It’s a common and simple surgical procedure today, done for reasons of hygiene. In Bible times it was more: a visible sign to the people of Israel that they were God’s chosen people. The Bible traces the practice to Abraham, the ancestor of the Hebrews/Jews.
According to Genesis 17, God commanded Abraham that every male child be circumcised when eight days old—a practice Jews still observe.
Many nations besides Israel practiced circumcision, but only Israel gave it a spiritual significance. The warlike Philistines, a constant thorn in Israel’s side, were notorious for not practicing circumcision, and the Old Testament refers to them as “the uncircumcised.”
Later in the Old Testament, the prophets warned the people of Israel that outward signs of religion were not enough: A person’s heart had to be right with God and with others.
More than one of the prophets spoke of the necessity of being circumcised “inside”—not just the physical operation, but the more important change of the heart turning to God. The prophet Jeremiah told the people to “circumcise your hearts.”
A change occurred with Christianity. All the first Christians were Jews, as was Jesus, but the faith began to spread to nonJews, many of whom were not circumcised.
A question arose among the Christians: Must males be circumcised in order to be Christians? There was a danger of a split in the Christianity community, but a council in Jerusalem (see Acts 15) decided that, no, circumcision was not a requirement for Christians.
The apostle Paul took a great interest in this discussion, since he was spreading the faith to non-Jews. Writing to Christians in Rome, he said that “circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit” (Rom. 2:29).
This was a crucial decision: It meant that Christianity was a religion in its own right, not just a kind of “wing” of the Jewish religion.
Muslims (who, like the Jews, consider themselves “children of Abraham”) also practice circumcision.
See 429 (council of Jerusalem).
