Circumcision of the Heart

Deuteronomy 30:6 

“The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

A Path to Supreme Peace

To achieve ultimate peace, our hearts need circumcision.

Deuteronomy 30:6 states, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

Among the Hebrews, the physical circumcision of newborns symbolized their entry into a covenant relationship with God, through which He promised to protect, guide, and bless them. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul reveals a deeper dimension of this ceremony.

As Romans 2:29 states : “No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.”

Matthew 5:8 adds “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

A pure heart, which can be translated as “undefiled”, allows one to see and hear God where others cannot. It is the difference between clean water and dirty water.

Purification of the heart involves abandoning our selfish thinking and crucifying our carnal nature. Forgiveness cuts out the “weeds” (the identifiable consequences of sin), while purification uproots them, attacking the very cause of our guilt. Forgiveness follows confession, but purification flows from walking in the light.

As 1 John 1:7 says , “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

The Problem of the Human Heart

It all starts in our hearts. Jesus described the failing state of the human heart in Mark 7:21-23 : “21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Our biggest problem doesn’t come from outside, but from inside: it’s our heart.

AW Tozer said, “We have spiritual organs in our hearts through which we can know God with certainty, just as we know matter through our five senses.” We possess a spiritual capacity that allows us to know God and the spiritual world if we follow the promptings of the Spirit and put them into practice. These faculties must be activated to allow us to access a new life, through the regenerative operation of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Surgery: Circumcision of the Heart

While physical circumcision is an instantaneous operation, circumcision of the heart is not easy and takes time, because human hearts are resilient. In my opinion, Circumcision of the heart is a spiritual surgical operation performed by the Holy Spirit and the Words of God. A heart thus circumcised is regenerated and guided by worshipful thanksgiving.