Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
I am a gentile, not opposed to being a gentile. Perfectly happy, frankly. Not in any mood to become something I'm not. But I can see what the church did to the Jews. "You cannot be a Christian and a Jew". But Paul was a Jew.
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In a sense, we who have given our life to Christ are all Jews. Paul says in Romans 2:28 that we are made spiritual Jews through "spiritual circumcision". Yet physical Jews can also participate in this process of spiritual circumcision, and as aron said, while keeping the physical side of their Jewishness.
Romans 2:28
"For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter..."
What is remarkable about physical circumcision is that it was done on the eighth day after birth (Leviticus 12:3). I believe this points to the first day of the new creation after the seven days of the old creation.
2 Cor 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
(As a side note we are close to nearing six thousand years of creation, so if the millennial kingdom started within our lifetime this would nicely fit the pattern of six days of creation followed by one day of sabbath followed by the new heavens and new earth.)
Even if we have the spiritual reality through Jesus Christ, the shadow is still important because it gives us a picture of the spiritual reality which is unseen. Physical circumcision involves the cutting of our physical flesh so spiritual circumcision must involve the same kind of "cutting" but at a spiritual level. Paul describes this spiritual circumcision in verses like:
Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Romans 6:6-7
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
But why do we need to die to our flesh? It's to make room for the free gift of a new life through the Holy Spirit. Just as a servant cannot serve two masters, neither can man live two lives but one must let go of the old life to take on a new one (Luke 9:24). It doesn't matter how many "good works" one does (which are filthy rags per Isaiah 64:6), how many meetings or conferences or prayer meetings one attends, if a person is not willing to participate in this exchange which results in a new birth in Christ, that person will never see the eternal kingdom of God (John 3:3).
But how can someone come to decide to participate in such a process? That's where faith (trust + mental agreement within a vow to faithful relationship) comes in. After a person comes to faith by means such as studying the historicity and veracity of the Christian faith and becomes fully convinced of the "unseen things" (Heb 11:1), that person will then desire to undergo spiritual circumcision by dying to self and being reborn with a new life which the sacrament of baptism represents.
And how does this all tie in to the law of Christ which is to love? Our flesh desires to love itself and not our neighbor. But God's will is that we would love our neighbor. When we die to the flesh and let God's Spirit live through us, we will be able to love our neighbor selflessly as God loves them. That's why as HB shared, that Leviticus 19:18 is a shadow of John 13:34 because the highest form of divine love is self-less whereas the Old Testament version of it retained the self love.
The danger behind LC teaching and practice (and to be fair they are not alone in this) is that one can be deceived into thinking they've made this exchange of life when they actually haven't. One of Satan's strategy is to get people so busy with works such as conferences, meetings, trainings which may be good but will be done in vain if it causes them to ignore the need to undergo spiritual circumcision preventing them from participating in the true exchange. The sobering aspect of circumcision is that it can only be done in this life and not the next. Dying to our flesh can only be done on this side of the veil inhabited by flesh & blood and not the other side of the veil where there will be no more flesh to circumcise and where sin and death can carry over into eternity.
God offers us the chance to repent and participate in the cross of Christ by dying to sin in the flesh (Romans 6:1-14) while we are still alive which allows us to love our neighbor through the Holy Spirit. There is no more chance to repent once we die.
Hebrews 9:27
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"
2 Cor 6:2
"...Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation..."