Romans 2:25–26: For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
If any people had “religion,” it was the Jews; yet their religion was a matter of outward ceremony and not inward reality. They boasted of their rite of circumcision, a ceremony that identified them with the living God; yet what good is a physical rite if there is no obedience to God’s Word? The uncircumcised Gentile who obeyed God’s Word was better off than the circumcised Jew who disobeyed it. 1
To use another figure of speech, if my wife loses her wedding ring, that does not mean she becomes unmarried. Marriage is more than a wedding ring, although the ring may be the symbol of it. 2
Application
- What is so profitable about living an obedient lifestyle? Who really cares if I do?
- What counts: is what God sees; and not what we want others to see. Are you trying to portray to your friends someone other than the real you?
Prayer
Lord, my heart is so deceptive. You only can make me feel secure. Help me be truthful.
1. Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
2. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.