Daily Devotionals

Voice of the Lord

Devotional: 19th of Iyar

Was someone already circumcised when he was called? Then he should not try to remove the marks of his circumcision (1 Corinthians 7:18).

Rabbi Sha'ul (Saul; i.e., Paul) was not referring in the above verse to a physical operation when he used the word "circumcised," even though history does record rare instances where assimilated Jews of the time were given primitive "uncircumcision" operations. Most scholars agree that Sha'ul was using the word "circumcised" here to refer to Jewish identity, just as in Acts 10:45, where Luke used the word "circumcised" to refer to Jewish believers. The great "apostle to the Gentiles" was laying down a biblical principle to first-century Jewish believers—a principle that would not again be applied by a significant number of Messianic Jews until modern times.

Historically, a message in direct oppostion to this verse has been communicated by Church leaders, from the Council of Nicea (325 c.e.) which forbade believing Jews from continuing Jewish observance—to the forced conversions of Marranos [Jewish converts] in fifteenth-century Spain.

How might history have been different if Messianic Jews had been encouraged to keep their identity? We will never know. But with the proliferation of modern Messianic synagogues, an identifiable Messianic community has arisen. Now families worship the Messiah through their rich Jewish heritage. Today, the Jewish "remnant" is visible worldwide, and the body of believers is becoming increasingly aware of their "Jewish roots" through the teaching and example of Messianic Jews. The message is being proclaimed to the Jewish community worldwide that Messianic Jews are, as the Scriptures encourage, still Jewish!

...praise God for my Messianic Jewish calling and recommit myself to that call through keeping my Jewish identity, as Rabbi Sha'ul encouraged so many years ago.

MW