Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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The importance of circumcision in the history of salvation can hardly be overstated. In God's sight, there were two groups of people on earth: Jews and Gentiles. The title "Gentiles" refers to everybody on earth who are not Jews. The distinguishing characteristic of the Jewish nation, the dividing line, so to speak, between them everyone else on earth was the covenant of circumcision that God made with Abraham (Gen. 17). This covenant demanded that all males who descended from Abraham were to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. This was the definitive sign of the covenant God made with Abraham.
It didn't matter how magnificent or how many were the temples and altars that uncircumcised people constructed; they still were not God's people. God was not impressed either with man's talents or his religious zeal. It didn't matter how many millions of people were uncircumcised; they still were not God's people. God was not impressed with numbers, either. It didn't matter how many hundreds or thousands of years uncircumcised people had been practicing their religious rituals; those rituals were still not holy. (Time does not sanctify.) No religion on earth was of God except the religion that was ordained by God. Everything else was wrong. There were no people on earth who were God's chosen people except the people that He had chosen: the circumcised nation.
The Law of Moses was given to the circumcised people; the prophets were given to the circumcised people; the promises of God were made to the circumcised people. All the uncircumcised peoples and nations of the earth were "without Christ, being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). It makes no difference what those people called themselves, whether Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Syrians, or anything else. If they did not belong to the nation that had the sign of the covenant ordained by God, circumcision of the flesh, they were none of His.
In this New Testament, God's people are still the circumcised people, but the circumcision that man can give with sharp instruments is no longer the kind of circumcision that God recognizes. Now, the only circumcision that counts with God is circumcision of the heart, wrought by His Spirit. It is what Paul called "the circumcision of Christ" (2:11).
In Romans 2:28-29, Paul explains the difference between this New Testament circumcision and the old one: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that [any longer considered by God to be] circumcision that is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God."
It doesn't matter how magnificent or how many are the church buildings that spiritually uncircumcised people construct; they still are not God's people. God still is not impressed with our talents or our religious zeal. It doesn't matter how many millions of religious people are spiritually uncircumcised; they still are not God's people because God still is not impressed with numbers. It doesn't matter how many hundreds or thousands of years spiritually uncircumcised people have been practicing their religious rituals; those rituals are still not holy. (Time still does not sanctify.) No religion on earth is of God except the religion ordained by God. Everything else was wrong. There are no people on earth who are God's chosen people except the people that He has chosen: the spiritually circumcised nation.
The love of God is "spread abroad" in the hearts of the spiritually circumcised people; the gifts of the Spirit are given to the spiritually circumcised people; the promises of God are made to the spiritually circumcised people. All spiritually uncircumcised peoples and nations of the earth are "without Christ, being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). It makes no difference what those people call themselves, whether Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, or anything else. If they do not have the sign of the covenant, the circumcision of the heart by the holy Ghost that comes from God, they are "none of His" (Rom. 8:9).
God is looking for a people who are impressed with Him and what He has done, rather than with themselves and what man has done. It should be unnecessary to say, but we need to hear it: Only what is of God is of God. When we believe the truth, none of the world's religions, including that great, uncircumcised religion called Christianity, will impress us. When we believe the truth, none of the religions that men have developed will seem holy. When we understand and believe the truth, we are impressed only with God, not with ourselves.