Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy
That's kind of what we're talking about. And the question then becomes well, did Old Testament saints, did they have eternal life? Were they regenerated? What we find in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 16, is a description that is not nearly as common as our language regeneration. Oh, I'm in Genesis 10. That's not going to help. Deuteronomy 10,
16. Is this terminology circumcision of heart? Circumcised heart. And you probably remember that. There was this thing in the Old Testament called circumcision, and usually it's talking about physical circumcision, right? But this is obviously related to that. So let's look at what he says in 10 15. Yet on your fathers did the Lord set his affection to love them, and he chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day, talking about the Jewish people. So circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. For why? For the Lord your God is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. So he they it sounds like they're being told to circumcise their own hearts. That's interesting because how do you do that? Um I mean, we're gonna get a scalpel out, you know, like cut your heart and somehow remove some portion of your heart to correct it or something. Do corrective heart surgery. We we can't really like do that. We we could do natural circumcision, physical circumcision, but we couldn't do spiritual circumcision of the heart. So this command is a little odd.
Now, what the physical circumcision, therefore, was a sign of, and and the physical circumcision is a sign of the Abrahamic covenant, first and foremost, Genesis 16 and 17. God made the covenant with Abraham while he was still uncircumcised, the Abrahamic covenant. The covenant that he promised them a land, seed, and that through him there would be global blessing, right? And the sign of that covenant was the circumcision in the flesh. And they were to circumcise their babies on the eighth day as a sign, which would bring them into the bond of the Abrahamic covenant and recognition of that covenant, right? As a unique covenant God made with Israel. But but what this the physical circumcision signified was that there was a part of humanity that needed to be corrected surgically. And of course, it's the human heart. I mean, it wasn't just to just cut cut the flesh there, and that'd be the end of it. Um, it was a reminder that we all have something wrong with us that needs surgical correction, and that's our heart. So the command here to circumcise your heart is a little bit odd because we can't really do this type of surgery. God has to do this. So it seems to be what we what we call metonymy.
Metonymy is a figure of speech where you substitute uh the effect for the cause or the cause for the effect. Um in this case, it would be substituting the effect, which is a circumcised heart, for the cause. Which God is the only one who can do this. So if if a person believed, like Abraham in the Old Testament, then God would circumcise their hearts. Okay.
And in one passage, Deuteronomy 30, so you can flip over a few chapters, Deuteronomy 30, you do see that God in the future will circumcise their hearts, and that this is associated with them obeying. So, you know, if you wonder what's going on with the state of Israel right now, for example, Deuteronomy 3, 1 through 10 is what I would call one of the main passages. Deuteronomy 30, verse 1. So it shall be when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and obviously we're currently in a period of their curse, they're under the curse. And you call them to mine, and all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you, so all out in the exile. And he says, And you return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then, then, when this happens, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity. Have compassion on you, will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. So this is the universal regathering of Israel. We're not quite there yet, the returning, but not in this scale. If your outcast are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possess, the same real estate, and you shall possess it, and he will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants. So throughout the millennial kingdom, Israel's hearts will be circumcised. To what end? Verse 6 says, To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, so that you may live, live in the land in blessing under the Lord. So there's that passage.
And the last one is Jeremiah 4, and it's another one where it says, circumcise your hearts, you know, using metonymy. But I think that any time that a Jewish person in the Old Testament believed, or anytime anybody believes, really, in the Old Testament, the terminology for regeneration is what we would read here, circumcision of the heart. It's a spiritual circumcision. Eugene Merrill said, just as circumcision of the flesh symbolized outward identification with the Lord and the covenant community, so circumcision of the heart, a phrase found only here, Deuteronomy 30, and in Deuteronomy 10.16 and Jeremiah 4.4 in the Old Testament, speaks of internal identification with him in what might be called regeneration in Christian theology.
So, you know, what did it do? This term regeneration in the New Testament in the Greek, Palin Ganasia, again to be born, okay, again to be born, or being born again. Also, anaganao and uh Gana'o anothen, okay, born from above. So these three terms, regeneration, born again, born from above. Born from above meaning the source of the birth is where? Above. Born again means, oh, there's some kind of rebirth that takes place, and regeneration has that same concept to be born again. So the human condition always set forth for this is belief. Uh again, John 3, 1 through 16, right? Um, John in his gospel sets forth the human condition repeatedly as believe, believe, believe. He who believes in me has eternal life. So it goes on and on throughout the Gospel of John. The one who accomplishes this work is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And these types of passages in the Gospel are probably parabel, parallel to those Old Testament passages that talk about circumcised hearts, because both involve some kind of interior change. And both were actually occurring and are discussed under the same dispensation. They're both discussed before Pentecost. They're both discussed under the dispensation of the law of Moses.
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