Inwardly.

 The appearance- just how much do we base upon appearance? In a world of pictures at our fingertips with access to posting them publicly, we've found out that appearance matters quite a bit. The shaming of people for their appearance is wide-spread. The bullying, teasing, cruelness towards others for their appearance is horrific. You might live in such a way that you've not been exposed to ridicule for your appearance but if so, you know it exists for others. We try to use humor to cover up a lot of what is really just hideous mockery. Do some deliberately choose to appear in such a way they will gain notoriety for it? Yes, but not all. Some are young children facing the judgment of peers for the hand they were dealt upon birth.  Appearance is something some people use as a tool- wanting to appear one way, while secretly being another.   Jesus talked about this--

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

Outward appearance does NOT matter with GOD! How you appear to others doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things- yet many people have lived a life of emotional agony because we've been taught that our appearance is everything. 

Oh, to be beautiful… oh, to appear desirable, to be someone others look up to merely for our appearance. This is the longing of so many people. We want to look good, we want to look acceptable, we want others to think we look good. How much effort is put into our need to appear other than we are, just to get what we imagine is the approval of others?

Are we inwardly full of decay because we are caught up in such a lifestyle?

Have we let our appearance dictate our lives in any way?

Satan lays his traps well for all of us, and for some of us it is in our appearance. God does not want us obsessing over our appearance to the exclusion of a life lived in His holiness! Wouldn't you give up every single accolade you've received for your appearance if it meant having a closer walk with Christ?

Being born into a way of life that labels you a follower of God, does NOT automatically determine your acceptance with God- not by any means. Our hearts belonging to God, surrendered to Him, matters more than anything else.  May God help us not concentrate on appearing Christ-like- but on being Christ-like in all His glorious truth! 

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(Excerpt EJ Waggoner)

What Is Circumcision?

Rom 4:11  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also

This question is answered in plain language in Romans 4:11, where the apostle, speaking of Abraham, the first one who was circumcised, says: "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised." To the question, "What is circumcision?" the answer must therefore be, The sign of circumcision is a seal of righteousness by faith.

When Circumcision Is Made Uncircumcision. 

This being the case, it is evident that where there was no righteousness, the sign of circumcision was worthless. 

Rom 2:25  For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. 

So the apostle says, "If thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." 

As in the previous verses we learned that the form without the fact amounts to nothing, so here we are told that the sign without the substance is of no account. 

It is very easy for a poor man to put out a sign advertising boots and shoes; but to fill the shop with goods requires capital. If he has the sign, but has no boots and shoes, he is worse off than if he had no sign.

The Mistake of the Jews. 

The Jews made a mistake of supposing that the sign was sufficient. They finally came to hold the idea that the sign would bring the reality, just as many professed Christians in these days suppose that the performance of certain rites will make them members of the body of Christ. But circumcision of the flesh alone could represent no righteousness, but sin. See Galatians 5:19-21. 

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

As a matter of fact, many of those whom they despised as "uncircumcised" were thus in reality "circumcised," while they themselves were not.

Circumcision of the Heart. 

Real circumcision is a matter of the heart, that is, of the inner life, and not at all of the flesh.

The apostle plainly declares that what is outward in the flesh is not circumcision, that is, which consists only in outward form; but "circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." This is stated as a general truth.

Rom 2:29  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. 

This was not a new departure in the days of Paul, but was the case from the beginning. In Deuteronomy 30:6 we read the words of Moses to the children of Israel: "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." 

All true Jews recognized that true circumcision was only of the heart, for Stephen addressed those who rejected the truth as "stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears." Acts 7:51.

Righteousness in the Heart. 

The psalmist says, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts." Ps. 2:6. Mere outward righteousness is nothing. See Matthew 5:20; 23:27, 28.

Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

 It is with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness. Rom. 10:10. 

Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

When Moses, at the command of the Lord, rehearsed the law to Israel, he said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words,  which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart." Deut. 6:5,6. There can be no righteousness that is not the real life. Therefore, since circumcision is but a sign of righteousness, it is evident that there can be no real circumcision except circumcision of the heart.

Circumcised by the Spirit.

"For we know that the law is spiritual." Rom. 7:14. That is, it is the nature of the Holy Spirit, for the word of God is the sword of the Spirit of God that can put the law of God into the heart of man.  Therefore true circumcision is the work of the Holy Spirit. Stephen called the wicked Jews uncircumcised,  because, said he, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." Acts 7:51. It seems evident, therefore, that, although the word "spirit" in Romans 2:29 is not spelled with a capital "S," it refers to the Holy Spirit and not merely to the spirit of man. (Of course in the Greek there is nothing to indicate any difference, just as in English the word is spelled the same whether it refers to the Spirit of God or the spirit of man).

If we remember that circumcision was given as the seal of righteousness by faith, and that the inheritance promised to Abraham and his seed was through the righteousness of the law (Romans 4:11,13), 

Rom 4:11  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

we shall see that circumcision was the pledge of the inheritance. The apostle also says that we obtain the inheritance in Christ "in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." Eph. 1:10-13. The possession promised to Abraham and to his seed was assured only through the Spirit of righteousness; therefore, from the very beginning there was no real circumcision that was not of the Spirit.

Circumcision through Christ. 

"Ye are complete in [Christ], which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Col. 2:8-11. 

Circumcision must have meant as much when first given as it ever did. Therefore from the very beginning it meant righteousness through Christ alone.

This is sufficiently shown in the fact that circumcision was given to Abraham as the seal of the righteousness which he had by faith, and that "he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Gen. 15:6.

Who Are the "Circumcision"? This question is answered in Philippians 3:3: "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 

And this is but saying in other words what we have in our text, "Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Nobody therefore was ever really circumcised who did not believe and rejoice in Christ Jesus. That is the reason why Stephen called the unbelieving Jews "uncircumcised."