Israel Reestablishes Covenant Ceremonies

² At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites.^[a]”

⁶ “The Lord your God will change your heart^[a] and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

¹⁶ Therefore, change your hearts^[a] and stop being stubborn.

²⁵ But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet^[a] with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

¹⁰ This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹ You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. ¹³ All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”

¹¹ When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.^[a]

¹¹ Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith.

²⁹ No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise^[a] from God, not from people.