Christian Appearance.

 We are all humans with many faults. Christians remain humans even once they've chosen to unite with Christ, submitting themselves to Christ, letting Christ live in them, wanting Christ to live in them, guiding them, saving them. The faults remain, and those faults must weigh heavy upon the Christ follower, and they must seek forgiveness for the faults- not accepting sin as being inconsequential. All sin has the consequence of separating us from Christ. We ask for forgiveness, knowing Christ wants to forgive us, wants us to have nothing separating us from Him. The outward man- the person we present to all around us, the person we reveal could appear righteous but not be righteous at all. Inwardly we must have truth! Inwardly we must belong wholly to Christ. Our struggle to be Christ's, to run this race, to live as Christ's must be true. If other's point at your failures to appear in a manner they deem Christ-like, know that it's not because you are not Christ's, but because you are fighting this spiritual war. It is much better to be struggling- seeking forgiveness - acknowledging our desperate and constant need of Christ, than to appear as one who is Christ-like while inwardly filled with unrepentant, unrecognized sin.

Please Lord, help us, keep us as YOURS, wholly Yours!

(Excerpt - EJ Waggoner)

"The Law Is Spiritual." 

In the fifth chapter of Matthew the Saviour has set forth the spirituality of the law. He says that unless our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we can not enter the kingdom of heaven. What was their righteousness? He said to them, "Ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Matt. 23:28.

Therefore, unless we are righteous inwardly, we are nothing. 

God desires "truth in the inward parts." Ps. 51:6. 

Following on in the fifth chapter of Matthew, the Saviour shows that one may break the sixth commandment,  which says, "Thou shalt not kill," by the utterance of a single word. He also shows that we may break the seventh commandment which says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," by a look and a thought. The same principle of course obtains with all the commandments. This being the case, it becomes one to be very careful about saying that he has perfectly kept the law.

Some have said that the Ten Commandments are a very low standard, and that a man might keep them all and still not be worthy of admission into respectable society. Such know nothing about the law. As a matter of fact, a man may break all the commandments, and still figure as a shining light in the "best society."

The Name of God Blasphemed.

"The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written." Who has done this? The one who teaches the law, and who says that one who teaches the law and who says that one should not take the name of the Lord in vain. When David sinned in the case of Uriah's wife,  God said to him, "By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." 2 Sam.  12:14. That is, he was a professed follower of the Lord, and by his violation of the law of the Lord he had given unbelievers a chance to say, "There, that is a specimen of Christianity."

Who is there that can say that as a professed follower of the Lord he has always correctly represented the truth?  Who is there that must not admit to himself and God that either by his words or actions he has very often misrepresented the truth which he professed? Who is there that has not by his failures, either in teaching or acting, given people a miserably inadequate idea of what true godliness is?

In short, who is there that must not say yes to the apostle's question, "Through breaking the law, dishonorest thou God?" And since thus the name of God is blasphemed through professed Christians, who is there that can declare himself guiltless before God's law?

In these verses we have had some sharp questions to those who are "called Jews," that is, who profess to be followers of the Lord. Mere form and profession do not constitute one a proper teacher of the truth of God. He who does not exhibit in his life the power of that which he professes, is only a detriment to the cause. In the verses now before us we have a brief but explicit statement concerning - Circumcision and Uncircumcision Romans 2:25-29.

25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 but he is a Jew, which 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.

Definition of Terms.

The two terms "circumcision" and "uncircumcision" are here used not only to indicate the rite and the absence of it, but also to designate two classes of people. "The uncircumcision" evidently refers to those who were called Gentiles, those who worshiped other gods. This use of the terms is very plain in the following passage: "When they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter (for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles); and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." Gal. 2:7-9. 

Here we find that the terms "uncircumcision," "Gentiles," and "heathen," all refer to the same people.

Just what was the profit of circumcision, we are not told in this chapter. The statement of the fact was enough for this place, for the only point in the mind of the writer was to show what circumcision is, and who are the really circumcised. A great deal depends upon these few verses. They should be studied carefully, because upon them depends the proper understanding of a large portion of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

If these verses had received the consideration that they ought to have by professed Bible students, there would never have been any "Anglo-Israel" theory, and the unprofitable and misleading suppositions about the return of the Jews to Jerusalem before the coming of the Lord would never have been made.