Spiritual Beings.

 Spiritual and literal, the two truly are combined- not separate. We are literal beings of flesh with spirit in us. The spirit within us unites with the Spirit that is God, it enables us to belong to God, it is allows us to communicate with God. God would have us belong to Him by our choosing, not by the mere fact of our existence. God would have us trust in Him and His Word above all else. We are His chosen. Truly we are His chosen people, all who believe in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.  May God help us to ever grow in grace and knowledge of our LORD.

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The Meaning of Circumcision.

We have not space to go into this question in detail, but the above texts put us on the track. A careful study of the chapters in Genesis which speak of God's covenant with Abraham will also help to clear up the matter.

We learn in Genesis 15 that God made a covenant with Abraham on the basis of his faith. 

The sixteenth chapter tells how Abraham listened to the voice of his wife instead of the voice of the Lord, and sought to work out the promise of God through the flesh and made a failure. His son was to be born of the Spirit, and not after the flesh.  See Galatians 4:22, 23, 28, 29.

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 

Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 

Then the seventeenth chapter shows the revival of Abraham's faith, and the renewal of the covenant, with circumcision as the seal. A portion of flesh was cut off to indicate that he was to have no confidence in the flesh,  but was to expect righteousness and the inheritance only through the Spirit of God. 

The descendants of Abraham would thus have a continual reminder of his mistake and would be admonished to trust the Lord and not themselves.

But they perverted this sign. They regarded it as indicating that they were better than other people, instead of looking upon it as an evidence that "the flesh profiteth nothing." But the fact that the Jews perverted and misunderstood the sign does not destroy its original meaning.

Who Are Jews? 

We have seen in a quotation from the second chapter of Galatians that the term "uncircumcised" refers to those who do not know the Lord, or who are "without God in the world." See Ephesians 2:11, 12. 

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world

The Jews are "the circumcision." But only those who rejoice in Christ Jesus are the circumcision, who have no confidence in the flesh.

Therefore the real Jews are none other than [believing] Christians.

"He is a Jew, which is one inwardly." 

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.

There never was a real Jew in the sight of God who was not a believer in Christ. 

And every true believer in Christ is a Jew in the Bible sense of the term. 

Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, rejoiced in Christ. See John 8:56.

Joh 8:56  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 

A Mark of Separation.

Many have entertained the notion that circumcision was given as a distinguishing mark between the Jews and the Gentiles. The fallacy of this idea is sufficiently shown by a study of the giving of circumcision, and by the statement of the apostle Paul of what it really signified. 

Others suppose that it was given to keep the Jews separate, so that the genealogy of Christ could be ascertained. This also is simply an unfounded guess. Christ was to come from the tribe of Judah, but as all the tribes were circumcised, it is evident that circumcision could not by any means preserve his genealogy. Moreover, circumcision in the flesh never did make any separation between the Jews and the Gentiles.

It did not keep Israel from idolatry, and it did not keep them from joining the heathen in their idolatrous practices.  Whenever the Jews forgot God, they mingled with the heathen, and there was no difference between them and the Gentiles. Circumcision did not separate them.

Still further, God did not wish the Jews to be separated from the Gentiles in the sense that they were to have no dealings with them. The object of his calling out the Jews from Egypt was that they should carry the gospel to the heathen. He did wish them to be separate in character, but outward circumcision could never effect this.

Moses said to the Lord, "Wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." Ex. 33:16. 

The presence of the Lord in the heart of men will separate them from all others,  although they live in the same house and eat at the same table. 

But if Christ is not in the heart of a man, he is not separated from the world, though he may have been circumcised and may live a hermit.

Literal and Spiritual Seed. 

Much of the confusion that has existed in regard to Israel has arisen through a misunderstanding of these terms. People suppose that to say that only those who are spiritual are really Jews is to deny the literalness of the seed and of the promise. But "spiritual" is not opposed to "literal."

That which is spiritual is literal, and real.

Christ is spiritual, but he is the real, literal Seed. 

God is spiritual and is only Spirit, yet he is not a figurative Being, but a real, literal God. 

So the inheritance of which we are heirs in Christ, is a spiritual inheritance, yet it is real.

To say that only those who are spiritual constitute the true Israel is not to modify or turn aside the Scriptures, or to weaken in any way the directness and force of the promise, because the promise of God is only to those who have faith in Christ. 

"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." Rom. 4:13. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29.