The passage brings to mind “the fulness of time” a unique phrase from Galatians 4:4-6
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
We learn something about the nature of fullness from our passage. Their is a great tension in it. Heaven is prone to rejoicing yet the stewards of the Law on earth are prone toward grumbling. And what is the source of their grumbling?
By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends. (MSG)
Yes we can see there is a serious problem here! Sinners are being drawn to God! This suggests that in the fullness of time those entrusted with God’s Law had missed the spirit of God’s assignment to them so badly they were willing to persecute those who were responding to Jesus, who was the actual fulfillment of the Law! Paul tells us that, ‘Because of you (Jews who had mishandled the Law) God’s name is blasphemed among the nations‘! In attending to the letter of it they totally missed the Spirit of the Law. In Romans, Paul, a converted Pharisee and apostle to the Gentiles, goes on regarding the Law. In the true spiritual reality of things….
The ‘Jew’ isn’t the person who appears to be one, you see. Nor is ‘circumcision’ what it appears to be, a matter of physical flesh. The Jew is the one in secret; and ‘circumcision’ is in the heart, in the spirit rather than the letter. Such a person gets ‘praise, not from humans, but from God.
In a study of Romans I am involved with we have those who think Paul is hard on the Jewish leaders. This contingent noted, “They had been given the Law and they were simply doing their utmost to obey it.” I suppose in a sense that is true. But we have to always keep in mind that God isn’t just interested in what can be seen. Outward visible obedience to a code, anticipating righteous outcomes was never what God was after. That is simply what men do, in their flesh, without the Spirit. We have to always keep in mind that it is the heart, and apparently the circumcision of it, that God is interested in.
Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. (Proverbs 4:23)
The Holy Spirit is honed in on the “why” (or the spirit of the matter) while we, in our flesh, are hung up on the “what” (or the letter of the matter). God, as He is perpetually endeavoring to transform us into the image of His Son (by way of the presence of His Spirit in us) is intent on why we do what we do. In a transient world that is fading away what we see is always rooted in the spirt which is eternal by nature. In God’s kingdom, which we cannot see yet are citizen’s of, we must experience the circumcision of the heart or we will be destined, like the Jews to focus on external obedience and repeat history – misrepresenting God to the very people He is endeavoring to reveal Himself to.
In our Romans study a number of questions came up that I pray we might find answers to. One in particular stands out. It was; Is the circumcision of the flesh a one time affair or is it an ongoing one?
I will answer this question with an emphatic “Yes!” Physical circumcision takes place once when a baby boy is very young. It is something done by others to him. Flesh is cut away. I cannot help but see this is as what happens when we place our confidence in Christ as our new Life. Our rebirth is accomplished by the giving and receiving of His Spirit, something that God does for (or to) us – thus accounting for our new hearts which were promised as a part of the new covenant. And while it is a mystery, our flesh was crucified with Christ. In the unseen eternal realm the rule of our flesh is no more it is cut away as it were.
Recall that it was circumcision of the flesh that was the evidence of being a partaker of the old covenant and its Law. It is circumcision of the heart that is evidence of the new birth and of being a partaker of the the new covenant. Also keep in mind that we have been saved and are being saved. I believe that is in this being saved aspect of our salvation – this working out of our salvation, where his apprentices will also encounter the circumcision of the heart in their ongoing journey. Those whose hearts are being formed into the image of Christ will see the scalpel again in the fulness of time when it becomes necessary to cut away aspects of their fleshly life that have not yet been surrendered to His Kingdom rule in their hearts.
Discipleship itself has unfortunately been cut away from the vision of the normal Christian life in western culture. Living actively with Christ as Lord over our hearts is not well taught or modeled. Discipleship, for the most part, has become an optional track for those who have been called into full-time ministry or into the deeper Christian life (as it has been unfortunately labeled). It is quite simply more than most sign up for when they asked Jesus into their hearts or performed whatever external ritual that was observed in order to join the church.
Could the widely acknowledged malaise in western Christianity be traced to the circumcision of discipleship away from the Christian life? Could this error account for millions of believers who are anticipating God’s kingdom when they die when in fact, unbeknownst to them, its already here? How are we different than the Jews who were in trouble for their stewardship of the covenant entrusted to them? Is there sufficient transformation into Christ’s image to prevent His name being blasphemed in our age?
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
So many of us are laboring in our obedience with all that is within us to live lives that are pleasing to God. If we are to measure ourselves by new testament standards (and not our own present culture) there are a few litmus tests we can employee. The first I see is that when God’s will is being done on earth as it is heaven (as it was being demonstrated by Jesus), joy will always accompany it, (certainly not grumbling).
A second is that persons of questionable character will be drawn to salvation that is being worked out by the adopted sons and daughters of God whose characters are being reshaped and they are infected with celebrant childlike joy. Sadly, I also believe that anyone and everyone will continue to be repelled by joyless lives attempting to comply with the letter of their particular religious codes, however biblical they may be. Always, the Spirit gives life but the letter of the law kills.
I know this may all sound foreign to some but is this living as an apprentice to Jesus, really a deeper Christian life or is this just the normal one that has been, of necessity, edited out of western Christian culture so that we can focus on the here’s and nows of a transient and material world, in our attempt at maintaining a bit clearer consciounce?
Father, We have rejected discipleship for so many wrong reasons and not surprisingly we are failing in Your commission to go an make disciples here or anywhere else. Let this be the fulness of time for us Lord. Let authentic renovation of our hearts take place. Deliver us from all the heart-errors that contribute to our misrepresentation of You. Awaken us and restore to us our new hearts that do not see your Law as a heavy burden, rather as the very Spirit of righteousness who indwells and animates us. Work within our hearts Lord until our realization of being sons and daughters of the living God spills out into a flood of stories honoring Your holy and precious name. Amen