less expect such behavior of them. But the man who has God's Word, and considers his calling as from the Lord, is expected to walk worthy of the Lord Who called him. In the verses before us (25-29) the pretender, the hypocrite, will be exposed. While the message is directed to the Jew, I must say again that the same sins are found in people of all religions including Christianity. What was the pretense, or cloak, behind which the Jew sought to conceal his real self and his sins? The key word in these verses is "circumcision", appearing not less than six times. Circumcision was the mark on the body of the Jewish male child commanded by God when He made His cove nant with Abraham (Genesis 17:10-14). This mark identi fied the Jew as belonging to God's national creation. To the Jew, there was no better cloak behind which he could con ceal his real self than his circumcision. Now do not lose sight of the fact that circumcision was important to God and Israel, having a deeply spiritual meaning. The importance God attached to it was disclosed almost five hundred years after Abraham, when God would have put Moses to death if Zipporah his wife had not surrendered their son for cir cumcision (Exodus 4:24-26). But circumcision had a deeply spiritual meaning. A full understanding of its spiritual significance is recorded in both the Old and New Testaments. As a matter of fact, many Jews are surprised when told that there is more teaching on the true meaning of circumcision in the New Testament than there is in the Old Testament. For a better understanding of Paul's teaching in Romans, we will start in the Old Testament. Frequently God exhorted His people to obedience. On one of those occasions He said, "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." This exhortation was followed with the words, "Circum cise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked" (Deuteronomy 10: 16). If they obey the Lord, then, says Moses, "The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart ..." (Deuteronomy 30:6). 73
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