This is a picture of an antique knife, used in the Jewish circumcision ceremony known as the Bris. In examining Galatians 5:1-12, let's remember that the Galatians are being taken to task by Paul because they have gotten their "obedience" wrong. Let's back up a moment.
What was circumcision, a key feature of this passage? We find it first mentioned in Genesis 17 (specifically verses 10-14), when God is making an "everlasting covenant" with Abraham. Circumcision is specified as a permanent mark to signify a permanent covenant.
Interestingly, there were times throughout the Israelites' history when the practice was put on hiatus. Moses does not appear to have been a fan, as he did not require his son with Zipporah to be circumcised right away. It is recorded in Exodus 4:21-26 that the young man was not circumcised as a baby but, rather, as a young adult. Then, during the 40 years of wilderness wandering, Israel did not circumcise the male children born during that time. Warren Wiersbe explains why:
"During that time God had suspended his covenant relationship with Israel and didn't require the mark of the covenant on their male children. He performed wonders for them and met their every need even though they were temporarily not his covenant people." God was doing a "purge", a cleansing of the Israelites. Until the older, more stiff-necked people died off, God put the covenant relationship on hiatus. Before Joshua took the people into the Promised Land, however, he obeyed the Lord's command to circumcise all the males at Gilgal. See Joshua 5.
All of this back-story brings us to the Galatians, a Gentile people who love Jesus Christ and want to walk in obedience to Him. They have, however, been deceived by Judaizers who, I do honestly believe, were sincere (although sincerely wrong). Look at what Paul says (5:2-3) about the Galatians trusting in circumcision to make them right with God.
2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.
The Message version
You are going to laugh, but I remember getting my first smartphone. It was so far superior to the old flip-phone I had! You know, that phone where you had to press a number multiple times in order to text? The new way was revolutionary! There was absolutely no going back, for me.
What the Galatians were doing was submitting to, allowing themselves to be enslaved by, an old covenant. They had chosen to remove themselves from the path of grace through Christ and to pursue achieving their own holiness through enslaving themselves again to the Law (5:4).
Jesus Christ established a new covenant through His blood. He IS God's new covenant with His people! How do I know this? Where is the "proof"? Let's examine the Scriptures. You are expecting a NT reference, aren't you? No, we must go all the way back to Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV).
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
I can hear some of you now - - "This was meant just for the Jews, the chosen people, and will be fulfilled in the last days." Well, God WILL restore the Jews to Himself in the last days. But, Jesus Christ made it clear that HE is the fulfillment of this scripture passage, and He did it at the last meal He shared with His disciples. Luke 22:20 (ESV) - - -
17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Jesus Christ's blood, poured out for us, established and sealed God's new covenant relationship with people, those people willing to enter into covenant relationship with Him, the Father God, through the Son, Jesus Christ. If the Luke passage is not clear enough for you, consider Hebrews 9:15 (ESV), which is quite emphatic.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Does this mean that circumcising our male children is wrong? Or, that observing Jewish feast days and customs is wrong? Only if you are depending on them to achieve your own righteousness with God. I have Christian friends and loved ones with Jewish heritage. They choose to honor Jesus Christ by observing the Jewish feast days, because they see Him so beautifully represented in Old Testament practices. But, they do not depend on their observances for their salvation.
On the contrary, as do all true Believers, they embrace a true and radical obedience, that of the circumcised heart: a heart which covenants with God through faith in Jesus Christ, which faith is expressed in love (Gal. 5:6).
Father, I thank you for circumcising my heart, putting your "forever mark" on me. I confess and repent of those times I have tried to walk in my own righteousness. Those times have led me down thorny, dead-end paths. Help me to walk in that true and radical obedience, which springs from faith and is evidenced by love. In Jesus' name, amen.
Sources:
http://www.gotquestions.org/new-covenant.html
Wiersbe in Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=GgLq2LR_cFcC&pg=PA393&lpg=PA393&dq=Did+the+Israelites+practice+circumcision+during+the+wilderness+wanderings?&source=bl&ots=NUKvLbvNsY&sig=fRNwo-Rh1DHNMhb8bXvnu4BTtdg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWx6eC-6vKAhVENT4KHZcjD1UQ6AEIKjAC#v=onepage&q=Did%20the%20Israelites%20practice%20circumcision%20during%20the%20wilderness%20wanderings%3F&f=false
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