Answers from the Bible
to
Questions about Circumcision
Circumcision is as controversial today as it was in
New Testament times. Then, as now, it could tear
marriages and families apart. Fortunately, insights we
can gain from the Bible about circumcision can guide us
today.
What is circumcision?
Circumcision cuts off the foreskin, the sexually
sensitive sleeve of tissue that normally covers and
protects the head of the penis.
Is circumcision today the same as circumcision in
the Bible?
No. The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion
traces the origin of per'iah (the baring of the
glans) to the time of Hadrian (A.D.132-135):
Many Hellenistic Jews, particularly those who
participated in athletics at the gymnasium, had an
operation performed to conceal the fact of their
circumcision (1 Maccabees 1.15). Similar action was
taken during the Hadrianic persecution, in which
period a prohibition against circumcision was
issued. It was probably in order to prevent the
possibility of obliterating the traces of
circumcision that the rabbis added to the
requirement of cutting the foreskin that of
peri'ah (laying bare the glans).
(The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, ed.
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky and G. Wigoder. Oxford
University Press, 1997, page 161.)
The New Testament predates this development (see 1
Corinthians 7:18). Medical circumcisions developed from
the later, more radical rite, so today's infant
circumcisions are more severe than circumcisions in the
Bible.
Is the foreskin a mistake of nature?
No. The Bible says that God pronounced creation
'very good' (Genesis 1:31) and that humans were made in
the image of God (Genesis 1:27). The Apostle Paul also
said that God made every part of the body as he wanted
it. (1 Corinthians 12:18).
How did circumcision start in the Bible?
According to Genesis, God told Abraham to circumcise
himself, his household and his slaves as an everlasting
covenant in their flesh. Those who were not circumcised
were to be 'cut off' from their people (Genesis
17:10-14). Note the connection between circumcision and
slavery. It is alluded to in the New Testament.
Who was to be circumcised?
Abraham, his descendants and those who were bought
with their money (Genesis 17:12-13). Also, all the
males of a household were to be circumcised if one of
them wanted to join in the Passover celebrations
(Exodus 12:43-49).
However, there is a puzzle. Laws commanding
circumcision are said to come through Moses (e.g.
Leviticus 12), but the Children of Israel abandoned
circumcision during Moses' leadership (Joshua 5: 4-7).
Exodus 4: 24-26 tells us that Moses had not circumcised
his own son.
This suggests several scribal traditions. In the
first, Moses did not practise circumcision, and the
custom was abandoned under his leadership (Joshua 5:
4-7). In the second his wife is made to conform to the
practice (Exodus 4: 24-26). Finally, in the third
tradition, he is given the command to circumcise from
the LORD himself.
Did circumcision apply to anyone else?
Circumcision applied to the slaves of Jews. Apart
from that, circumcision never applied to people outside
the Jewish faith. The first covenant was not with other
nations. All other people were described as
uncircumcised, even those who practised circumcision
(Jeremiah 9:25-26). Circumcision never applied to
Christians (Acts 15:5-11). The Apostle Peter, who was
circumcised, said:
... we believe that we will be saved through the
grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
(Acts 15:11, New RSV)
Should Christians follow the Law of Moses?
No. Christians were freed from the Law, including
circumcision (Acts 15:1-20). It was described as an
almost unbearable yoke on the neck (Acts 15: 10). The
yoke, of course, was a sign of slavery and Christians
were told not to become entangled with 'a yoke of
bondage' (Galatians 5:1-2).
The Law as we read it contains things that appall
us, such as forcing a rapist to marry his victim
(Deuteronomy 22:28-29) or rejecting people born out of
wedlock and their descendants (Deuteronomy 23:2).
However, almost all of us read the Law in translation,
which inevitably changes and distorts the text. Even
fewer read it with a background of the checks, balances
and insights of the Jewish oral and legal tradition.
This has contributed to atrocities such as when
Christians used Exodus 22:18 to justify the slaughter
of 'witches' or other verses to justify slavery and the
slave trade (e.g., Exodus 21:2-11, 20-21, Leviticus
25:44-46 and Deuteronomy 20:10-15).
What does this mean for Christians?
Christians must be wary. Many of these laws,
including the food laws, were repudiated in the New
Testament (Acts 10:1-33). Jesus himself criticized the
scribes and their traditions. (e.g., Matthew 15: 1-9,
also Isaiah 29 :13). Jeremiah's assessment of
the Law must also be pondered.
How can you say, "We are wise,
and the law of the LORD is with us,"
when in fact, the false pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie?
(Jeremiah 8: 8, New RSV)
Why are Bible stories about circumcision so
vicious?
There has always been a nasty underside to
circumcision. Whether it was Greek authorities killing
Jews for circumcising their infant boys (1 Maccabees 1:
60-62), Jewish zealots forcibly circumcising
uncircumcised Jewish boys (1 Maccabees 2: 46) or Muslim
zealots forcibly circumcising Christian men, women and
children in Ambon, Indonesia (Sydney Morning
Herald January 27, 2001, page 25), there has always
been a powerful undercurrent of violence and sexual
abuse associated with circumcision.
The Bible tells us about circumcision as it is.
Stories such as the circumcision and slaughter of the
Shechemites (Genesis 34) or the 100 foreskin dowry (1
Samuel 18: 25-27) carry an implicit warning that was
made explicit by the Apostle Paul when he said:
It is those who want to make a good showing in the
flesh that would compel you to be
circumcised...
...they desire to have you circumcised that they
may glory in your flesh.
(Galatians 6:11, 13, Revised Standard Version)
Jesus was circumcised. Does this make it
right?
Jesus was also wrapped in swaddling clothes and put
in a manger (Luke 2: 7). This doesn't mean we have to
wrap babies tightly in cloth and put them in animal
feeding troughs or circumcise them. Jesus also had a
crown of thorns forced onto his head and was crucified.
(John 19). We don't do that to our children,
either.
It is better to take to heart what Jesus taught
about circumcision and circumcisers.
What did Jesus teach about circumcision and
circumcisers?
Jesus spoke about circumcision in the Temple in
Jerusalem (John 7:14).
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not
because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye
on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on
the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law
of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me,
because I have made a man every whit whole on the
sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment.
(John 7:22-24, King James Version)
Or, from a modern version:
...why are you angry with me for making a man whole
and complete on a sabbath? (Jerusalem Bible, John
7:23.)
Jesus contrasted circumcision (cutting off
foreskins) with his own healing, which made a man
'whole and complete.' Jesus' conclusion, not to judge
by appearances, also hit the mark, for his critics
rejected those who were not circumcised.
But didn't Jesus just mean that he made the man
completely well?
That is what you will read in most modern English
translations. However, the Greek expression for making
a man completely well could also be translated as
making him completely whole. This meaning, with its
powerful contrast with circumcision, came over easily
in the King James Version. The Jerusalem Bible got this
meaning across with 'making a man whole and complete'.
Moffatt did it slightly differently:
...are you enraged at me for curing, not
cutting, the entire body of a man upon the
sabbath?
(from John 6:23, Moffatt's translation, 1935)
A note in the Jerusalem and New Jerusalem Bibles
claims that the Rabbis argued that circumcision 'heals'
the penis so they were doing a little healing while
Jesus was doing a big healing. The great Jewish sage,
Moses Maimondes, rejected this line of argument:
The fact that circumcision weakens the faculty
of sexual excitement and sometimes perhaps
diminishes the pleasure is indubitable. For if at
birth this member has been made to bleed and has
had its covering taken away from it, it must
indubitably be weakened. (from Moses Maimonides,
"The Guide
of the Perplexed", Part III, ch. 49)
Moses Maimondes would have seen and understood the
contrast that Jesus made between circumcising a
man and making a man completely whole.
What did the early church decide about
circumcision?
Some were saying that Christians must follow the Law
of Moses and be circumcised. Peter replied:
Now therefore why are you putting God to the test
by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that
neither our ancestors nor we have been able to
bear?
(Acts 15:10, New RSV)
The early church followed Peter, and all were
welcome, circumcised or not. The early church
rejected the ideas that Christians had to be
circumcised and follow the Law of Moses.
What did Paul teach about circumcision?
Genesis 17:14 says that an uncircumcised man shall
be 'cut off from his people' but Paul taught that those
who accept circumcision are obliged to keep the whole
law, and those who want to be justified by the law have
cut themselves off from Christ (Galatians 5: 2-4).
Paul confirmed that circumcision was nothing
(Galatians 6:15) and Christ was all and in
all (Colossians 3:11). Jeremiah had already taught
that circumcision in other nations was uncircumcision
(Jeremiah 9: 25-26).
Paul advised people to accept their lot in life and
not seek circumcision or uncircumcision, or slavery or
freedom (1 Corinthians 7:17-24).
Paul condemned people he described as false
believers (Galatians 2:4). These people were
pressuring Christians to become circumcised. Paul was
so incensed by this that he said:
I wish those who unsettle you would castrate
themselves!
(Galatians 5: 12, New RSV)
Paul taught that Jesus accepts people as they are
and does not ask them to become circumcised or
uncircumcised to become Christian (Galatians 5: 6).
Paul said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved...' (Acts 16: 31).
If Paul was against circumcision, why did he say
that circumcision was of much advantage in every
way?
That is how most translations read Romans 3: 1-2.
However, it is not the only reading. Young's Literal
Translation (1898) says:
What, then, is the superiority of the Jew? or
what the profit of the circumcision? much in every
way; for first, indeed, that they were intrusted
with the oracles of God.
At that time, the Jews were called 'the
circumcision'. It could simply have been another way of
referring to Jews. Paul's words explain themselves best
in context. In the verse immediately before the one
quoted above, Paul said that true circumcision was
spiritual, not literal (Romans 2: 29). As for the
profit or advantage of 'the circumcision', this came
from the oracles of God that Jews were entrusted
with.
Paul circumcised a man, but later he called
circumcisers mutilators. Why?
Paul turned against circumcision. At first he gave
in to pressure to circumcise Timothy (Acts 16: 1-4).
(Timothy's mother was Jewish, so Timothy was Jewish by
Jewish law.) However, Paul absolutely refused to
circumcise Titus (Galatians 2:3) and opposed those
false believers with fury. He wished they would
castrate themselves, accusing them of wanting to make
'a good showing in the flesh' and 'glorying in the
flesh' (Galatians 6: 12-15, RSV). In Philippians he
warned believers to beware those who mutilate the flesh
(Philippians 3: 2). Finally, in Titus he says that
'those of the circumcision' (from Crete) were
'upsetting' or 'ruining' whole families and were in it
for the money (Titus 1: 10-12). What he had found out
about circumcisers changed his mind.
Was circumcision ever a Christian tradition?
Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches never
adopted circumcision. Circumcision was condemned in The Ecumenical Council of Florence
on 4 February 1442. One exception was the Coptic Church
in Egypt, and the Council condemned this practice
amongst them. Routine infant circumcision never took
off in Europe but circumcision enthusiasts promoted it
in English-speaking countries from the late Victorian
era. As a result, some Christians have been misled into
believing that Christianity recommends circumcision.
This is simply not true.
Does the Bible ever say that circumcision has
health benefits?
No. The Bible never makes such a claim. Jewish
authorities hesitate to circumcise a baby if two
previous sons had died from circumcision. Even today,
circumcisions lead to haemorrhages, infections and
sometimes even death.
The Apostle Peter said that circumcision and the
Jewish law were an unbearable burden. He was a married
man and he lived before aseptic surgery, blood
transfusions and antibiotics. Did he or someone close
to him lose a child to circumcision? We don't know.
What we know is that the first church council supported
Peter, and not the circumcision enthusiasts. (Acts 15:
10)
What does the Bible say to parents who are in
conflict over circumcision?
In 2001, a young Kansas woman was convinced that God
wanted her to have her son circumcised. Her husband was
adamant that his son would remain intact and took legal
action to protect the baby. The marriage fell apart in
a blaze of publicity. (Wichita Eagle, 13 & 25 July
2001)
The couple's pastor had tried to get the father to
agree to circumcision.
One wonders what the Apostle Paul would have said to
this pastor! He described those pushing circumcision
as:
... rebellious people, idle talkers and
deceivers, especially those of the circumcision;
they must be silenced, since they are upsetting
whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it
is not right to teach. It was one of them, their
very own prophet, who said,
"Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy
gluttons."
That testimony is true. For this reason rebuke
them sharply, so that they may become sound in the
faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths or to
commandments of those who reject the truth.
(Titus 1:10-14, New RSV)
What about those who urge others to circumcise
their children?
Some believe in circumcision because of what they
have been told. Christians should consider Paul's
words:
God put every different part of the body, just as
he wanted it to be.
(Good News Bible, 1 Corinthians 12: 18)
If Christians take this to heart they will have
strength to resist the circumcision enthusiasts. As
someone said to a knife-happy doctor, 'God knows best
how to make little boys.'
Michael Glass
December 2002
Michael Glass is an Australian
teacher, husband and father.
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