THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST

“But if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer”, 2 Cor 5: 16. “In whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ”, Col 2: 11.

To understand the circumcision of Christ, we must first consider what it was to have known Christ after the flesh.

Christ in entering into manhood, entered into a state of flesh and blood and into relationships connected with that state. Inasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also took part in the same. He was born of a woman; He was subject to human parents, had brothers and sisters; He was a true Israelite, come of the seed of David according to the flesh. This is what scripture speaks of as “the days of his flesh”, Heb 5: 7. (We do not forget that He was in Person “the SON”, God manifest in flesh.) Yet He was truly man, and in that condition He experienced all the affections, sorrows and joys connected with that condition, “It behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren”, Heb 2: 17. “Tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”, Heb 4: 15. “He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”, Isa 53: 4. In that condition, and in the relationships connected with it, He was perfect, took up all according to God, and glorified God in them.

But this was not the condition of life which God had purposed for men to live in eternally with Him, it was not a condition suited for heaven and glory. Hence Christ must needs die, not only to make atonement for sin, but to bring to an end that condition of human life, with all that was attached to it, so that in resurrection He might become the beginning and pattern of a new creation order of things, with new and heavenly relationships, according to divine purpose. “That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual”, 1 Cor 15: 46. In resurrection He took up life in a new condition, in which He could impart it to others. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit. He breathed into His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, John 20: 22 He is no longer to be known according to flesh. All now is spiritual, and in view of a heavenly position, as He said, “I ascend”, John 20: 17.

He is to be known now as the risen, living, glorified Man in heaven. In Him glorified God has established spiritual and eternal relationships according to His eternal purpose.

Christ in His former condition according to flesh stood alone in His perfection as man, but now in resurrection He is able to associate others with Himself, “I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. Christ can only be known now as He is in the resurrection condition, and where He is as man in heaven. It is knowing Him thus that we apprehend our calling on high in Christ Jesus; we share His part and place as man.

In peaceful wonder we adore

The thoughts of love divine,

Which in that world, for evermore,

Unite our lot with Thine.

The inheritance of saints in light lies on the other side of death, typically on the other side of Jordan. It is in Christ, and in the sphere in which Christ is in the heavenlies. To enjoy this inheritance, we must in spirit travel the way Christ has gone; that is, by the way of death, burial and resurrection. We must accept our circumcision, for in the assembly we are outside of all that is of flesh. “In whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ”, Col 2: 11. Ours is a heavenly portion outside of flesh, of all that is natural. It is wholly spiritual. We are slow to pass from the natural to the spiritual. It is in the Spirit only that we can do so. But while in the circumcision of Christ we have put off the body of the flesh, and are spiritually outside of the flesh and blood condition, free from the old things which have passed away in the death of Christ, yet the flesh is in us, unchanged, and will be as long as we are in our present bodily condition. Hence the need of continual exercise and self-judgment. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth”, Col 3: 5. Otherwise the Holy Spirit would be grieved and we should lose the enjoyment of our spiritual and heavenly privileges.

Then the next step is “buried with him in baptism”, Col 2: 12. Burial means disappearing. If we have accepted the circumcision, we shall be prepared to disappear as to this world. Then follows, “in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”. We are on new ground now, outside of all that belongs to this present world. Then finally, He has quickened us together with Him. We are quickened in the life of the heavenly Man, and thus made capable for association with Him, to enjoy the things of heaven. Christ is our life. If we had not the life of the heavenly Man we could not enjoy heavenly things, man in his natural life has no taste for these things. They are all outside of the natural life of man. Hence we have to learn to take account of ourselves according to what is true in Christ, according to the thoughts of God. “Ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God”, Col 3: 3. Yet as individuals we are still in bodies of flesh and blood, and in natural relationships which for the time being have to be recognised as being of God. But all these will come to an end when we pass out of our flesh and blood condition. At present we have links with the old creation and the new, with the natural and the spiritual. What we have to see to is that the natural is governed by the spiritual. The spiritual must always have the first place because it is eternal, the natural is only for time. It is our privilege for the time being to take up these natural relationships, and our varied responsibilities, in relation to the Lord, to serve and please Him in them, to serve in newness of spirit, the spirit of Christ, to walk even as He walked. We await the coming of the Lord, when we shall be actually where He is and like Him for ever.

From The Believer’s Friend vol 20 (1928)