•first p.ace, unrrecessary, and, in the second, not so well suited to the con- text, as nothing is said here of a spiritual circumcision, and as the law is too prominent a point in the advantages of the Jews to allow of the term which expresses it here, to be merged in a mere epithet.
(28, 29) For he is not a Jew which is one ouiwardlyy neither is that cir- cumcision which is outward in the Jlesh, &c. These verses assign the reason why the external rite of circumcision can avail so little. God regards the heart, and not the external circumstances of men. This sen- timent is expressed, first negatively, v. 28, and then affirmatively, v. 29. The word Jew is here, as in v. 17, to be taken in its religious sense. He is not a Jew, or a child of God, who is such by profession only, or in external appearance. Neither is the circumcision which is outward, in the flesh, that on which the Scriptures lay so much stress, as when it is said, "I will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your children, to love the Lord thy God," Deut. 30 : 6. The sign is nothing without the spiritual blessing which it signifies. But he is a Jew which is one in- wardly. He only is really one of the people of God who is such in heart ; see 1 Pet. 3 : 4, where the word, which properly means hidden, secret, is also to be understood in the sense of internal, inward. And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, see Deut. 10: 16. The words iii the spirit, not in the letter, are evidently explanatory of the circumcision of the heart of which the apostle is speaking; but they may be understood variously. In the spirit may mean spiritual, as relating to the spirit, and not to the body, and in the letter would then mean literal ; ' Circumcision of the heart which is spi- ritual and not literal.' Or in the spirit may be rendered hy the Spirit. This gives a better sense, ' Circumcision of the heart which is effected by the Spirit, and not made after the direction of the written law ;' com- pare Col. 2: 11. According to this view, the word rendered letter le- tains the meaning it has in the preceding verses. The general sentiment, however, is in either case the same.
Whose praise is not of men, hut of God. The word whose refers to the Jew just described. His excellence is internal, seen and acknow- ledged of God : not such as falls under the observation of men.