Growing up in Jewish tradition, Rabbi Kurt Schneider says one of the most sacred moments is the bris—the ritual marking God’s covenant with His people on the eighth day of a male child’s life. But this ancient sign is more than a ceremony. It’s a divine identifier.
“This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised,” Rabbi Schneider quoted from Genesis 17:10.
This physical mark set Israel apart from every other nation. “The male Israelites had this, quote, God mark on them,” he said. “That they belonged to Yahweh, to their God… made them different physically than all the other nations around them.”
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But for believers today, the meaning reaches beyond the external. “It symbolized the cutting away of sinful and fleshly desires to embrace a life of fidelity to their creator,” Schneider explained. He added that this principle still carries weight for followers of Jesus, Jew and Gentile alike.
“The concept of it is still valid for us,” he said. “It’s about the peeling away of sinful and fleshly desires to instead be alive to God, and to be devoted to Him alone.”
Schneider referenced Paul’s words in Galatians 6: “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” The point, he stressed, is not physical but spiritual—a transformation of the heart.
He also issued a warning about false motives and superficial spirituality. “There were some… trying to get people to be circumcised… and they were all doing this for fame,” he said. “And the Gospel gets polluted, because people are more interested in the size of their congregation… than they are with preaching the truth.”
Schneider didn’t shy away from criticizing modern worship practices that echo the same errors. “I hate going into congregations where the music is so loud, that it damages your ears,” he said. “Why do you have to blare the music so loud?”
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Rabbi Schneider issued a biblical call to live set apart. “We should be different. We must be different. We’re not of this world. We’re in covenant relationship with Adonai, the Creator who saved us through His Son,” he said. “Jesus spits the lukewarm out of His mouth. Either we’re the real deal or we’re not.”
James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
I enjoyed your teaching about circumcision with one caveat. I do not believe the Bible teaches that those persons who are physically descended from Abraham must still be physically circumcised today. Numerous scriptures speak about circumcision of the heart which you spoke about in your message.
The Greek word katatome that the Apostle Paul used in Philippians 3:2 spoke about circumcision being an form of mutilation. As you alluded to, physical circumcision of the flesh under the old covenant became spiritual circumcision of the heart under the new covenant.
May Yahweh bless your ministry…