uncircumcised

To God Be the Glory

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11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:11-13 ESV

In these verses, Paul seems to be contradicting a statement he made in his letter to the Philippian believers. There, he told them, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Yet, here we hear him telling the Ephesian believers to “remember” – not once but twice.

So which is it, Paul? Are we to remember or forget? Should we look back or press forward? To both questions, Paul would simply answer, “Yes.” As always, when reading Scriptures, context is critical. In his letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul was stressing “the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9 ESV). He was contrasting human merit with God’s grace. Paul had spent the early years of his life trying to earn God’s favor and make himself acceptable to God. He boldly confessed his pre-conversion attempt to work his way into God’s good graces.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. – Philippians 3:4-6 ESV

But he went on to admit, “whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7 ESV). In other words, all his past achievements and efforts at self-justification before God were worthless when compared to the free gift of grace made available to him through faith in Jesus Christ. This led him to conclude, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV).

So, when it came to his right standing with God, there was no looking back, and no need to dwell on his past efforts or put hope in his achieving righteousness on his own. His past accomplishments were worthless to him. So he chose to look ahead and press on to the goal of righteousness made possible through faith in Christ. Anything he had done in the past was of no value when it came to his future righteousness.

However, when Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he had a slightly different goal in mind. In verse 10, he reminds them, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV). Good works were not a means of achieving right standing with God, but they should be a reflection of, and a response to, our right standing with God, made possible by faith in Jesus Christ. Good works were not to be meritorious, done in hopes of earning favor with God, but were to be done out of gratitude for all He has done for us. When it comes to works, grace is opposed to earning, but not effort.

In the verses above, Paul is specifically addressing the Gentile converts who were part of the local church in Ephesus. He wanted them to remember that their salvation had nothing to do with works. As a matter of fact, he points out that they weren’t even circumcised.

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. – Ephesians 2:11 NLT

Prior to coming to faith in Christ, they had been on the outside looking in. Paul told them, “You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them” (Ephesians 2:12 NLT). And to make matters even worse, he reminded them, “You lived in this world without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:12 NLT).

Notice the difference in Paul’s emphasis between his letter to the Philippians and his letter to the Ephesians. One is calling them to get their minds off self-righteousness and any hopes of earning right standing with God through human effort. The other is a reminder to never forget who they were before God showered them with His grace. What makes grace so amazing is our total undeservedness. None of us is righteous. None of us deserved to receive God’s grace. And yet, despite our undeserved status, God made available to us His Son’s sacrificial death and gift of redemption. Which is why Paul placed two simple yet powerful words right in the middle of this section of his letter: “But now…”

That transitional statement should remind us of what Paul wrote earlier.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. – Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV

Despite our dead condition, God intervened on their behalf, out of His love and according to His rich mercy. And Paul wanted them to remember just how bad things had been, so that they would fully appreciate what God had done for them.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:13 ESV

Far off…brought near. Outsiders…insiders. Enemies…friends. Condemned…justified. Dead…alive. Lost…found. Sinful…blameless. Guilty…forgiven.

Paul would have us never forget our past, but we should never dwell on it or allow it to cause any pangs of guilt. There is value in recalling how bad things were before we heard the good news of Jesus Christ. The glory of grace always shines brightest against the dark backdrop of human sin and hopelessness. It is in considering what God has done for us that we gain assurance and confidence in all that He has promised to do in the future. Paul put it well in his letter to the Colossians.

You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. – Colossians 1:21-23 NLT

According to Paul, believers should live with their heads on a swivel, occasionally looking back to recall who they were before Christ redeemed them, and confidently looking ahead to the promise of their future glorification. Recalling our past will deepen our gratitude for His grace. Focusing on His promise of an eternity free from sin, sorrow, and pain will strengthen our hope. And both will intensify our resolve to stand firm and remain faithful as we wait.

Father, it really does help to remember who I was before I came to faith in Christ. Even though I was only seven years old when I became a believer, I was, as the old hymn states, “a sinner, condemned, unclean.” All my righteous deeds were worthless in Your eyes. I was dead in my tresspasses and sins and worthy of condemnation and death. I was “living apart from Christ…excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel” and “did not know the covenant promises God” (Ephesians 2:12 NLT). But You stepped in and called me out of darkness into the marvelous light of Your grace. I was “far away from God, but now…have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13 NLT). You did all that for me and, on top of that, You guaranteed me the gift of eternal life, free from sin and death and marked by perfect righteousness. 

To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
  And give Him the glory; great things He hath done. (Fanny Crosby, 1875)
Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Good News For All.

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17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” 22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So he invited them in to be his guests.

The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” – Acts 10:17-43 ESV

Peter was at a loss as to what the meaning behind his vision might be. But even as he wrestled over the possible implications of his dream, he was told by the Holy Spirit that he would be receiving three visitors and that he was to accompany them. That was all the detail he received from the Spirit. And, just as the Spirit had said, the three men arrived at Simon’s house, in search of Peter. When Peter asked them the purpose behind their visit, they replied: “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say” (Acts 10:22 ESV). This entire encounter had the hand of God all over it. Cornelius was spoken to by an angel from God. Peter had received a vision, clearly given to him by God. Then he had received a word directly from the Spirit of God. Peter may not have known what his vision meant, but he no doubt understood that God was behind all that was happening. And so, after hosting his guests for the evening, he accompanied them the next day to Caesarea, not knowing what God had in store for him there. 

We know from Acts 11:22, that Peter did not go to Caesarea alone. He had invited six other brothers from Joppa to join him on the trip. The journey most likely took them about two days time. And when they arrived at the home of Cornelius, they found it packed with the centurion’s family and friends. Luke informs us that Cornelius, in a sign of gratitude and veneration, fell down at Peter’s feet and worshiped him. There is no indication that he knew of Peter’s status as an apostle of Jesus. He simply knew that this man had been sent to him by God with something important to share with him. But Peter, informing Cornelius that he too, was nothing more than a man, had him stand and explain what it was that he wanted. Cornelius recounted to Peter the vision and message he had received from the angel, then he explained that he and his guests were eagerly waiting to hear what God had to say to them through His messenger, Peter. “Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you” (Acts 10:33 NLT).

Luke doesn’t tell us when Peter finally put all the dots together. But sometime between when he arrived at Cornelius’ house, saw the crowd of Gentiles gathered, and heard Cornelius’ description of his vision, Peter grasped the significance and meaning of his own vision. Here he was in a Gentile’s home, surrounded by other Gentiles who eagerly waited to hear him deliver a message to them from God. And Peter, as a good Jew, saw the absurdity of it all. He even told Cornelius and his guests, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28 NLT). The vision of the sheet filled with unclean creatures and the command from God to “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (Acts 10:13 ESV), all began to make sense. He remembered the words of God, “What God has made clean, do not call common” (Acts 10:15 ESV), and and he realized that Cornelius and the people gathered in his home were Gentiles whom God saw as clean, not unclean and common. They were acceptable to God, so they must be acceptable to Peter. To a Jew, a Gentile was considered unclean and to avoided at all costs. They were uncircumcised and did not keep the strict dietary laws of the Jews. They did not obey the Mosaic law. So, any contact with them made a Jew ceremonially unclean. And yet, here was Peter, under the direct command of God, sitting in the home of a Gentile, and a Roman centurion at that, getting ready to share the gospel. God was doing something new. He was opening up the door of salvation and including those outside of what had once been the closed doors of the Jewish nation. The apostle Paul would later remind the Gentile believers in Ephesus of the significance of their inclusion into the family of God. 

11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:11-13 NLT

He would remind the believers in Corinth that they were a fellowship made up of Jews and Gentiles, a blended family chosen and adopted by God. “Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13 NLT). And here was Peter experiencing this new phenomena for the very first time. This was an historic moment. It was a paradigm-shifting point in time. Nothing would ever be the same. The playing field was being leveled. There would no longer be the haves and the have-nots, clean and unclean, Jew and Gentile, circumcised and uncircumcised. And Paul would make that point perfectly clear in his letter to the Galatian believers.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. – Galatians 3:26-29 NLT

All of this would have been a shock to Peter’s system. As a devout Jew, this was antithetical to all he had ever believed. He was part of the chosen race. He was a member of the holy nation, God’s people, the Jews. But Peter saw the hand of God in all of this. When God had commanded him to go to the home of Cornelius, he had obeyed. “So when I was sent for, I came without objection” (Acts 10:29 ESV). He may not have fully understood what was going on, but he knew it was the will of God, and that was enough for Peter. And when he saw what God was doing in Cornelius’ home, he fully grasped that God had far greater plans for the gospel than he or the other apostles had ever understood. God was non-discriminatory. In fact, Peter told Cornelius and his guests, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34 ESV). Peter got it. The vision of the sheet made sense now. Gentiles, or non-Jews, were no longer to be considered unclean and unacceptable.

Which is what led him to later write to the highly blended congregations located in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia:

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV

Jews and Gentiles together were to make up the body of Christ. And so, Peter began to explain to the house full of Gentiles eagerly listening to his voice all that God had done through Jesus Christ, relating His ministry, death, burial and resurrection. And he told them the commission that Jesus had passed on to he and his companions.

42 “And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.” – Acts 10:42-43 NLT

But notice that the “everyone” in Jesus’ order had just taken on a new meaning. No longer was the gospel restricted to Jews living in Jerusalem. It had already begun to spread outside the city walls and had even been taken to Samaritans and Hellenistic Jews living outside of Jerusalem. It had been shared with the Ethiopian eunuch. And now, Peter was sharing the good news with a house full of Gentiles in the city of Caesarea.

 

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)  Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Justifed By Faith.

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Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. – Romans 3:27-31 ESV

When it comes to righteousness or right standing before God, does anyone have any grounds on which to boast? Is it possible for a Jew to claim righteousness because his adherence to the law? If it was, then Christ died in vain. If righteousness is available to men through their own effort, through the keeping of the law, then the Gentiles are hopeless, because God did not give them the law. But Paul asks, “is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?” (Romans 3:29 ESV). Then he answers his own question. “Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one…” (Romans 3:30 ESV). There are not two plans of salvation – one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. God did not set up two means of attaining righteousness – one through good works and the other through faith. God “will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Romans 3:30 ESV). In this last sentence, Paul uses two different prepositions: by and through. One is the Greek word ek and the other is dia, and they both mean essentially the same thing: “by means of.” Most likely, Paul used two different prepositions in talking about Jews and Gentiles to illustrate that God chose to deal with each in two distinctively different ways. To the Jews He gave the law. But it was to show them His holy expectations and their inability to live up to them. The Gentiles did not receive the law. They were essentially outsiders. In writing to the Gentile believers in Ephesus, Paul reminded them, “Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called ‘uncircumcised heathens’ by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:11-12 NLT). Then he gave them the good news: “But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13 NLT). They were near to God, made right with Him, through the blood of Christ and through faith. Both Jews and Gentiles are made right with God by and through faith. What looked like two different paths was essentially one and the same. The gospel of God, His plan for man’s salvation, was always going to go through Jesus. That is why Paul can so confidently and emphatically state, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28 ESV). He doesn’t say, “in conjunction with” or “alongside” works of the law. In other words, justification stands completely based on faith, and that faith must be placed in a single source: God’s offer of salvation made possible through the death of His own Son. In his letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul gives a synopsis of the gospel, the good news in which we are to place our faith: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared…(1 Corinthians 15:3-5 ESV). He came. He died. He was buried. He rose again. And Paul says, “so we preach and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11 ESV).

It is belief in God’s gospel that brings about our justification. We are made right with God through faith in His redemptive plan, not our own futile efforts to live a righteous life. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). It is our belief in that reality that makes us right with God. In the very next chapter of Romans, Paul will state, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right [justified] with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT). That is what we must believe. It is in that truth we must place our faith. 

So does faith eliminate and invalidate the law? Not in the least. Paul claims that when we are justified by faith, we actually uphold the law. Paul uses the Greek word, histēmi and it means “to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything” (Outline of Biblical Usage). Our ability to keep the law is made possible through our faith in the redemptive work of Christ. Our capacity to live righteously or rightly is given to us by God through our faith in Christ. Paul summarizes our new relationship with the law in chapter eight of Romans:

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:2-4 ESV

Through His gospel, God has made it possible for men to live in harmony with Him, having placed the desire to keep His commands in their hearts. No longer do we serve Him in the flesh or through our human effort. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8 ESV). But we live according to the Spirit. And “if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10 ESV).