In the Passover, we see how the sacrifice impacts the Messiah but in circumcision, we see how the sacrifice impacts us.

1. Circumcision: Removal of the foreskin of the male penis. It signifies three things: 1. Identification: It was a strategy for people to recognize that the people belong to God (Genesis 17:9). No identification, such a person is cut off from his people. The purpose of the identification is the promise.

2. Promise: The promise is in the procreation and as such, a woman becomes a part of that covenant by carrying the seed of the circumcised. So, everyone partakes of the promise.

3. Protection: Exodus 12:48 The circumcision is like one placing a judgment on his flesh so that the security of the people is in the mark. We are not better than the world. It is by God’s redemptive plan that we can escape this judgment. Hebrews 11:6

There must be a rub-off of my knowledge of God in my life. There must be confidence I must have had seen how God dealt with man all through scripture. Cain was marked and had confidence that he’d be untouched. David believed so much in God that when Goliath came around, he wasn’t scared to face him. He didn’t boast about his pedigree but he saw the circumcision as his protection. He saw a man without a covenant. Joshua lost a battle and knew something must be wrong. He had to inquire.

Romans 4:8-12 In Abraham, we see that we do not have to be circumcised according to the law to be declared righteous but by faith. For Abraham, circumcision was a symbol of the covenant.

The most important thing was not the symbol but the covenant. So those who were marked needed to believe in the covenant otherwise the circumcision meant nothing. That why we had uncircumcised believers and Jewish unbelievers. Circumcision – Post redemption Ephesians 2:11-13

Paul had to describe what circumcision he was referring to here because circumcision now had a new meaning. Christ is the actual circumcision. He was cut away so that we can be identified with God. Colossians 2:11-13 Christ on the cross is our circumcision, cutaway for us. The true doctrine of circumcision is that in Christ, we received a new life.