Morning Prayer 1st January 2009

Genesis 17:1-13

This is a strikingly physical arrangement being made between Abraham and God. The covenant is about a 'perpetual holding' of the land of Canaan and the perpetual circumcision of all men who are offspring or foreigners owned by Abraham and his descendants.

The covenant really is 'in the flesh'. It is a contractual exchange - land for circumcision. It is very easy to see why such a clear, legally constructed passage has such power over the people who inherit this 'in the flesh'.

It makes religious claims to a particular piece of land in the middle east easy to understand from the point of view of Israel.

The snag is that the covenant is offered to Abraham if he will 'walk before (God) and be blameless. What is it to be blameless? Does Abraham achieve this? Will his offspring know what this means and achieve it?


Romans 2:17-29

St. Paul provides a deeper understanding of the nature of this covenant and what it really means. God, when he offered this covenant, was not simply after an offering of flesh in exchange for a property deal. God was offering the opportunity to establish a people who would live life righteously in ways that honoured God and brought people to live in a right way. The outward physical sign (circumcision) was meant to point to a deep inward commitment as God's people and to walk blamelessly before Him.

What was meant by 'blameless' was defined more thoroughly in the Mosaic Law and circumcision as the sign of one living under that law.

St. Paul is simply saying here that unless the desire to walk 'blamelessly' is there the outward sign is of no meaning. The outward sign only has meaning when the inner convictions which result in a life lived well give those signs meaning. Real circumcision is therefore is therefore spiritual and not literal.

Understanding this is important in understanding how the New Covenant (Testament) takes over from the Old. Jesus comes to offer to those who want to walk blamelessly before God the Holy Spirit to help them do this. Thus the New Testament operates at the spiritual level and moves those who will want to be God's people from a transactional to a relational understanding of what it means to walk blamelessly. That's why Jesus n his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount constantly points to the desires of the heart rather than the literal keeping of the letter of the law.

It is why outward circumcision achieves nothing to a non-Jewish person who commits to following Christ.


Thoughts

God calls us to relationship not deals. The gracious offer of God to give us Himself within to help us to live our lives is astounding when we attempt to think of just who God is - Creator, Immanent and Transcendent!

But it also leaves us with nowhere to run to. We cannot hide behind outward symbols. We cannot wear a cross and call ourselves Christian. We cannot escape into signs and symbols unless the integrity of our hearts gives them real meaning.

And because this relationship is personal, we cannot judge others in their relationship with God. We cannot truly see within the heart of another; it is hard enought to know ourselves.

So we are left with the gracious offer of God to be at work within us. We are called to be ourselves before Him and to hunger for our motives and drives to be transformed by His Spirit within.