16th Sep 26 | 05:09
Studies by Book
Circumcision and Baptism
📖 Acts 15:01-21
Acts 15 – Series 1/ Episode 05 – Sun, 25th Jan 2026 – *Circumcision and Baptism* - _Acts 15:01-21_ – THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL – _Colossians 02:11-12_
_Acts 15:1-2 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." (2) Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question._
While refuting this theology that was being introduced into the church at that time, what was the ground on which Paul and Barnabas stood?
*_Colossians 2:6-7 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, (7) rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving._*
Having received Christ into our hearts, we are to have the simple childlike faith to hold the hand of our Master and walk with/in Him. *There is no need for any other additional requirements before God.*
*_Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ._*
When any church, denomination, or group insists that, along with receiving Jesus, we must also be part of their church/doctrine, we should be immediately alerted that this is a false doctrine, which must be refuted.
*What is needed is to walk in Jesus by faith in Him? There needs to be an intimate breath-to-breath relationship with Jesus.* Why is the relationship with Jesus a breath-to-breath relationship?
Breath is constant
Breath is an unconscious dependence
Breath is life‑giving
Breath is intimate and internal
This is life in the Spirit. _Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being._ / _John 15:4-5 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (5) "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for *without Me you can do nothing*._ / _Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'_
*_Colossians 2:9-10 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; (10) and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power._*
These two verses are pivotal to the Christian journey of faith. We are complete in Christ. What a great freedom we have in Jesus! This is the freedom that our Lord wants us to enjoy in Him and live victoriously over sin. The devil hates this freedom that we have in Jesus and wants to bring us into bondage, somehow, even in the garb of a theology.
*_Colossians 2:11-12 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, (12) buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead._*
1. Circumcision was a covenant sign between God and Abraham’s descendants
2. A marker of belonging to the people of God
3. A boundary that distinguished Israel from the nations
_Genesis 17:10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;_
Circumcision was never meant to be only an ethnic boundary. God desired heart circumcision. _Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live._ / _Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; (29) but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God._
Thus, *we must see baptism through the prism of circumcision*. Baptism, although it has other purposes, is also intended to separate us from the world and unite us to God. _Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ._
Circumcision, which is associated with baptism, is the putting off of the old and rising as a new person in Christ. _Acts 22:16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'_
*_Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,_* Baptised into Christ, we become part of the commonwealth of Israel. _Ephesians 2:11-13 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— (12) that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (13) But *now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ*._
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