BIBLE LESSONS FOR YOUTH.
By G. H. Bell
1. What did the Lord renew to Abraham at the time when he changed his name? 3. What purpose did it serve? 4. In what relation were those known to be who had received this sign? 5. To what nation were they known to belong? 6. Had God entered into covenant with the people of any other nation? 7. Is any such sign necessary in the present dispensation? 9. In the old dispensation, what did people have to do who wished to become servants of the true God? 10. What may now be said of those who by faith and obedience become the children of Abraham? 12. This circumcision of the heart must be something that shows what? 14. What will all do who are led by the Spirit of God? 15. What, then, must we conclude in regard to this circumcision of the heart? 16. What fruit will the Spirit bear in those whose hearts are thus circumcised? Gal. 5:22. 17. What may we know by this sign, or token? 18. How may we know that we dwell in him and he in us? 1 John 4:13. 19. Will those who have this circumcision of the heart have faith in Christ? 20. Will they love God and keep his commandments? 21. Are faith and love fruits of the Spirit? 22. What is said of the love of God in 1 John 5:3? 23. Circumcision of the heart, then, is just what is required for what? 24. Is every child of Abraham a child of God? 25. Who, then, must have had this circumcision of the heart? 26. Did they all have faith in Christ? 27. Did they all have the gospel preached to them? 28. Did they all have the love of God written in their hearts? 29. What is it to have the love of God written in the heart? At the time when the Lord changed Abraham’s name, and renewed his covenant in regard to the promises, he gave him a token, or sign, of that covenant. Gen. 17:11; Rom. 4:11. This was a rite called circumcision; and was a mark by which Abraham and his descendants, the nation of the Jews, were distinguished from all other nations. By this outward sign they were known to be in covenant relation with God. In the present dispensation no such sign is necessary; for God does not now enter into covenant with any particular nation, but with all persons who, through faith in Christ and obedience to his commandments, become children of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. These are the children of God, as we have seen. In the old dispensation those who wished to become servants of the true God had to be circumcised, and become a part of the Jewish nation; but now, those who by faith and obedience become children of Abraham, are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Eph. 2:19. Read Eph. 2:11–22. Such are counted as Jews in reality; “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; 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.” Rom. 2:28, 29. This circumcision of the heart must be something that shows that those who have it are in covenant relation with God,—that they are his children. Now “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” Rom. 8:14; and all who are led by the Spirit of God will bear the fruit of the Spirit. We must conclude, then, that circumcision of the heart is that change in the hearts of men that causes them to bear the fruit of the Spirit,—that indwelling of the Spirit that begets love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Gal. 5:22. This is the sign, or token, by which we may know that God accepts us, and will fulfill to us the precious promises of his word. In 1 John 4:13 we read that, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” Read Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:9. Those who have this circumcision of the heart will have faith in Christ, will love God and keep his commandments; for faith and love are the fruit of the Spirit, and “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3. We see, then, that circumcision of the heart is just what is required to make one a child of Abraham. Every child of God is a child of Abraham; so all the children of God, in every age of the world, must have had this circumcision of the heart. They all had faith in Christ; they all had the gospel preached to them, as did Abraham; they all had the law of God written in their hearts, for they loved its principles, and delighted to obey its precepts.