Heart Circumcision
By F. L. Lemley
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There are four scriptures which I believe have an interesting connection to the subject of "the circumcision of the heart" I will first quote them and then proceed to discuss them.
Romans 2:28. "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly: neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God."
Colossians 2:11. "And in Him you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you are also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."
Hebrews 10:22. "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."
I Peter 3:21. "And corresponding to that baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a clear conscience." (These quotations are taken from the New American Standard Version).
All of these refer to the same operation,
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Alexander Campbell made some interesting observations on this text, saying: "We have, in Paul's style, the inward and outward Jews, and may we not have inward and outward Christians? For true it is that he is not always a Christian who is one outwardly, and one of my correspondents will say, 'Neither is he a Christian who is one inwardly.' But all agree that he is in the full sense a Christian who is one outwardly and inwardly... None of our brethren regard baptism as only outward. They all believe that in the outward submersion of the body in water, there is at the same time the inward submersion of the heart and mind into Christ. They do moreover suppose that the former may be without the latter. They have only to add that it is possible for the latter to be not without the former in some sense but without it in the sense which Christ ordained." (From the Lunenburg Letters).
Our observation is that the "one baptism" has two facets, the inward and outward. For baptism to be complete one needs both. But many have the outward who do not have the inward, and others have the inward who have not yet completed their baptism in accepting the outward immersion of the body in water. This is no different than we have always taught, that valid baptism requires a preparation of the heart by faith, repentance and confession.
From Colossians 2:11 we observe that the circumcision of the heart is made without hands. It is a work of the Spirit (Romans 2:28). This circumcision is through faith in the working of God. The Living Bible uses these interesting words: "Not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual operation, the baptism of the soul." While we may not have thought in these terms before it is apparent that both soul and body are involved in valid baptism, and if the heart is not properly prepared beforehand, the immersion of the body is meaningless. This operation on the heart is called "circumcision of the hear?' but the total process includes immersion of the body as indicated by verse 12, "having been buried with him in baptism."
Hebrews 10: 22 makes a clear distinction between the "sprinkling of the heart clean" in contrast to the "washing of the body with pure water ." This points up the fact that something happens in the heart before the body is immersed in water, else the immersion is meaningless. We have for a long time held that faith, repentance and confession must precede immersion, and if they do not it is obvious they are not accomplished in the water as one is immersed.
We have traditionally taught the immersion of the body in water is for (in order to) the remission of sins. There is no doubt this act of faith does have something to do with remission of sins, but it is not the exclusive human action involved for immersion is not the sole item needed. In Acts 3:19 we find repentance is for the remission of sins, and in Acts 10: 43 we find faith is for the remission of sins also. These are all integral parts of conversion.
This poses an interesting question. If faith and/or repentance are defective, will baptism remit anyway? Are not faith and repentance integral parts of baptism and equally related to remission? Since the days of Dr. John Thomas, a contemporary of Campbell, it has been believed by some that if the words "for the remission of sins" were not pronounced over the candidate as he was being immersed, the baptism was void. Dr. Thomas even persuaded his wife to be re-baptized on this account.
Has anyone ever heard of a preacher giving a candidate the third degree to determine if he knew the full import of faith and repentance, and that these are for the remission of sins? If immersion of the body will remit sins in spite of de-
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Joseph Belcastro, in his book The Relationship of Baptism to Church Membership makes the observation that the Greek noun for baptism has two endings, "a" and "mos." Young's Analytical Concordance notes this also. "Baptisma" has to do with the total commitment of the heart, while "baptismos" has to do with total immersion of the body. One is psychological and the other physical. However, according to him, many New Testament references use "baptisma" to include "baptismos," although in some texts both words are used independent of one another.
"Baptisma" does not always include "baptismos." For examples, see Luke 12:50; Matthew 20:22, 23, Mark 10:38, 39. On the other hand "baptismos" is used independent of "baptisma" in Hebrews 6:2; 9:10; and Mark 7:4. In the latter texts no commitment of the heart is involved; in the former no immersion of the body is involved. This may shed some light on I Peter 3:21 where Peter says that baptism (baptisma) now saves us by the resurrection of Christ. In parenthesis he points out that it is not removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a good conscience. He seems to be saying that it is not "baptismos," the immersing of the body, but "baptisma," the commitment of the conscience that should have the emphasis. Of course a commitment of the heart would involve immersion of the body if conversion was complete.
These observations raise other interesting questions. Do the commands involved in conversion fall within the sphere of God's grace or must one make a grade of 100% on all of them in order to reach the sphere of grace? If perfection is required to reach the domain of grace, who can be saved? Who can lay claim to perfect faith and perfect repentance, and thus, to perfect conversion? We have always allowed a lot of latitude in everything but baptism. Why?
We say in practice that our knowledge and execution of baptism must be perfect or it is void. A few months ago Christianity Today lampooned us for re-baptizing a man because one arm failed to get immersed on the first dip. Why do we allow grace on three facets and deny it on a fourth? May I suggest that it is because we generally do not have a proper concept of grace. Most preachers vehemently affirm that they preach grace, but the concept preached is that we reach the domain of grace after we have successfully kept the commandments. Then, after we have reached the sphere of God's grace if we sin we fall out of grace until we discover our error or sin, confess it and pray for forgiveness. Thus we are in a continual cycle of sin and death which would make it wise to have the "last rites" of confession and prayer just before we expire, just to be sure that all of our sins are forgiven.
This system makes for impressive reports of meetings in which 102 responses were recorded, one to be baptized and 101 restored. Many of these come on the general principle of being sure all sins are forgiven, many because they were made to feel they might have sinned and forgotten it, many to confess, "If I have sinned I want forgiveness." This is no indictment of any whose sins are specific and real and whose guilt is genuine and not neurotic.
Paul said we have access to grace through faith. He was speaking of a living faith and not a dead one. A living faith is inseparable from an obedient faith, because obedience is an integral part of a living faith. It is significant that Paul did not say we have access to grace by successfully obeying the commandments, but through faith--a faith that intends to obey. We enjoy the protection of God's grace from the beginning of our faith. We do not have to wait until we have successfully completed our obe-
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For Bible proof of this consider the example of Abraham (Romans 4:3, 23). Abraham's faith was imputed to him for righteousness and this is for us (verse 23). When was Abraham's faith imputed for righteousness? Genesis 15:6 shows it was before Isaac was born, before the command to circumcise was given, and before he offered Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham was counted righteous at the point of vital faith before he had a chance to obey, but not before he surrendered to God and purposed to obey. Abraham had faith in God and surrendered to him, that is, he was circumcised in heart long before he was circumcised in the flesh.
Abraham enjoyed the grace of God from the beginning of his life of obedience and did not have to wait until he made a passing grade, for humanly speaking he never passed the test in every particular though he did offer Isaac, or he fully intended to obey but was hindered from obeying the command. Abraham did not burn Isaac, but God knew that he would if he could.
It is a serious thing to allow those to escape whom God has ordained to destruction (1 Kings 20:42), but it is equally serious to condemn those who are within the realm of God's grace but who have not yet caught up to us in obedience and understanding. We cannot afford to sit in God's judgment seat to condemn all those who may have been "circumcised in heart" but who for some extenuating circumstance have not completed their obedience in outward forms, total immersion of the body in water. No one can ever complete his obedience anyway for as long as he lives he must be obedient to God. We thank God that it is not "completed" obedience that gives us access to grace, but faith. An "obedient faith" is not "faith only." All God's commandments from the least to the greatest fall within the sphere of God's grace. If they did not we all might be damned. We enjoy his grace while we are in the process of obeying.
The above view does a lot to clarify how it is that God answers the prayers of those who are not members of the Church of Christ, and why many who are not members of the Church of Christ bear the fruit of the Spirit, and how God may be able to work through many (for example, the Jesus Movement) who never heard of us. We do not have Jesus in a box. The world is not wholly dependent upon us to dispense him. God can get along without us if he has to do it, for he can still raise up children unto Abraham from these stones (Matthew 3:9).