“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ”
God performed spiritual surgery in you when you placed your faith in Christ. When you believe in Christ for salvation and the forgiveness of sins, He goes to work. Here’s the procedure you undergo to become born again:
You place your faith in Christ.
God removes your heart of stone.
He removes the “body of the sins of the flesh.”
He washes you clean with the blood of Christ (This step makes you holy).
He gives you a new heart (that wants to obey).
He places His Spirit in you, joining Himself to you forever.
This makes you acceptable to Him. You cannot improve on this work, and you cannot invalidate this work. It’s His work.
You come off His operating table as a new creature, a child of God, and a co-heir with Jesus, fully equipped with His authority, to go into the world doing the works He did and making disciples of all nations.
All of this is possible because God made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
I want to highlight “step 3.”
The “circumcision of the body of the sins of the flesh” is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of the Gospel, yet I believe it to be one of the most important. It seems to be missed by most Christians. If you do not understand what happened in this spiritual circumcision, you will believe that you are still a sinner by nature. Or you might believe that you have two natures. Both of which are incorrect.
The result of the circumcision God performs in you leaves you with one nature, a nature that is no longer opposed to God or prone to sin. This procedure removes your guilt of breaking God’s commands. And the removal of your mere human nature makes you the kind of being that can live in the fullness of God’s illuminated presence forever. You truly are a new creation.
Paul refers to the same spiritual circumcision in Romans 6.
Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
The body of sin was rendered powerless AND removed from you. Let’s look at the original language for more understanding.
apekdysei tou sōmatos tēs sarkos
This Greek phrase is translated as “removal of the body of flesh.” Some translations read “removal of the body of the sins of the flesh,” depending on the emphasis.
What does this phrase mean?
Apekdysei is pretty self-explanatory, it simply means to remove. It’s also translated as laying aside (as if you’re done with something).
Somatos basically means body, but it’s literal and figurative. For context, we see that the circumcision we’re evaluating is done without hands, meaning it’s spiritual in nature. It’s something God does, who is spirit. So in Colossians 2:11, the context is a spiritual body that is being removed.
Sarx means flesh. Sarx also has two applications, the skin on your body as well as your human nature. In regard to “human nature,” Sarx is defined this way: mere human nature that is opposed to God and prone to sin. Since we’re talking about a spiritual circumcision on a figurative “body,” the conclusion of what is being removed is not the physical flesh but rather the “mere human nature that is opposed to God and prone to sin.”
God removes your mere human nature that is opposed to Him and prone to sin. He removes your sin nature. After this procedure, you no longer have a mere human nature, you have an eternal, spiritual, righteous nature, which is no longer opposed to God and prone to sin. Now that’s GOOD NEWS!!! Will you believe it?!
Couple that with the fact that God gives you a new heart and places His spirit in you. That leaves us with the conclusion that you truly are a new creation. No longer at enmity with God by nature. No longer a sinful creature by nature. No longer a mere human. You are now the righteousness of God in Christ! A child of God! A fully equipped ambassador of Heaven!
NOW REPENT - change the way you think about yourself and believe the GOOD NEWS of the Kingdom of God! The GOOD NEWS Gospel that tells you how magnificent you now are as the result of the finished work of Christ in you!
Selah
I pray that you renew your soulish mind to your true spiritual identity. It’s not just something that God credits to you, you truly are a NEW CREATION!! Believe it and live from the power of it!!
Listen to the full sermon above for more on this subject. I will also begin a new series in March 2021 focused on the grace of God, which what God supplies to you, enabling you to live in the power of your new creation identity.
