When Paul was Saul, he lived the strict life of a Pharisee, an ardent defender of the Torah and anything else pertaining to Jewish law.  Saul believed that faithfulness to the law was the best way to honor God and show others what God had done for his chosen people.

Therefore, it was difficult to hear Saul, now Paul, endorsing the elimination of the long- standing rite of circumcision for newly converted Gentiles.  Circumcision was a permanent sign of the Covenant with God marking every male Jew. Paul’s support of its abolition for Gentiles left some Jews shocked.

Paul learned Jesus’ preaching: “My children … I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

In his letter to the Romans, Paul understood Jesus’ commandment to love all others as flowing from the integrity of the covenant.  However, Paul’s passionate temperament did not easily allow him to love others as readily as Jesus desired.

Since Jesus wanted it, Paul began to see this difficult mandate to love all as resting more upon the invisible, spiritual level. Paul started calling this directive a circumcision of the heart resting there internally rather than a manmade external mark on the body.

In Romans 2: 28 -29, Paul writes: “One is not a Jew outwardly. True circumcision is not outward, in the flesh. One is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit not the letter, his praise is not from human beings but from God.”

Paul wanted Jesus’ mandate “to love others as I loved you” to be as highly regarded as the ritual of circumcision is for the Jews.  Since the heart generates love, Paul named it the circumcision of the heart. Again, Jesus said “My children …I give you a new commandment: Love one another, as I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

As we follow Jesus trying to love others as he loves us, we can recall, the ways and times, Jesus stayed in love with us, despite our falls and missteps.

In these times especially, we need Jesus’ help more than ever to show us the way.  We need Jesus’ help to stay strong when our love for all people waivers and weakens.

It is the circumcision of our hearts which keeps us committed and never yielding.