When the Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian Christians about the issue of circumcision, he says, “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). He states in no uncertain terms: those insisting on Christians getting circumcised are on their way to hell and taking their followers with them (Galatians 1:8-9)! But then he does something incredible. He takes his ministry intern, Timothy, and has him get circumcised (Acts 16:3)!
What is this all about? Doesn’t this make Paul look like a walking contradiction? At first glance, maybe. But think about it. Why is this such a hot button issue with Paul?
Those advocating circumcision are making it out to be a required prerequisite for salvation in Christ. But Paul quite emphatically stresses that a person can only be saved by what God has already graciously done for us through Christ, not by any personal effort. In fact, whether one is circumcised or not hasn’t the slightest impact on the possibility or quality of one’s relationship with the Lord. It simply does not affect it either way… unless we bank on circumcision as our ticket to heaven. If we put our trust in circumcision, or anything at all besides Christ, far from saving us, such confidence is misplaced, because only the blood of Jesus can atone for our sins. That’s why Paul says the only thing that counts for anything is faith, the kind that trusts in God and leans on Christ Jesus alone as our Rescuer.
So Paul chooses Timothy to go with him as he visits churches that he has previously helped to establish and encourages them with the express message that we can only be “saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus,” apart from circumcision (Acts 15:11). Since Timothy is only half Jewish, getting circumcised will help him win a hearing from those Jews who know of his Greek heritage. So when Paul has Timothy get circumcised it is not as a person seeking salvation (his faith is already firmly in Christ alone), but as a brother deferent to the cultural sensitivities of his fellow Jewish Christians. In Timothy’s case, getting circumcised is an example of his faith “working through love.”
Faith is a gift and, though it is not achieved by our own efforts, once received, it leads us to effort service to one another in imitation of Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9, 5:1-2; Mark 10:45). What, after all, is our faith in but God’s love proven to us on the cross and poured out on us every day by the Spirit? If we are truly experiencing the reality of that love in our lives, it is only natural for us to share that love with others in tangible ways.
As followers of Christ we enjoy a lot of freedom. There is not a big list of do’s and don’ts to bog us down. We have a simple mandate to love. Yet, like Timothy, we sometimes need to sacrifice our freedom in order to show love. Depending on the circumstances and those who might be affected, what we have the right to do is not always the right thing to do. And sometimes the thing we have absolutely no moral obligation to do at all, and would very much prefer not to do, is the very thing that should be done because love demands it of us. True faith expresses itself through love.
