Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing for standing in faith and in the gospel, and neither state decides a person's place in the gospel or in its work. Circumcision was not required by God, was not essential, and was not made a condition of faith.
What counts instead is the gospel of Christ, and that gospel is the keeping of the commandments of God.
Paul therefore had Timothy circumcised, not as a religious requirement and not because circumcision had value before God, but as a practical concession to Jewish prejudice. The aim was to take away a source of prejudice and remove an obstacle to ministry among the Jews, so that their preaching, especially in the synagogues, would be less difficult and more readily heard. Such a concession could be accepted when it helped clear the way for ministry, yet it left Paul's teaching untouched that circumcision itself is insignificant.
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing for standing in faith and in the gospel, and neither state decides a person's place in the gospel or in its work. Circumcision was not required by God, was not essential, and was not made a condition of faith.
What counts instead is the gospel of Christ, and that gospel is the keeping of the commandments of God.
Paul therefore had Timothy circumcised, not as a religious requirement and not because circumcision had value before God, but as a practical concession to Jewish prejudice. The aim was to take away a source of prejudice and remove an obstacle to ministry among the Jews, so that their preaching, especially in the synagogues, would be less difficult and more readily heard. Such a concession could be accepted when it helped clear the way for ministry, yet it left Paul's teaching untouched that circumcision itself is insignificant.