Ron is a Gay Christian Network member who believes gay Christians are called to celibacy. The following is a sidebar to his argument for celibacy.
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Circumcision and the New Covenant
[continued from the main essay]
It is true, however, that the New Covenant is a New Covenant, which does away with some elements of the Old Covenant. It is therefore worthwhile to explore in greater depth the contrast between the Old and the New Covenants. And nowhere in the New Testament is that controversy seen more clearly than in the debate over circumcision.
We have already noticed that both the Old Testament prophets and Christ complain that “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.” Mt. Sinai and Mt. Calvary both inaugurate covenants: that is, they do not create a list of rules, but they call for a wholehearted commitment to a life of communion between God and the human family.
The prophets of the Old Testament recognize that it is possible for the people to fulfill the ceremonies of the law—circumcision, sacrifices, certain appointed feasts at the Temple—without a commitment to God or a desire for loving communion with either God or neighbor. And over and over again, they tell the people that if they do not do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (cf. Micah 6:8), their sacrifices and ceremonies are in vain.
We often fail to notice, when we speak of the great commandments, that Christ is not replacing the law with these commandments: He is quoting from it (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). And in fact, the Pharisees agreed with Jesus that the command to love God was the greatest commandment, and the commandment to love your neighbor the second commandment (cf. Luke 10:25-28). But because the Pharisees “cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity” (Matthew 23:25), they fulfill the prophets by murdering the Son of God. Without a clean heart and a right spirit, the law cannot bring righteousness.
Therefore, both the law and the prophets bore witness that love was more important than external ceremony. Nevertheless, during His life, Jesus did nothing to remove the ceremonial requirements of the Mosaic law, and in the years immediately following the resurrection, the Jews who were the first converts to Christianity continued to observe the Jewish dietary laws, circumcision, and other elements of the ceremonial law.
However, a few years after the resurrection (the exact dates are not clear from existing records), the Holy Spirit gave Peter a vision of ceremonially unclean animals, and a voice from Heaven said, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter replied, “No, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” But the voice replied, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” The vision was repeated three times. Immediately after this, a messenger came from Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, and the Spirit told Peter to go with them. Peter went, and preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his household. They believed, and the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they spoke in tongues. Some in the Church were critical of Peter for eating with the uncircumcised. But Peter defended his actions based on the vision and the power of the Holy Spirit manifested in the Gentile converts (cf. Acts 10:1-11:18).
Around AD 46, the Apostle Paul, who had been miraculously converted on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:1-30), began preaching among the Gentiles in Antioch, Cyprus, Iconium, and elsewhere. This brought many more Gentiles into the Church, but also alarmed the “circumcision party” in Jerusalem, who sent representatives among the Gentiles teaching, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). This conflict culminated in the Council of Jerusalem being convened around AD 48 or 49.
At the Council, Peter explained again his own experience of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Gentiles (cf. Acts 15:6-11). Paul and Barnabas told of the signs and wonders they had seen God work among the Gentiles (15:12). Finally, James, the head of the circumcision party, stood up, and, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke out in favor of welcoming the Gentiles into the Church. James did not argue for setting aside the Old Testament—rather, he showed how Peter’s words agree with the words of the Old Testament prophets (Acts 15:15; cf. Amos 9:11-12). Inspired by the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 15:28; John 16:13), and under the guidance of Peter, Paul, and James, the Council decided to release the Gentiles from much of the ceremonial law, while keeping the commandment against sexual immorality (cf. Acts 15:29).
Nevertheless, this was not a setting aside of the law and the prophets—it was, according to James, their fulfillment. James’ exegesis was confirmed by the miraculous conversion of Paul, by Peter’s vision, by the manifestation of Holy Spirit in signs and wonders among the Gentiles. It is also important to notice that in this, all of the primary agents of change began as strong proponents of the Jewish law, and were converted by the (sometimes dramatic) working of the Holy Spirit. And, the Holy Spirit brought about unanimity among the Apostles by conversion of the heart of James, the leader of the circumcision party.