural marriage, and Hagar herself, are being misused. He urges her to be faithful in the hard situation, returning and submitting to her mistress. Listen to Yahweh's words to her: "Behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael." What does that remind you of? It's the way Yahweh speaks to Mary in Luke 1:31 - "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Yah'shua (Jesus)." The name Ishmael means 'El[ohim] (God) hears.' And Hagar calls Yahweh "The Elohim (God) who sees" because she met the One who was looking after her. If you've been used and broken today, been sinned against and been sinning, you need to know Yahweh hears. Yahweh sees. Yahweh looks after you. So be faithful where you are, for Yahweh is with you.

All of that brings us to Genesis 17. Abram is now 99 years old. It's thirteen years after Abram and Sarai do their 'Ishmael Plan'. And there's no indication that anything is wrong. Ishmael was born and has grown up. No doubt, all of Abram's hopes for the future are bound up with this son. No doubt there are still tensions and bitterness between Hagar and Sarai. But there have now been thirteen years of thinking that the promises are coming true because of what Abram, Sarai and Hagar did. And then Yahweh shows up to talk about the covenant.

Now I'm not sure whether we should call this a renewal of the covenant or simply a deepening of the covenant, so I just want to focus on the greater specificity and detail that Yahweh provides here, and then show you the new element in the covenant. First, it's interesting that Yahweh says, "Walk before Me and be blameless," and Abram immediately falls down in worship. "Walk." Fall. And the lesson I take is that walking before Yahweh begins with worship. Second, we get more specifics about what exactly Yahweh is promising to Abram. And whereas Genesis 15 focused heavily on the land, this promise focuses heavily on the offspring:

• 1. Yahweh is going to multiply nations from Abram, so much so that he needs a name change (Gen.17:4-5);
• 2. Not only nations, but kings will come from Abraham (17:6);
• 3. The covenant will be 'everlasting' (Gen.17:7) Now, as you know, the word 'everlasting' or 'forever' in Hebrew doesn't necessarily mean 'eternal' or 'without end'. Sometimes it means open-ended or, without reservation, or of fixed duration (see Æonian Time);
• 4. Yahweh promises His perpetual presence with His people (Gen.17:7-8). He will be Elohim (God) to His people; and
• 5. The land of Canaan will be their everlasting possession (Gen.17:8).

So multiple nations, kings, an 'everlasting' covenant, a perpetual presence, and an everlasting possession are in view. Genesis 17 deepens, fills out and gives greater detail about Yahweh's commitment in this covenant. But more than that, it brings something new to the foreground: it highlights Abram's obligations in the covenant. Perhaps we can think of it this way. In Genesis 12, Yahweh makes Abram an offer - 'Go, and I'll bless you.' Abram takes the offer. In Genesis 15, after Abram has grown and matured, Yahweh lets him in on the plan and initiates the covenant: 'Know for certain about the future.' And in response Abram believes. Simple faith in what Yahweh will do.

Now, Yahweh goes about formalising this covenant relationship. Yahweh makes promises and has obligations. And now Abraham does too. Abraham and his descendants must "keep" the covenant (Gen.17:9-10). And at this point, what it means to 'keep' the covenant is simply to take the covenant sign. For Abraham and his descendants, 'signing on the dotted line' takes the form of circumcision, a bloody cutting off of the foreskin. Anyone who won't cut off the foreskin breaks the covenant and will be cut off from the people (17:14).

This is a strange sign. The bloody cutting of part of the body is the sign of Yahweh's covenant? Why? What does it mean? In order to answer that, we need to understand the rest of Genesis 17. There is still more newness and detail to be gleaned. In the second half of the chapter, we discover something else about the promise of Abraham's offspring. Not only did Yahweh not forget Hagar, he didn't forget Sarai either. Both wives are going to be blessed.

Recollect: in Genesis 15, Yahweh had said that one from Abram's loins would be his heir. Yahweh didn't say anything about Sarai. That's probably why, after seven years of trying to conceive, Sarai makes a terrible assumption and concludes that Yahweh is done with her, and so Yahweh must intend to fulfill the promise some other way, and thus the 'Hagar Plan', or the 'Ishmael Plan', is born. And for thirteen years, it looks like Sarai was right. Surely, they conclude, the 'Ishmael Plan' was the right plan after all. Now we find out that Yahweh hadn't forgotten Sarai. Sarai will conceive and have a son, and it is this son, not Ishmael, that will be the heir of the everlasting covenant that Yahweh is establishing. It's from Sarai that the nations and kings will come. Sarah's loins will be as exceedingly fruitful as Abraham's.

Abraham is, of course, incredulous. He can't believe it. He falls on his face again, this time with laughter. To himself he says, 'Shall a child be born when I'm 100 and she's 90? Hah!' And to Yahweh he says, 'Oh that Ishmael may live before you. Use the Ishmael Plan, Yahweh. It's a good plan. It's been hard and awkward and tense. It's cost us a lot, but it's worked these thirteen years. Let's stick with the Ishmael Plan.' And Yahweh simply says 'No.' Sarah matters here. And so does Hagar. And so does Ishmael. They all matter. Yahweh doesn't reject Ishmael. He made a promise to Hagar, and he echoes it (with more detail) to Abraham. In fact, Ishmael will essentially be the 'first Israel' — a great nation with 12 princes (anticipating the 12 sons of Jacob who father the 12 tribes of Israel). But he won't be the heir of the covenant. This will be a non-covenant 'Israel'. Isaac (Yitshak, whose name means 'laughter'), the child of Abraham and Sarah, will be the heir.

Now at this point, I's like to talk about the way that Yahweh uses even our sinful missteps for His glory and our good. Abram and Sarai tried to seize the promise for themselves, and Yahweh wove their impatience and error and sin into His story, and made it even better. No purpose of Yahweh's will be thwarted. I'd like to reflect further on how Genesis 16-17 shows the dignity of women (both Hagar and Sarah) and the dignity of marriage. But we don't have time to do all of that without this becoming one of my 'epic sermons' and we need to answer the big question about circumcision, so let's turn there now.

To begin with, we note that the passage stresses Abraham's complete and total obedience to Yahweh's covenant. Abraham is all-in. "That very day" (Gen.17:23-26), he circumcises himself (without anaesthetics), Ishmael, and the rest of his household. No delay. No thinking it over. He's seen Yahweh show himself faithful time and time again, and so he presses into this covenant, this structured bond, and takes the sign on himself and his house. So, why circumcision?

First, note that circumcision is a sign (Gen.17:11), like sabbath observance. It's a symbol. It represents something. It's not arbitrary. Thus, it is right for us to think about what it represents.

Second, we need to remember two things from the early chapters of Genesis:

• 1. We need to remember the effects of the Fall, namely, the spread of sin, the corruption of all flesh, and the judgment of Yahweh. Adam and Eve sinned, they were exiled from Yahweh's presence, and sin and violence spread through Cain and Abel, through Lamech, through the compromised sons of Yahweh who marry the non-covenant 'daughters of man'. Sin spreads, fills the whole earth with violence, and corrupts all flesh (Gen.6:12), so that Yahweh determines to destroy all flesh through the flood. Yahweh is at war with corrupt flesh, corrupt humanity. And he makes an end of all flesh, except Noah and those in the ark. And then, after the flood, Yahweh puts a covenant sign in the sky (the rainbow) and says, "Never again shall all flesh be cut off by floodwaters" (Gen.9:11). 'Cut off'; and

• 2. We need to remember in Genesis 3:15 that Yahweh promised to crush the serpent and put the world back to rights through a seed, a male offspring of the woman, who would win his victory at great cost to himself. And we ought to see the promise to Abraham, beginning in Genesis 12, as a part of the fulfillment of that promise. From Adam and Eve, up through Noah, through Abram, worshipers of Yahweh are looking and waiting for a male child who will put the world to rights. And so the covenant with Abraham has something to do with the male seed, the male offspring who will crush the serpent.

So, remember (a) Yahweh's war on the corruption of all flesh, and (b) the cutting off of all flesh at the flood. And remember (c) Yahweh's promise to send a male child to put the world to rights. Now what does that have to do with circumcision?

• 1. Circumcision is a symbolic death to avoid ultimate death. In circumcision, Abraham cuts off the foreskin of his flesh, so that Yahweh doesn't cut him off completely. Circumcision acts like Noah's ark - it separates Yahweh's people from all flesh who will be destroyed in Yahweh's judgment. It's like the blood on the doorposts at Pesach/Passover that separates the Hebrews so the malak (angel) of death doesn't destroy their firstborn. And it's no accident that Yahweh commands circumcision in Genesis 17, and then in Genesis 18-19 sends his malakim (angels) of death to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and sulphur. That's why the language of "cut off" in Genesis 9:11 and Genesis 17:14 is so important. Abraham cuts off part of his flesh so that he's not cut off in Yahweh's war against corrupt flesh. Abraham cuts off part of his manhood so that he's not cut off in Yahweh's war against corrupt humanity. He marks himself with a bloody, symbolic death, so that he doesn't get swept away in Yahweh's war against flesh.

• 2. Circumcision is a symbolic castration. If the hope of the world is a male child who will crush the serpent, if the hope of Abraham is a male heir to inherit the blessing, the promises, and the land, then circumcision acknowledges our impotence to accomplish that hope. Circumcision cuts off the flesh in order to say, 'We place no confidence in the flesh.' Circumcision is a sign of the covenant, a sign of the righteousness Abraham has by faith, and his faith is in Yahweh to do impossible things — like bring countless offspring from a weak body and a barren womb. In other words, in circumcision, Abraham is renouncing the Ishmael Plan. The Ishmael Plan was about confidence in the flesh. The Hagar Plan, the Ishmael Plan was born in unbelief and impatience. 'Yahweh promised a child, and we're tired of waiting. So we'll take matters into our hands. Human hands. We will place our confidence in ourselves and what we can do.' By making circumcision the covenant sign, Yahweh says, 'Renounce that confidence in the flesh. Turn away from trusting in yourselves and what you can do. The rescue of the world from sin and death will come through a male child, but it will not be because of human efforts.'

This means that, even though we no longer keep covenant with Yahweh today by circumcising our sons, circumcision still instructs us. Because I'm willing to bet that there are a lot of Ishmael Plans in this assembly. Plans born from impatience and unbelief. Plans that have caused tension and strife in your families. Plans that place their confidence in your power, in what you can accomplish. Genesis 17 addresses us today in this assembly and says, 'Put to death your Ishmael Plans. Don't cling to your plan, to your self-made efforts, to your power. You're powerless to save yourself. Your plans simply produce shame and blame and tension and bitterness. Yahweh has promises for you, new good that you can't even imagine. Be patient. Trust Him. Hope in Him to do the impossible. He created the world from nothing. He made the barren give birth. He is with you and for you. He is your Elohim (God), and He is mighty to save.'

This brings us to the Table. Now, as we are about to learn in Acts 15, Galatians 5, Colossians 2, 1 Corinthians 7 and Philippians 3, we no longer keep covenant with Yahweh through circumcision. The New Testament is abundantly clear about this. The Master's Supper Table is the reason. Paul tells us in Colossians 2 that we have been circumcised without hands (i.e. not a physical act), by putting off the body of the flesh in the death of Yah'shua (Jesus). He calls this the 'circumcision of Christ'. The cross of Christ is the decisive and final cutting off of the flesh. He was cut off for us so that we aren't destroyed in Yahweh's war on corrupt humanity. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, Yahweh condemned sin in the flesh, and He did so without condemning us along with it.

Yah'shua (Jesus) died, for our sins and shame, for all of our Ishmael Plans, and He cancelled our debt for Torah-disobedience in His death. And, Paul says, we share in the circumcision of Christ through baptism and emunah or pro-active faith. We were buried with Yah'sua (Jesus) in baptism and raised with Yah'shua (Jesus) in baptism through our faith in the powerful working of Yahweh, who raised Yah'shua (Jesus) from the dead. That's what we remember and proclaim at the Table we call the Lord's or Master's Supper, the Sacrament, Communion or Eucharist. So when you enter into the fullness of the New Covenant - first at baptism and then at your Bar- or Bat-Mitzvah which has come to be called 'Confirmation' and 'Chrism' in some traditions - when you have done that, you will be invited to come, and be welcomed, to the 'Circumcision of Christ'.

We'll talk more about this next week when we get into the nitty-gritty of Acts 15. Hopefully this background information will make it easier to understand why circumcision is no longer part of the New Covenant and why it is most messianics get it wrong. At the same time, we will see why the end of circumcision doesn't mean the end of the Torah as a whole, just the ceremonial Levitical part, and why most evangelicals get this wrong too. This will, I hope, be, for many of you, a moment of clarity, so that we can get these controversies out of the way and so enable the Remnant move on from orthodox Christianity AND messianism. So until then, think on these things, and Yahweh bless you. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Joe Rigney in 'Why Circumcision? Abraham' whose material I have borrowed extensively, and with many thanks

Further Reading