And God said
unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after
thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me
and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be
circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it
shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days
old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he
that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not
of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy
money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an
everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:9-13).
(I)
Rev. James D. Slopsema
[I]n
the Old Testament God commanded this seal of His covenant to be administered to
all the children in Israel. We read of this in Genesis 17. In verse 7, we read of the wonderful promise of God to
Abraham to establish His covenant with Abraham and his seed. Then in verses 9-14 we read that God commanded Abraham to keep this
covenant by circumcising every man child born into his generations. Every man
child must receive the sign of the covenant in the form of circumcision when he
was eight days old.
According
to the Baptism Form, the basis of this command is to be found in the fact that
God promised to establish His eternal covenant of grace with Abraham and his seed
in their generations (cf. Gen. 17:7). This in turn
meant that the seed of Abraham, even as children, were received unto grace in
the promised Christ. On that basis they were to receive the sign of the
covenant in circumcision.
We
have already seen that not all the natural descendants of Abraham were elect of
God and thus true members of God’s covenant. Born into Abraham’s generations
was a twofold seed: an elect, spiritual seed as well as a reprobate,
carnal seed. Born to Abraham was not only Isaac, but also Ishmael. Born in
Abraham’s generations was not only Jacob, but also Esau. There was always a
twofold seed. And God’s covenant was with the spiritual seed alone. They alone
were received unto grace in the promised Christ.
Nevertheless,
because God had established His covenant with Abraham and his spiritual seed,
God desired that all the seed of Abraham, the spiritual as well as the carnal
seed, receive the sign of the covenant in circumcision.
And
there was good reason for this.
God
desired the true spiritual seed of Abraham to receive the sign of the covenant
to serve as a means of grace to strengthen their faith in the promised Savior.
When this spiritual seed, even as children, were brought to faith by God’s
grace, their circumcision, which was a seal of the righteousness of faith,
served as a sure testimony of God to them that, even as children, they
were righteous before God in the way of their faith. This served as a powerful
means to strengthen the faith of God’s little saints in the Old Testament.
But
God also had a purpose in the circumcision of the carnal, reprobate seed born
into Israel. The fact that the carnal seed also received the sign of the covenant
did not detract from circumcision. For also here circumcision served the
purpose of God. It served to harden the hearts of the carnal seed, even in
their childhood. The sign of the covenant they bore in their flesh served to
turn them against God in bitter hatred so that they might fill the cup of
iniquity according to the purpose of God’s reprobation.
-----------------------------------------------
(II)
(II)
More
to come! (DV)
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