Heart Circumcision (Rewritten)

Abraham’s spiritual life unfolds through three major turning points — three decisive moments that mark his growth in faith and obedience.

The first came when he was called to leave his country and his relatives at God’s command. This moment mirrors the call of the Holy Spirit that eventually reaches every sinner: a call to turn away from known sin as preparation for saving faith in Christ.The second turning point was Abraham’s justification by faith. He believed God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness. The apostle Paul highlights this moment as a clear example of justification by faith under the old covenant (Romans 4:1-12). Abraham had already shown faith by obeying God’s call to separate himself, but that earlier faith was what theologians describe as prevenient — preparing the way — rather than saving faith itself.

The third and final transition came much later. Twenty-four years after his initial call, and several years after his justification, Abraham entered what we might today call his spiritual perfection. When he was ninety-nine years old (Gen. 17:1), God revealed Himself as El‑Shaddai, Almighty God, and gave Abraham a new command: “Walk before me, and be perfect.” Along with this command came the institution of circumcision as a requirement for that perfection.

This act was deeply symbolic. Circumcision pointed forward to spiritual circumcision — entire sanctification — as the gateway into Christian perfection, or pure love. John calls this “perfect love,” the kind that drives out all tormenting fear (1 John 4:18). On the very same day Abraham was commanded to walk perfectly before God, he submitted to the painful act of circumcision. In Hebrew understanding, this rite removed a physical impurity present from birth.

Here we see a powerful picture of original, or birth, sin — something denied by many modern thinkers. This sin is removed, not gradually, but through “the circumcision of Christ,” accomplished by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It is not worn away over time but cut out decisively. For that reason, the doctrine of spiritual circumcision cuts in two directions: it rejects Pelagianism, which denies inborn sin, and it also rejects gradualism, which denies that such sin can be removed instantaneously when faith fully embraces Christ, who “is able to save to the uttermost.”

Some have suggested that Abraham experienced a fourth spiritual crisis when he was commanded to offer Isaac. It was indeed a severe test of faith, but it was not a transition into a new state of grace. God already found Abraham perfect in loyalty and love, and this event simply demonstrated that perfection to future generations. The three defining stages of Abraham’s spiritual journey remain separation, justification, and entire sanctification — the beginning of his perfect walk before God, not before human judgment.

The Old and New Testaments do not present two different religions, but one faith unfolding in stages. Augustine captured this beautifully when he said, “In the Old Testament the New lies hidden; in the New Testament the Old lies open.” At their core, both Judaism and Christianity rest on the same foundation: supreme love for God. Jesus Himself sums up the law, the prophets, and all human responsibility in a single word — love. This follows naturally from belief in one God rather than many. That is why the great command flows directly from the Shema, the first words every Hebrew child learns: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might” (Deut. 6:4–5).

This raises an important question: Can genuine love be commanded? Isn’t love supposed to flow freely from the heart toward something it naturally desires? And how can a soul that has no natural attraction to God be expected to love Him supremely?

This question matters even more than debates about how sin originated in a holy universe. For those suffering under sin, the cure matters far more than the explanation. Romans 8:7 confronts us with a sobering truth: for many people, God’s command to love Him is impossible, “because the carnal mind is enmity against God.” Before accusing God of injustice — of demanding obedience without providing ability — we must read further. Scripture reveals not cruelty, but mercy.

Deuteronomy 30:6 resolves the difficulty. God promises a direct, supernatural act of grace — performed with human consent — to remove the very obstacle that prevents love. He describes this as a form of spiritual surgery: cutting away carnality, which breeds hostility toward God, and clearing the path for love to rise naturally and fully within the soul. “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, and live.” Even the smallest trace of carnality obstructs perfect love.

So who, then, is eligible for this heart‑circumcision? Under the old covenant, physical birth into Israel was required before circumcision in the flesh. Likewise, under the new covenant, the new birth is required before spiritual circumcision. Without it, perfect love cannot exist.

Paul explains this clearly in 2 Corinthians 7:1, especially when read alongside the closing verse of chapter 6. Having received God’s promises — particularly adoption as sons and daughters — believers are called to complete the work of holiness. This completion excludes every form of defilement: “filthiness of the flesh,” meaning tendencies toward bodily sins, and “filthiness of the spirit,” meaning inward sins such as pride, unbelief, rebellion, and hatred. Spiritual circumcision follows spiritual sonship. Scripture never urges unrepentant sinners to seek perfection or fullness of the Spirit. Instead, they are called to repentance and new birth. Only those who have life can receive life more abundantly.

This leads us to the final questions: Who performs this heart‑circumcision in the New Testament, and what exactly does it involve?

Colossians 2:11 provides the answer. Believers are circumcised “with a circumcision not made with hands,” accomplished in “the putting off of the body of the flesh” through the circumcision of Christ — that is, through what Christ provides by the power of His atonement. This passage does not describe forgiveness of sinful acts alone, as suggested by faulty manuscript traditions, but the complete removal of the sin principle itself. Bishop Ellicott notes that “the body of the flesh” is essentially the same as “the body of sin” in Romans 6:6. Physical circumcision removed only part of the body; Christ’s circumcision removes the whole sinful nature.

Jesus alludes to this distinction in John 7:23, contrasting the limited cleansing of circumcision with His own work of making a person entirely whole—even on the Sabbath.

Paul’s language in Colossians 2:11 is striking. The Greek word translated “putting off” (ἀπεκδύσει) is unusually strong—so strong, in fact, that Paul appears to have coined it himself. By combining prepositions that mean “away from” and “out of,” he emphasizes the complete stripping away of sinful inclination. He uses the same language in Colossians 3:9 when describing the removal of the “old man,” and again in Colossians 2:15 when speaking of Christ disarming hostile powers. The message is clear: when believers fully enter into gospel salvation, the old nature is not restrained but removed.

We now see that Christ is the source of heart‑circumcision, and that it means complete cleansing from sin’s defilement. But who applies this work?

Romans 2:29 answers that question. True circumcision is inward, “of the heart, in the Spirit.” As Meyer explains, this refers specifically to the Holy Spirit — not merely to spiritual qualities He produces, but to His direct action. The Father established the symbol, the Son secured the cleansing through His blood, and the Holy Spirit applies it within the soul. The entire Trinity is involved.

No wonder believers can echo Faber’s words:

"Oh, wonderful, oh passing thought!
The love that God hath had for thee,
Spending on thee no less a sum
Than the undivided Trinity!"

Many ask for proof that entire sanctification happens instantaneously. Beyond passages where the Greek tense indicates sudden action, every reference to heart‑circumcision in Scripture points to decisive, immediate change. Notably, apart from Jeremiah 9:25, this spiritual circumcision is the only kind mentioned from Joshua’s entrance into Canaan until the circumcision of John the Baptist — a span of 1,450 years.

The conclusion is unavoidable: entire sanctification, as an act, is God’s appointed entrance into perfect love as a state. The act leads directly to the state, and the state presupposes the act. To be entirely sanctified and to love God with all the heart are, in practical terms, two ways of describing the same reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is a revision of Part 1, Chapter 5 of Mile-stone Papers (1878) by Daniel Steele, written with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original chapter can be found here: SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION.