Strips

"You were circumcised without a hand-made circumcision," Colossians 2:11.

(Paul, is this OK to talk about in mixed company? awkward, awkward, awkward!) So. Circumcision was cutting off the foreskin from the male's sex member. (Consequently, it never applied to females. Ever.) Every male Jew had undergone this physical ritual and by it belonged to the commonwealth of Israel. Some taught that Christian men had to be circumcised, too. But no! Cutting off physical flesh contrasted with the spiritual circumcision of one's heart, to freedom from a fleshly, sinful way of life. Christ sets aside the hand-made physical ritual. He does call for circumcision, yes, a circumcision of the heart, not of skin. This circumcision, made without human hand, but made by the hand of God, is for both men and women. God strips off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.

We meet today with a brother or sister having been set free from the power of sin by the power of the gospel. And, together, we offer grateful, clean hearts in service to God.