The first act of circumcision in the human race involved Abraham.
Genesis 17:6-11 And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and
I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed
after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to
be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land
wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God.
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore,
thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and
thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall
be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
This initial act of circumcision was the seal of Abraham's faith
in God's promise of possessing the land. It was the indication
that Abraham believed God's word. Abraham separated himself unto
the Lord and to the Lord's promise.
Circumcision is, therefore, a sign of regeneration for the Jews.
It was to the born again Jew what water baptism is to the born-again
believer in the Church Age, a sign.
Circumcision is also used by God as a teaching mechanism, a visual
aid to provide a picture of regeneration by faith. The circumcision
of male children on the 8th day was an act of dedication by the
parents. By this means they declared that they would teach salvation
by faith to their children. They anticipated that their children
would become believers.
Col. 2:11-13 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him
from the dead.
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses.
Circumcision is also a picture of positional truth, especially
the identification with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and
resurrection.
There can be no victory in the Christian way of life without victory
over the old life, over the sin nature. This is the application
of positional truth to experience.
The Lord also used circumcision as a picture of Israel's restoration
to fellowship and service.
READ Joshua 5:1-9
This restoration, by faith, was necessary for the victory the
Israelites were about to experience (Jericho) and for the time
of rest they were about to enter. There can be no victory over
Canaan until there is victory over carnality (Egypt). Circumcision
denotes separation from the world and the flesh, self-judgment,
yieldedness, dedication, commitment.
Romans 4:9-13 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision
only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was
reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness
of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might
be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised;
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.
And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision
only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father
Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was
not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the
righteousness of faith.
Circumcision is a sign of imputed righteousness; it is the sign
that one has believed and is cleansed by the blood of Christ and
has God's Righteousness credited to his account. Gen. 15:6; 2
Cor. 5:21.
The true significance of circumcision was not in the physical
act being perpetuated but in the reasons the ritual was begun
in the first place. Circumcision was a sign that something had
already taken place, namely, Abraham's salvation.
Circumcision was also a seal. A seal indicates the validity of
the thing to which it is attached. It has no significance apart
from that which it covers. Circumcision was a seal attached to
something valuable, salvation.
During the Church Age, water baptism is the outward sign of an
inward faith. Circumcision was the outward sign for the Jews before
the Church Age.
Religious Jews tried to make the seal valuable in itself. They
attached spiritual value to the act of circumcision, ignoring
the substance. They contended that circumcision was needed for
salvation, which led to the formation of a ritualistic religion.
Abraham was saved by faith, long before he was circumcised. He
is, therefore, the "father of all who believe" because
he is the pattern of those who were saved in status quo uncircumcision,
whether Jew or Gentile.