Paul has many odd turns of phrase, but what he says to the Philippians today may take the cake: “We are the circumcision” (Phil. 3:3). Not the first thing you think of when you think of a Christian, but it makes an odd kind of sense. Circumcision was a physical sign of the covenant between God and Abraham (and Abraham’s descendants). And who does Paul think is the circumcision? “We who worship through the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh” (Phil. 3:3). Those who pray, those whose hope is in Jesus, and only Jesus. Hopefully, this describes all of us.
As we pray, as we place our trust in Jesus, as we learn to avoid relying on this world for salvation, we should ask ourselves: how can we be the circumcision? How can we be a physical sign of the covenant between God and His people? Another way of asking this is: how can we be a sacrament to others, and live out the sacraments we have received? When we are baptized and confirmed, our very souls are changed. Our prayer should seep into our day to day existence. The fact that we are children of God, sealed and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, should impact how we live. One concrete way we can see if this is the case is by judging our lives against the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do we live these out in our daily choices? Would others recognize these fruits in our lives? So few people darken the doors of a church these days. Our lives may be the only sacraments they receive. We must be a sacrament to others—we must be the circumcision.