#13 HCBC 1-07-07 AM
Communion Service
Circumcision, Baptism and The Lord’s Table
As we come to the end of chapter two in Romans, we are nearing the end of the first major section of Paul’s letter.
The wrath of God against all mankind. 1:18 – 3:20
The grace of God in the gospel 3:21 – 8:29
The plan of God for Jews and Gentiles 9 - 11
The will of God for changed relationships 12:1 – 15:13
The wrath of God against all mankind. 1:18 – 3:20
Depraved Gentile society 1:18-32
Critical moralizers 2:1-16
Self-confident Jews 2:17 – 3:8
The law v. 17-24
Circumcision v. 25-29
Some Jewish objections v. 1-8
The whole human race 3:9-20
Paul systematically works through his description of the wrath of God being revealed
against the depraved Gentile society,
against the critical moralizers,
and now against the self-confident Jews
and ultimately against the whole human race!
We have seen, in verses 17-24 that those Jews, those religious people, who hoped to be saved by
keeping the law, could not keep the law.
There is no use for anyone to think that they can enter the kingdom of God by their behavior
because no one can keep the law.
Pretty good is not good enough!
The law was given to show that it cannot be kept!
Those who teach others fail to teach themselves!
Those who teach others not to steal find a way to steal!
Those who teach others not to commit adultery are not completely faithful!
Those who hate idols find a way to worship something other than God!
Those who boast about the law dishonor God by breaking the law!
The religious people of Paul’s day had something else in addition to the law.
They had circumcision!
What we are talking about here is a sacrament!
Sacrament has been simply defined as “a sign of a sacred thing.”
The “sacraments” that we practice are baptism and the celebration of the Lord’s Table.
James Montgomery Boice defines sacraments from a Christian perspective:
A sacrament is a divine ordinance instituted by Christ himself.
A sacrament uses visible elements as visible signs of God’s blessing.
A sacrament is a means of grace. (it strengthens our faith because we recognize his work)
A sacrament is a seal, certification, or confirmation of the grace it signifies.
The sacrament that the Jews had was circumcision!
And some thought that because they were circumcised, that they were in a right relationship with
God!
Now, in verses 25-29, Paul goes after anyone who thought that circumcision made a person right
with God.
Read Romans 2:25-29
Circumcision was a mark on the body of the male members of the Jewish nation ordered by God
on the day that He made his covenant of grace with Abraham.
Donald Grey Barnhouse says:
“Like a gold wedding ring on the finger of a bride which permits an observer to know from a
Distance that she belongs to someone else, so circumcision was a physical mark that could
identify the people of God immediately.”
The mark was a physical one upon Abraham and his sons, but it had a deeply spiritual meaning.
God changed the name of Abram, father of many, to Abraham, father of a multitude, and made
great promises to him.
I will make you very fruitful.
I will make nations of you.
Kings will come from you.
I will make my everlasting covenant with you and your descendants.
I will give you and your descendants the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.
Throughout the Bible it is clear that the importance of circumcision was a spiritual one and not
merely a physical one.
Submission to circumcision was meant to signify a submissive heart that intended to be
submissive to God.
Moses gave the spiritual meaning of the physical sign shortly before his death.
In Deuteronomy 10:16, reminding them that they had been chosen by God as a special people,
He presented to them their obligation as the people of God:
“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.”
In his farewell address, Moses told the people the method of getting back into the will of God
If they found themselves under his chastening rod because of their sin.
They were to return to the Lord and obey his commandments, and then, says Moses:
“The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,
so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”
The full understanding of the spiritual implication of circumcision becomes even more clear in the
New Testament.
There is more about circumcision in the New Testament than there is in the Old Testament.
Read Galatians 5:1-6
Circumcision must be circumcision of the heart!
In Romans 2:25, Paul’s first point is that circumcision doesn’t save!
I. Circumcision Doesn’t Save vs 25
Barnhouse:
It is the equivalent of saying to a woman, “Your wedding ring is an honorable thing if you
are faithful to your husband, but if you are an adulteress your wedding ring is just a
pierce of metal.”
The sign is only significant if what it is supposed to signify within is real!
If the roadside sign says: Sharp Turn Ahead, and the road continues straight, the sign is
meaningless.
Many people today go out of their way to demonstrate various external signs which may or
may not be an indication of what is in their hearts.
Paul’s point here is that external signs do not save!
II. Law-keepers would be Considered Circumcised vs 26
Paul goes on, in verse 26 to say that if someone did not have the external sign, yet kept the
law that the sign was meant to represent, that person would be considered as one who
had the sign!
A faithful wife who did not have a ring would be regarded as if she wore a ring!
III. Uncircumcised Law-keepers Condemn Circumcised Law-breakers vs 27
The Uncircumcised Condemning the Circumcised
Paul’s point in verse 27 is that obedient person who does not have the external mark
condemns the one who has the mark and yet is disobedient.
In Paul’s day, if a Gentile’s deeds excelled those of a Jew in righteousness, that very fact
condemned the Jew, who had an immeasurably better set of standards in the law of Moses.
IV. Outward Signs do not guarantee Inward Reality vs 28
In verse 28, Paul restates his point that outward signs do not guarantee inward reality.
V. Outward Signs Bring Praise from Man, Inward Reality Brings Praise from God vs 29
Praise of Man vs Praise of God
In verse 29, Paul reaffirms his statement that it is what is in a person’s heart that determines
his standing before God.
Spiritual reality is on the inside.
Man looks on the outside but God looks on the inside.
Outward signs may bring praise from man, but inward reality brings praise from God!
Boice summarizes what Paul has been saying to religious people who may think they are right
with God because of their religiosity:
Knowledge alone, even knowledge of the highest spiritual and moral principles, does
not win God’s approval.
Membership in a religious society, whether the covenantal nation of Israel or the
visible church of Christendom, does not guarantee that we have obtained God’s
favor.
The sacraments, either of the Old Testament or the New Testament, save no one.
God judges according to truth and performance, and by that standard every human
being is condemned.
If we are to be saved, it must be by the labor of Jesus Christ applied to us by the
Father through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
In the New Testament church we have baptism and the Lord’s Table!
In our day we might look at baptism in the same way that the religious people of Paul’s day
looked at circumcision.
Religious people of our day get baptized much the same as religious people two thousand years
ago got circumcised.
Circumcision didn’t save anyone!
Baptism doesn’t save anyone!
Sharing in the Lord’s Table doesn’t save anyone!
As Paul said, “What matters is circumcision of the heart!”
We would say that a person is not a Christian if he is only one outwardly, nor is baptism or
celebrating the Lord’s Table merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Christian if he
is one inwardly and baptism is baptism by the Spirit and celebrating the Lord’s Table is but
an affirmation of that which exists in reality in our hearts!