To surgically remove the skin covering the head of a male's private part as a sign of belonging to God's people.
Key References
When the eight days before His circumcision had passed, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He was conceived.
But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.)
Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
All Scripture References (36)
Luke (2)
John (2)
But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.)
If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath?
Acts (5)
Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him
Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
Romans (12)
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
If a man who is not circumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
The one who is physically uncircumcised yet keeps the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.
No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.
What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs,
1 Corinthians (1)
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commandments is what counts.
Galatians (7)
On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles.
And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.
For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.
Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
Ephesians (1)
Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—
Philippians (2)
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
Colossians (3)
In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands.
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.
Titus (1)
For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision,