“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh — Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” (Jer 9:25-26)
The Jews prided themselves on the sign of their Covenant with the LORD –circumcision. It was such a matter of pride that they referred to themselves as “The Circumcision” and all Gentiles as “The Uncircumcision.” But it appears in this passage that Jeremiah is suggesting a standard that is not merely outward. It doesn’t seem like it’s enough for the Jews to just be circumcised, to be outwardly Jewish. They are to have embraced the Covenant in their hearts.
The Church in the New Testament era is no different. Just as God pronounced judgment on those who merely had an outward faith in Jeremiah’s time, He will similarly bring judgment on those who are merely Christian in name only in this era. And this should be a sobering thought.
It is easy at this point to suggest that someone who is a real Christian will follow certain practices as evidence that they are more than just nominal in their faith, but making such a list reduces faith again to an external duty. Still, Jesus told us that we would know true believers by their fruits, by some outward evidence. Most evangelicals recognize that these outward evidences must be the result of the internalization of Scripture and prayer, but the methodology is between God and the individual.
That’s why Paul could write in a strikingly similar way to Jeremiah, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God”. (Rom 2:28-29)
