Circumcision & Self-Strength

Genesis 17:10 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.

Col. 2:11 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:

Philip. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

These verses show what circumcision is. Simply put, circumcision is the removal of the flesh. What should be the attitude of those who are circumcised? They should have no confidence in the flesh and should not put their trust in the flesh. Therefore, circumcision deals with man's inherent energy, his natural self-strength.

The greatest problem among God's children is that they do not know what the flesh is. The flesh that many Christians know is merely related to the matter of sins. It is true that the flesh causes us to sin. But the flesh does not cause man to just sin. Flesh for the Christian is most often an expression of them to live by their self-strength.

Romans 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. This means that the flesh has tried to please God. Many times, the goal of the flesh may not be to try to offend God; its goal may be to try to please God. Romans 7 shows us that the flesh exerts great effort to keep the law, to do good, to do God's will, and to please God. However, it cannot make it. Romans 8:7 Because the carnal (fleshly) mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Once our flesh is circumcised, being cut-off or separated from us, we will not believe or trust in ourselves any longer. We will not be that full of confidence, and we will not express our opinions easily. Before the Lord, we must see that we are weak, powerless, helpless, and faltering. This usually comes at the hands of suffering things, circumstances and situations that we cannot control. Paul expresses the purpose of his suffering unto despair of life.

2 Cor. 1:8-10 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Circumcision is the mark of God's people. God's people have a characteristic, a mark, which is the denial of the flesh, the rejection of self-confidence in the flesh. God's people are those whose confidence in the flesh has been cut off. They are the ones who have lost confidence in the flesh.

So many Christians are so confident about themselves. They know how to believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation from perdition. They think they know the Scriptures and that is all they need. They think they know how to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They know how to overcome, and they know how to live the Christian life. It seems that there is nothing that they do not know.

Yet, they do not yet have the “knowing” that is the experience of His life in them as their new life. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

They may talk about how they fellowship with God and how they communicate with Him. They think that they know what God is saying concerning certain matters. They think that they know God's will concerning many things. They can talk about what God has told them to speak or pray at such and such a place and at such and such a time. To them, it seems as if knowing God's will is the easiest thing on earth yet they lack the mark of having "no confidence in the flesh." Such Christians are indeed in need of God's mercy

Yet, God is at work in them.

Philip. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

His mercy continues to be at work in their lives through the sufferings of daily living. All they need to do is to come to a place of trusting Him in there daily living.

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

2 Cor. 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Philip. 2:5 Let this mind (phroneo, mindset) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

The result of His work in their lives is that they will be renewed to a new mindset of trusting Him in all things, bearing the fruit of peace in their souls.

Philip. 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.