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Subject 9 : Romans (Commentaries on the Book of Romans)
[Chapter 2-1] Introduction to Romans Chapter 2
In this world, there are only two groups of people that believe in God: the Jews and Christians. Among these two groups of people, the former don’t believe in Jesus while the latter do. God regards the faiths of those who do not believe in Jesus as useless. However, the most serious problem Christians face is that they believe in Jesus somehow but have not yet been remitted of their sins. The Apostle Paul talks about this theme in Romans chapter 2 not only to the Jews and Greeks but also to today’s Christians.
The Jews judge others easily
The Apostle Paul reproaches both the Jews and Christians who have the same kinds of faiths. In Romans 2:1, Paul, saying “O man, whoever you are who judge,” reproaches those who are intoxicated with the sense of superiority in being Jewish or Christian. Even those who have not been born again after believing in God know what is wrong by the law of consciousness in their hearts. That is why they tell others not to steal. However, they commit adultery themselves and do not keep the Lord’s words, yet guide others with God’s commandments while professing themselves to be believers of God. These are the people, among Jews and Christians, who have not been born again.
Those who believe in God tell others not to worship idols or commit murder, boasting that they keep the law of God. Therefore, they dishonor God by breaking His laws.
People who do not know God’s righteousness, but believe in Jesus, also say that Jesus is their Savior. But their faiths are not based on God’s righteousness, so they oppose the true righteousness of God that has already blotted out all their sins. They themselves do not know that they are opposing the true believers in God. We can see that many people call themselves Christians but reject the gospel that contains God’s righteousness, without knowing Jesus’ love, or the spiritual circumcision. They claim to follow God’s will, but in truth they have not accepted Jesus and have crucified Him to the Cross on a charge of blasphemy that Jesus identified Himself as the Son of God.
The Apostle Paul said that an outward Jew is not a Jew, but an inward Jew is a genuine Jew. They claim that they are God’s people and that they are a part of God’s nation. But how can the Jews believe in God when they have rejected Jesus as their Savior?
The Apostle Paul says, “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter” (Romans 2:29). Those who believe in the spiritual circumcision are the true believers in God. They are righteous by faith.
From whom should the believers of God receive recognition and praise? They should receive it from God. Paul said, “Whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:29). If we believe in God’s righteousness, we win His praise and receive a reward from Him. If you believe in Jesus outwardly yet hold sin in your heart, you do not believe in God’s righteousness actually; you are only mocking Him. Therefore, you will receive the judgment of an unbeliever.
Who are those who ignore God’s truth? They are the people who follow human words more seriously than God’s word. They organize themselves into various religious sects in Christianity and oppose God. They reject and stand against the righteousness of God’s salvation with their united power. Can you guess what kinds of punishments will come down on these people?
The punishment to those who oppose God
Verses 8 and 9 state, “But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness─ indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.”
Tribulation and anguish will come down upon each of the souls of mankind who do evil. Here, the expression “anguish” is the punishment to be received in hell. To those who commit evil, there are tribulations and hell’s anguish.
What kind of a curse do those who reject God receive? God brings down fearful judgment upon those who reject His love. How do you expect those who have opposed God’s love, which comes from spiritual circumcision, to live peacefully in body and mind? Some people will live ruined lives now and after death because they deserve God’s wrath. They have opposed God’s righteousness and cannot hold true satisfaction in their hearts. They do not know the love that comes from spiritual circumcision; even when they go to church confessing that they believe in Jesus, they still suffer from not having their sins remitted.
You cannot know this secret just because you believe in Jesus. Only those who believe in God’s righteousness know it. Be advised you wrong believers in God that you should understand and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is God’s righteousness. Then you will be able to free yourselves from the suffering curse.
If a man says that he has sin in his heart even when he believes in Jesus, it means that he believes in the wrong way and has to believe in the true gospel that bestows God’s righteousness. No matter in what denomination people believe in Jesus, if they claim to believe in Him somehow, yet hold sin in their hearts, they are committing the sin of ignoring God’s righteousness. What is the right result of believing in God? If you believe in Jesus as your Savior in truth, you will surely be sinless. However, if you have sin in your heart even after believing in Jesus, it means that you have not fully understood God’s righteousness.
The Lord who saved all the sinners from their sins has already come in flesh, saved the sinners, and become the Savior of all believers. Then, can a person who truly believes in the water and the Holy Spirit have sin? The person should not have sin if he/she truly believes in God’s righteousness from the moment he/she first believes in Jesus. But it is because he/she ignores God’s righteousness while believing in Jesus somehow that his/her heart comes to have sin.
Therefore, you have to give up your stubbornness right now. “I have believed in Jesus wrongly! Then in what way should I know Jesus and believe? I have come to understand that the Cross is important in believing Jesus, but His baptism is also very essential. Now I come to understand that Jesus was crucified on the Cross and received vicarious judgment because He took over all the sins of the world through the baptism.” You have to realize these truths and believe them.
Those who remain stubborn against the Lord will receive God’s retribution in accordance. The result is being put into the fires of hell. That is why Matthew 7:22 states, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’” When the Lord comes again, those who do not believe in God’s righteousness and have sins in their hearts while outwardly pretending to believe in Jesus will be judged before God. They will say to the Lord, “Have I not believed in You well? Have I not cast out demons in Your name and spoken in tongues? Have I not served You, Lord?”
However, the Lord will say, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (this indicates those who do not believe in God’s righteousness)! How can you say that you believe in Me when you do not believe that I have blotted out all of your sins by receiving baptism and dying on the Cross? Liar, you shall enter the eternal burning fire. Your sin is that of a false prophet and have led many people to hell.” Those who do not believe in His righteousness and give up their stubbornness will receive God’s fearful wrath.
The biggest example of this kind of faith is of the Jews, and they still remain stubborn before God. To this day, they do not believe in God’s righteousness through Jesus Christ. Even among the Protestants, there are so many stubborn Christians who say that their daily sins can be forgiven every time they offer prayers of repentance. These people should give up their stubbornness of not believing in God’s righteousness in order to avoid His indignation.
Does Jesus forgive those for their self-crimes whenever they repent and pray for His forgiveness everyday? He doesn’t. John the Baptist, who was the last High Priest of the Old Testament and the representative of all mankind, baptized Jesus 2000 years ago and He shed blood on the Cross. For thus, He fulfilled the righteousness of God and blotted out all of mankind’s sins at once.
Where did Jesus take over our sins? Jesus burdened himself of all the sins of mankind all at once when He was baptized by John at the Jordan River. He also saved the believers eternally from sin by going up the Golgotha to shed blood on the Cross and receive vicarious judgment for all the sins. But all the Christian-sinners are still stubborn and do not believe in God’s righteousness. If their hearts have already been cleansed of all sins by the blood on the Cross, then why do they have to ask for forgiveness for their sins until they pass away? They are being stubborn. Jesus’ blood on the Cross is important, but Jesus’ baptism received from John is also so important that people should believe and have their sins forgiven in one time in order to obtain God’s righteousness.
Everyone is stubborn! But before God, you should give up your stubbornness of rejecting His righteousness. Those who believe in God should obey and believe in His words. I am also a very stubborn person, but I gave up my stubbornness before God and became righteous by His grace.
True repentance is giving up one’s stubbornness and receiving the remission of sins by accepting the righteousness of God in mind. After being forgiven, we have to change our wrong ways and acknowledge our mistakes, trying to live better lives spiritually in front of God. The latter is the repentance in actual life of a born-again saint.
Those who believe in Jesus, yet do not know God’s righteousness will be destroyed. These people should give up their stubborn ways, repent, and believe in the baptism and the Cross of Jesus for the remission of their sins (Acts 3:19). The Lord gave us this commandment in order for us to receive the remission of sins in one time by believing in His righteousness. We have to listen to God and listen to His words so that we can be perfectly righteous people and be forgiven for all our sins at once by believing in the truth that Jesus atoned all our sins through His baptism and crucifixion. When a person believes in God’s righteousness, he/she will be forgiven for all sin and receive the Holy Spirit as a gift. All the Apostles and disciples of Jesus believed in God’s righteousness and received the remission of sins in one time. You, too, should not be stubborn before the truth. You should be stubborn at the right times. If you do not understand the spiritual circumcision well, you have to learn and believe it. It would not do to remain stubborn. You have to repent and believe.
People reject the truth and mock it without knowing the truth of spiritual circumcision. “That is wrong! How can a person become righteous when he commits sins everyday? You know, God just calls the believers in Jesus righteous even though they are still sinful. It is the Doctrine of Justification. You are not called righteous because you really do not have any sin in your heart.” However, you should know it is a very erroneous teaching.
In the Bible, God said that through the gospel of spiritual circumcision that gives us the remission of sins, “I have blotted out all of your sins. You are sinless now. Because I have taken over all of your sins, you are righteous.” “Do you believe in My righteousness? If you believe in the words of the spiritual circumcision, then you are one of My people and you are sinless.” God talks about His complete deliverance, but nominal Christians slander and mock the born-again Christians who believe in spiritual circumcision. They say, “How can a person become righteous when he/she commits sins ceaselessly? You can call a person ‘as sinless’ only through the Doctrine of Justification. How can we think of a person as really sinless? A person cannot help but sin every day.” They slander like this and remain stubborn because they do not believe in the righteousness of God.
But God gives eternal lives to those who are patient in doing good. Those who seek glory, honor, and immortality by patient continuance in doing good will become God’s children, but those who do not do so will receive punishment. Everyone wants to become a child of God and live eternal life. Jesus gives eternal lives to those who earnestly want to live forever and have sinless lives.
“What I truly want Lord is to believe in the remission of sin through the spiritual circumcision so that I may live a life without anything shameful in my conscience. I want to become Your child. I want to believe in Your righteousness and make You happy. I want to become sinless. Please save me from all my sins.” To those who seek God’s righteous salvation and wishes to be forgiven for all their sins, God listens to all of their wishes and forgives all of their sins by giving them the gospel of God’s righteousness. To those who want to live eternally, God gives eternal life.
What is the spiritual circumcision?
It means the remission of sins accomplished through Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross. The blood of the Lamb is the vicarious judgment and Jesus’ baptism from John means that the sins of the world were passed onto Jesus. Even today, Christianity cannot ignore the Old Testament because then, it cannot believe in the New Testament. In the Scriptures, we can find that the spiritual circumcision and the blood of the lamb at the Passover ritual are closely related.
In 1 John 5:6, it says that Jesus came “not only by water, but by water and blood.” Jesus did not come only by water or by blood, but by both. You have to believe in the spiritual circumcision contained in the words of the water, the blood, and the Spirit in order to be delivered from all your sins.
Reading Exodus chapter 12, I had some questions about the spiritual circumcision. What does Exodus chapter 12 mean? I looked carefully into the entire chapter and all the related passages in the Bible again and again. And I came to realize that the Israelites were able to participate in the Passover Feast because they had received circumcision and in the New Testament, it said that Jesus did not simply shed blood on the Cross, but shed blood because He was baptized by John.
God told the Israelites two ordinances for the lawful Passover Feast: to receive circumcision previously and then to eat the meat of the Passover lamb. This was the spiritual circumcision of the Old Testament! In the New Testament, it said that our sins were passed onto Jesus by John’s baptism and that He shed blood on the Cross. I found out that accepting these facts resulted in the truth of receiving the spiritual circumcision. Jesus Christ was baptized by John at the Jordan; that is how He burdened the world’s sins and why He had to die on the Cross to receive judgment in our place.
You can experience the salvation from all the sins and iniquities by accepting this truth in your heart. For a person to receive salvation from all sin, he/she needs to believe in God’s righteousness, which can give us the spiritual circumcision. People need to realize this truth. You readers have to perceive the truth that the spiritual circumcision in the Old Testament and the baptism of Jesus in the New Testament form a pair when concerning the remission of sins. Jesus did not receive judgment because He had sinned, but He died on the Cross for mankind because He had been baptized and borne the sins of the world with His body. This is the faith of those who have received the spiritual circumcision.
Those who believe in God’s righteousness through the spiritual circumcision have no sin because they truly believe in Jesus. I pity those who believe in Jesus somehow, yet have not received the spiritual circumcision from God. They have to believe in the truth that Jesus took over all the sins of the world when John baptized Him.
Unfortunately, most Christians believe only in the Cross and not Jesus’ baptism. Thus, they do not have the faith of believing in God’s righteousness. We have to know that we must believe what God has told us in the Scriptures.
We have to tear down no matter what doctrines and teachings of theologians, and only believe in God’s words that will lead us to His righteousness. This is because words without His righteousness are not truly God’s words. The gospel without the spiritual circumcision is not complete. That is why in the Bible, God spoke so frequently about the circumcision in the Old Testament and the baptism of Jesus in the New Testament. In other words, it talks about the circumcision and the blood of the Passover lamb in the Old Testament in parallel with Jesus’ baptism and His blood in the New Testament. We have to believe in this truth to receive the spiritual circumcision. However, if we do not believe in this truth, we will be set aside from God’s Kingdom.
Is God’s righteousness fulfilled only by His blood on the Cross? This is not so. God’s righteousness was completed both by Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross. So, we received the spiritual circumcision in our hearts not only by His bloodshed on the Cross, but by the baptism He received from John. The spiritual circumcision can be possible for us since Jesus actually blotted out all our sins through His baptism and His atoning death on the Cross.
Circumcision means to cut out
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah, Jesus Christ would receive the vicarious judgment for our sins by being wounded and bruised. Therefore, there is something we should know before we go on. Why did Christ have to be crucified on the Cross?
In the Old Testament, a sinner had to lay his/her hands on a sacrificial lamb to pass on the sins and then had to kill the lamb. Then, the priest took some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and poured the rest of its blood at the base of the altar (Leviticus 4:27-30). A sinner of the Old Testament Age could be remitted of his/her sins this way. Then wouldn’t Jesus, who came as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) to save us from our sins, had to have had hands laid on His head as in the Old Testament in order to take all of mankind’s sins?
Then, when and how did the Lord take the sins of the world? Is that not shown in Matthew 3:13-17, where John baptized Jesus at the Jordan? This is as in Leviticus of the Old Testament where it continuously says the sinner “shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering” (Leviticus 1:4, 3:8, 4:29) to pass on the sins. The High Priest in the Old Testament had to lay his hands on the head of the lamb and pass on his and all the Israelites’ sins (Leviticus 16:21). Then, he took some of its blood and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and poured its remaining blood at the base of the altar. They received the remission of sins this way.
In a way like this, our remission of sins was made possible by Jesus’ baptism from John and His blood on the Cross. This was God’s righteousness and the spiritual circumcision that God wanted to give us within the Bible. Therefore, we who believe in God’s righteousness had our sins cut off by Jesus’ baptism from John and His blood on the Cross. When we perceive the meaning of Jesus’ baptism in the New Testament in relation to the circumcision in the Old Testament, we come to believe in God’s righteousness and we truly come to receive the spiritual circumcision in our hearts.
The true spiritual circumcision in the New Testament
Let us see Matthew 3:13-15. “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.”
John the Baptist baptized Jesus at the Jordan. He laid his hands upon Jesus’ head and baptized him. (To baptize, ‘baptizo’ in Greek, means to immerse or to submerge under water.)
In order for Jesus to die on the Cross for our sins, He first had to take our sins through the baptism. So, He was baptized by John first, and then submerged under water. Why was He baptized? It was because when He was baptized, all of God’s righteousness could be fulfilled. It was just and fitting that He took mankind’s sins through baptism and that He became our God and Savior. It was very suitable for Jesus to die on the Cross bearing all our sins on His body through His baptism.
The first thing Jesus ever did in His public life was to receive baptism. Baptism, ‘baptisma’ in Greek, implies “to wash, to bury, to transfer and to pass over.” In the Old Testament, the 10th day of the seventh month was the Day of Atonement of the Israelites, and Aaron laid his hands upon the sacrificial goats to pass on all of the sins of the Israelites. Of the two goats, one was offered to God and the other was made as an offering for atonement in front of the Israelites (Leviticus 16). In the New Testament, Jesus received all of our sins by being baptized by John.
On the next day of His baptism, John pointed his finger at Him and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
You have to admit that the spiritual circumcision is not possible only by the faith in His blood.
Let us see starting from 1 John 5:4. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world─our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He who came by water and blood─Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:4-12).
What is the proof of the spiritual circumcision? It is the faith of believing both in Jesus’ baptism and His blood as our salvation. The victory that has overcome the world is the water and the blood. “This is He who came by water and blood─ Jesus Christ; not only by water, but also by blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth. And there are three that bear witness on the earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood.” These witnesses, that show God is our God and our Savior, testifies that God came to earth in human flesh, took all of our sins unto His body through His baptism, shed blood on the Cross on our behalf, and thus delivered us from all our sins.
In the New Testament, the gospel of the spiritual circumcision consists of the water and the blood. In the New Testament, the water is the baptism Jesus received from John and the blood means His death on the Cross. Jesus’ baptism is the counterpart to the circumcision in the Old Testament. Jesus’ baptism from John is proof that our sins have been passed onto Him by it. Those who believe in the truth will be able to stand in front of God and say, “God, you are my Savior. I believe in Your righteousness, therefore, I have no sin. I am your flawless child and You are my God.” What is the basis in the Scriptures that let’s you confidently shout in this way? It is the faith in Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross, which constitute God’s righteousness. Accepting God’s righteousness as my righteousness cannot be possible only by Christ’s blood. Both His baptism and blood create it.
Let us look at the passage about the indispensability of Jesus’ baptism in our salvation. 1 Peter 3:21 is the proof of this truth. “There is also an antitype which now saves us─baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The Apostle Peter is now talking about the doubtless evidence of our salvation. Jesus’ baptism is the circumcision in the Old Testament. Do you understand? As the Israelites cut off their foreskins for circumcision in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, Jesus was baptized by John and took all the sins of the world, enabling us to receive the spiritual circumcision. The baptism and the blood on the Cross created God’s righteousness. The spiritual circumcision and the baptism mean the same thing. You have to understand that Jesus’ baptism implies the spiritual circumcision to all of us.
“There is also an antitype which now saves us─baptism.” How do we receive God’s righteousness? By believing that Jesus was baptized and died on the Cross for our sins. Matthew 3:15 states, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Because all of mankind’s sins have passed onto Jesus’ head, sinners’ sins are blotted out absolutely. Every sinner becomes righteous by believing in Jesus’ baptism and His blood. Jesus Christ shed the blood of judgment on the Cross after bearing all the sins of the world; all of mankind’s sins were atoned this way. Believing that Jesus took over the world’s sins by being baptized and that He received vicarious judgment on behalf of us is to have faith in the truth that will bring God’s righteousness to believers. Believe in this truth.
John 1:29 states, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus is God’s Son and as our Creator, He fulfilled His promise of circumcision by taking all sinners’ sins. This is the true faith that brings in our hearts the spiritual circumcision, which is God’s righteousness. Jesus is our true righteousness. We must thank Jesus. We must thank Him for His baptism and blood that enables us to receive the spiritual circumcision.
1 Peter 3:21 continues, “Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.” A person’s filth of the flesh is not removed just because he/she believes in Jesus as his/her real Savior. You can receive the remission of sins by believing that all your sins have been passed onto Jesus by His baptism and His blood shed on the Cross. Receiving the remission of sins by confessing Jesus as your Savior occurs in your heart. It takes place in the believer’s heart. If you believe in the Savior with your heart, you will be remitted of your sins, while your flesh is still filthy and commits iniquities everyday; but there is no sin. You receive God’s righteousness by believing that when Jesus was baptized, all of the sins were passed on to Jesus and that there are no more sins in your heart.
You have to believe in the truth to make it yours
In John 1:12, it says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
What words have you received and accepted? You have to accept the things that were done by God’s Son. What was God’s work? God’s Son came to earth in the likeness of sinful flesh, and when He was thirty, He got baptized to take all of mankind’s sins and gave us the spiritual circumcision so that our sins would be blotted out. Then He died on the Cross as the Lamb of God and made atonement for us. The Lord became the eternal sin offering for all sinners and saved us eternally. This is true faith. We become righteous by believing in this truth.
Can we receive the spiritual circumcision only by Christ’s blood? No, we cannot. Jesus’ baptism cut out the sins from us and the judgment He received on the Cross by shedding blood for the sinners was the vicarious judgment for you and me. We are saved from sin and are exempt from judgment because we believe in the gospel of God’s righteousness, that is, the gospel of Jesus’ baptism and blood on the Cross. Receiving Jesus as the Savior can blot out all the sins in a sinner’s heart. Receive the spiritual circumcision in your hearts. Then, the righteousness of God will become yours.
True spiritual circumcision should take place in the heart
In Romans chapter 2, the Apostle Paul says, “Circumcision is that of the heart.” How do you circumcise yourself in your heart? This is possible by believing that Jesus Christ came to earth in human flesh, that He was baptized to take all “the sins of the world,” that He died shedding blood on the Cross, and that He resurrected again to be our eternal Savior. The Apostle Paul said that circumcision should be done in the heart, and you can be circumcised in your heart by believing in Jesus’ baptism. If you want to receive the spiritual circumcision in your heart, believe in Jesus’ baptism. Then, you will truly become one of God’s children. Righteous is the person who believes that Jesus’ baptism and blood delivered him/her from all his/her sins. Amen.
Until He was 29 years old, Jesus lived a private life supporting His family, but when He became 30, He started living His public life. During His public life, He blotted out all of mankind’s sins and delivered all the sinners from their sins. The first thing He did was to receive baptism in order to deliver the sinners from their sins and make them righteous. “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him” (Matthew 3:13). Why did Jesus try to be baptized? We have to know that He did this in order to take all the sinner’s sins. We must not misunderstand the true meaning of His baptism. Baptism is to wash away sins by transferring them. That is why Jesus, in order to take sinners’ sins, asked John to baptize Him.
Who is this John who baptized Jesus? John is the representative of all mankind. This is explained well in Matthew 11:11-14. “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.”
Starting from the days of John the Baptist, the age of God’s Covenant ended. This is because Jesus, the Person who was to fulfill His promises, had come. Then, who were the persons that were to fulfill the promises in the Old Testament? They were Jesus and John the Baptist. John the Baptist passed the sins onto Jesus. John the Baptist was the last prophet in the Old Testament who was sent to pass all the sins onto God’s Lamb, who came in the New Testament. John did this task by laying his hands on Jesus’ head according to the lawful way established in the sacrificial system. All the sins of the world were cut off and transferred onto Jesus when He was baptized. “For thus,” God gave the spiritual circumcision in all the hearts of mankind.
Hold fast Jesus’ baptism and His blood as your atonement. Jesus has already taken all of the sins of the world and has also born all of the judgment. The gospel of God’s righteousness is the truth that Jesus was baptized and shed blood to atone all our sins. Now, we can receive the remission of sins just by accepting God’s righteousness in our hearts. If you receive it, you will be able to enter “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” There are people who already know of God’s righteousness and those who do not and are still outside of Jesus Christ. The sun is going to set. Believe in Jesus’ baptism and enter Him. The faith of believing in the baptism will become your oil prepared for the wedding feast. I hope you know the secret so that you can prepare the oil for the lamp to meet our second coming Lord Jesus just by believing in Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross.
Jesus received baptism so that He would blot out everyone’s sins. Jesus is the Son of God and God Himself. He is our Creator. He came to the earth with His Father’s will in order to adopt us as God’s children. Who do all the prophecies in the Old Testament talk about? They prophesy about Jesus. They were prophecies about how He would come to earth and take over our sins and eliminate them. As the prophecies in the Old Testament said, Jesus came to earth about 2000 years ago and took over all of our sins by being baptized. He had borne all of mankind’s sins, starting from Adam and Eve, down to the last person.
Receive the spiritual circumcision in your hearts. “Circumcision is that of the heart” (Romans 2:29). When you believe in Jesus’ baptism, you will automatically receive the circumcision of the heart. Circumcision of the heart means the elimination of the sins in our hearts when we acknowledge that all the sins were passed onto Jesus by His baptism. Have you received the circumcision of the heart? By believing in the circumcision in the heart, “all the sins will be cleansed by faith.”
Do you really accept the truth of the spiritual circumcision in your heart?
It has been about 2000 years since Jesus came to earth, was baptized and died on the Cross. We should only accept this fact and receive it in our hearts today. “Circumcision is that of the heart.” We can receive circumcision in our minds and hearts by faith in the truth. We all have received deliverance by believing in God’s righteousness. Even if God’s judgment on earth comes, we will not be afraid. Those who believe in God’s righteousness do not receive God’s judgment. God’s judgment falls upon those who have not accepted God’s righteousness in their hearts.
Why do Christians today believe in Jesus, yet go astray? Why do they live in agony? It is because they believe only in Jesus’ blood for their salvation. Now you should admit that you have inflicted God with your stubbornness and return to the truth that Jesus took all of our sins by being baptized at the Jordan. Then, the spiritual circumcision will take place in your heart.
If you believe both in Jesus’ baptism and His blood, the spiritual circumcision will take place in your heart and you will not receive God’s judgment, but become one of His children. God will become your God and you will become one of His people. If there are those among you who believe in Jesus but are dependent only on Jesus’ blood, I would like to ask you a question. Is our spiritual circumcision and God’s righteousness only by the blood of the Cross? Our salvation is completed not by the blood only, but by Jesus’ baptism, His blood and the Spirit.
God’s righteousness attained by being united with Christ
Let us study Romans 6:3-8. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”
Verse 5 states, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, that is, whoever has sin will perish and go to hell. Did not all of you have sin before believing in the truth of Jesus Christ completely? ─Yes.─ Even if you have the slightest amount of sin, you will go to hell and receive the judgment of “the lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 21:8). If we were to pay the wages of our own sins, which is death, we would never be able to be saved from sin at all. So, God sent Jesus Christ to this earth and passed all the sins to Him and judged Him instead of us.
God saved us all because He loved us so much. God the Father sent His only begotten Son to the world, passed all the sins of the world onto His Son through the baptism, and crucified Him with nails so that He would shed blood to atone all the sins. Believing in this is being united with Jesus. The wages for sin is death. We all had sins in our hearts and were supposed to go to hell because of those sins. But instead of us, who were destined to go to hell, Jesus took care of the sins in the Jordan by being baptized and punished vicariously on the Cross. Thus, His death became our deaths because His baptism took away all our sins. This is the faith of uniting with Christ.
Many people still believe in Jesus in the “religious” way. They go to church and shed tears while confessing their sins, asking for forgiveness. Stop doing that right now and believe in God’s righteousness, and you will gain the peace from God in your heart. Jesus was baptized and died on the Cross in order to save us, and I hope you believe in this gospel.
God taught us through Moses about the remission of sins. Moses accepted God’s command that he go to Egypt to deliver the Israelites, His people. So, he went to Egypt with his wife and child on a donkey. That night, God’s messenger appeared and tried to kill Moses. Then, his wife Zipporah, hastily took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” (Exodus 4:25)
The truth in this passage is like this. Even Moses’ son would not have been considered as one of God’s people if he had not yet received circumcision; therefore, God was going to kill him. God said that the Israelites would not be considered His people if they had not been circumcised. The circumcision in the Old Testament was a sign of being one of God’s people. God had to make Moses realize this. So, Moses’ wife quickly cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it saying, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” God tried to kill Moses because of his son’s uncircumcision.
Even if a person were Abraham’s descendant, he would be cut off from the Israelites if he hadn’t been circumcised. Only the circumcised could eat the meat of the Passover lamb and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood of the lamb. Like this, only the spiritually circumcised can participate in the Holy Communion. Those without this faith can never enter God’s righteousness and therefore, will not be able to participate in God’s glory.
The Apostle Paul was a Jew. He was circumcised when he was eight days old and brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. He was proficient in the Old Testament. So, Paul understood well as to why Jesus Christ had been baptized at the Jordan River and why He had to die on the Cross. Therefore he could preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit in much assurance. That is why he said, “Circumcision is that of the heart” (Romans 2:29).
Of course, the Apostle Paul talked more frequently about Jesus’ death on the Cross. Why? Because even if Jesus performed our spiritual circumcision of taking our sins; if He had not been sacrificed on the Cross, in other words, if He had not received judgment, we could not have been saved. That is why Paul spoke about the Cross more frequently. You have to keep in mind that the Cross is the conclusion and completion of our spiritual circumcision. However, most Christians today do not have the slightest idea of the causality between Jesus’ baptism and His death on the Cross, and thus are doomed to hell. If the power of faith in the spiritual circumcision had been passed on well through generations, today’s Christianity would not have been this way.
Some people are very grateful when they first meet Jesus, but they become disappointed at their immutable infirmities and become worse sinners as time passes by. Ten years may pass after first believing in Jesus, but they may have become worse sinners. Can they be sinners even after believing in Jesus? They sing the hymn just in words.
“♪Weeping will not save me! ♫ Though my face were bathed in tears, ♫ That could not allay my fears, ♫ Could not wash the sin of years! ♫ Weeping will not save me! … ♪Faith in Christ will save me! ♫ Let me trust thy weeping Son, ♪Trust the work that He has done; ♪To His arms, Lord help me run: ♪Faith in Christ will save me. ♫”
They sing, “Weeping will not save me. Faith in Christ will save me.” But, that’s in word only. They pray shedding tears every time they sin. “God, please forgive me. If you forgive me this time, I will be good from now on.” When a Christian sins, he/she confesses, cries and asks for forgiveness, and then feels better. But a person who repeats this for years becomes more sinful in his/her heart than when he/she first believed in Jesus ten years before. That person regretfully asks the question, “Why did I believe in Jesus so early? I should have believed in Him when I turned 80, or just before my last breath. I believed too early.” It is because he/she was supposed to live according to God’s will, but didn’t.
To every person’s sin, there must be a judgment. That is why Jesus was baptized and judged on the Cross, shedding His precious blood so that He could save us from our sins. He arose again from the dead in three days. God the Father raised Jesus to life again. A person who believes in the spiritual circumcision can and has to live the life of spreading the gospel. Spiritual circumcision is the evidence that we have to become God’s children and it is God’s righteousness. Jesus’ baptism is the evidence that our sins have been passed onto Him, and His precious blood on the Cross is the evidence that He has paid all the wages of our sins by receiving the vicarious judgment.
Do you believe in Jesus, yet remain sinful in your heart? That is the faith of a heretic. Titus 3:10 states, “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” Those who have heretical faiths are self-condemning sinners. They insist that they are being sinners even when they are threatened with death. They are too stubborn to change their misunderstanding. God tells these sinners, “You are a heretic. You are a sinner; you are not My child and you will enter the eternal fires of hell.”
Those who believe in Jesus, yet have not accepted God’s righteousness, or the spiritual circumcision of Jesus’ baptism and blood, are heretical Christians and the great sinners who cannot but confess their sinfulness before God. Sinners who do not believe in Jesus’ righteousness cannot enter His Kingdom.
Those who have become righteous after believing in Jesus have the evidence of receiving the spiritual circumcision in their hearts. The following are the evidences: Jesus is God who came in a flesh of a man, and He was baptized and shed blood on the Cross. Jesus came to the earth and was baptized by John the Baptist in order to take the sins of the world; He received judgment on the Cross to make perfect the faiths of those who believe in the spiritual circumcision. He resurrected from the dead in three days and became our living Savior. This is the very correct salvation of God’s righteousness that is not only by the blood, but by the water, the blood and the Holy Spirit. These are the conclusive evidences of the spiritual circumcision that bears witness to His perfect salvation of us.
My dear Christians, accept in your hearts that our salvation was not made possible only by Jesus’ blood, but by the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit. God has cut off the sins of the world and completely eliminated the condemnation from us. Not only did He cut off my sins, but also the sins of the world, starting from Adam’s to the sins of the last person on earth. He took them all with His baptism and blood. Receiving the spiritual circumcision will save whoever believes in God’s righteousness, which was fulfilled by Jesus who came by water and blood.
All the sins of the world have been cut off by Jesus’ baptism from John. Now those who believe in the spiritual circumcision cannot have sin in their hearts. Jesus rose again among the dead and raised our souls that had been lost with sin with His righteousness. God is looking for us with the gospel of Jesus’ baptism, His blood, and the Spirit, and we now can be saved by the spiritual circumcision. The spiritual circumcision was God’s plan in Jesus even before Creation, for those who believe. Now, you who believe in God’s righteousness have also received the spiritual circumcision.
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