found in the predicament there referred to ? That we may fully understand the mind of the Apostle, I will, with all possible plainness, state,
I. What was the conduct here reproved —
It was not the mere practice of circumcision —
[This was a rite which had been ordained by God him- self; and the neglect of which had so incensed God against his servant Moses, that, if his wife Zipporah had not instantly, and without delay, performed the rite with her own hands, that favourite of heaven would have been destroyed0. And though the ceremonial law was now abolished, the observance of this rite was innocent : for St. Paul himself, in condescen- sion to the prejudices of the Jews, had circumcised Timothy ; and in this very place, where he so decidedly condemns the observers of it, speaks of it as a matter of perfect indifference : " In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision ; but faith, which worketh by loved." It is clear, therefore, that it was not of circumcision, as an act, that he spake, when he declared it to be incompatible with an interest in Christ.]
It was self-righteousness to which the advocates of circumcision were strongly inclined —
[Circumcision, when first appointed of God, was given to Abraham as " a sign and seal of that righteousness which he possessed in his uncircumcised state," and which he had obtained solely by faith e. But the Jews had altogether per- verted it from its original intention, and had made it a funda- mental article of the Mosaic ritual : they regarded it as connected with the Laiv, rather than with the Gospel; and founded their hopes of salvation, in a considerable measure, on their observance of it. This it was which St. Paul so severely reprobated ; because it undermined the Gospel itself, and led the people to look to the law for righteousness, which the Gospel alone could impart. Nor was it without just reason that he so strongly guarded them against this error : for it obtained very generally amongst the Jews ; and was the great stumbling-block over which they fell, to the utter destruction of their souls f.]
That we may see how circumcision could by any means be so injurious to their souls, I will proceed to shew,
c Exod. iv. 24, 25. d ver. 6. and again, Gal. vi. 15.
e Rom. iv. 1 1. f Rom. ix. 30—33. and x. 2, 3.