Is There Profit in Circumcision? (Insight from JST-Matthew)

 

There has been a lot of talk recently in the Restoration movement about the Covenant of Circumcision (see JST Gen. 17).

 

One of the most misunderstood passages on this subject is Galatians 5:2 in which Paul writes:

 

Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

(Gal. 5:2 KJV – No difference in this verse in the Joseph Smith “translation”)

 

Not only does this verse seem to contradict the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 17 which states plainly that the “covenant of circumcision” is “forever” and “an everlasting covenant.” (JST-Gen. 17:11, 19) But more directly, this verse appears to be a direct contradiction to Romans 3:1-2a which says:

 

“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way…” (Romans 3:1-2a KJV)

 

And in the Joseph Smith “translation” reads:

 

“What advantage then hath the Jew over the Gentile? Or what profit of circumcision, who is not a Jew from the heart?  But he who is a Jew from the heart, I say, hath much every way…” (JST-Rom. 3:1-2a)

 

So which is it?  Is there profit “much every way” in circumcision, as we read in Romans 3:1-2, or does circumcision “profit you nothing” as we read in Gal. 5:2?

 

There is an old rule of hermeneutics called the rule of Analogia Scriptura or the Synthesis Principle.  This rule says that if we understand one passage in a way that conflicts with our understanding of another passage, we are misunderstanding one or both passages.

 

Hillel’s sixth rule of interpretation says similarly that if two passages appear to contradict one another, a third passage will often resolve the conflict.

 

Another basic rule of hermeneutics requires us to ask the questions, who is speaking, and to whom is the speaker speaking?

 

In the case of Galatians 5:2 the speaker is Paul, and the party to whom he is speaking is “you”.  If we look to the previous verses to determine who “you” is in this context, we see “you” identified in Gal. 4:21:

 

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

(Gal. 4:21 KJV No difference in this verse in the Joseph Smith “translation”)

 

So the “you” in Galatians 5:2 is identified as “you that desire to be under the law” in Gal. 4:21.

 

Here it is important to understand to key phrases that Paul uses: “Under the Law” and “Works of the Law”. 

 

These phrases were theological technical terms used by Paul’s opponents.  They refer not to the Torah itself, but to apostate doctrines held by Paul’s opponents. 

 

This phrase “Under the Law” may best be understood from its usage in Rom. 6:14-15:

 

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

(Rom. 6:14-15 KJV) 

 

And in the Joseph Smith “translation”:

 

Rom 6:14 For in so doing, sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

 

According to Romans 6:15, “under grace” and “under the law” are diametrically opposed, one cannot be both.  However we have always been under grace, and never been under the law.  “Under the law” is not an obsolete Old Testament road to salvation, but an apostate theology that was never true. 

 

Likewise the phrase, “works of the law”, is best understood through its usage in Gal. 2:16 where Paul writes:

 

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

(Gal. 2:16 KJV – No difference in the JST)

 

Paul uses this phrase “works of the law” to describe a false method of justification which is diametrically opposed to “faith in the Messiah”. Again  “works of the law” is not an obsolete Old Testament system, but a false teaching that has never been true. (This phrase “works of the law” has since shown in the Dead Sea Scrolls, in a document called MMT as a salvation earned by purity works method of salvation.)

 

So those that followed this apostate theology are the “you” Paul is addressing in Galatians 5:2 when he says “that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.” In other words Paul is addressing a group of apostates in Galatians 5:2 when he tells them that their circumcision will profit them nothing.  However, he is speaking to believers in Romans 3:1-2 when he tells them that their circumcision will profit them “much every way”!

 

Just as the Sixth Rule of Hillel tells us, a third passage will help resolve our conflict (between Gal. 5:2 and Rom. 3:1-2).  We read in the Joseph Smith “translation” of Matthew:

 

Matt 9:18 Then said the Pharisees unto him, Why will ye not receive us with our baptism, seeing we keep the whole law?

Matt 9:19 But Jesus said unto them, Ye keep not the law. If ye had kept the law, ye would have received me; for I am he who gave the law.

Matt 9:20 I receive not you with your baptism because it profiteth you nothing.

 

Here Yeshua tells a group of Pharisees that their baptisms profit them nothing, using the same phrase Paul uses concerning circumcision in Galatians 5:2.  Yeshua was not teaching against baptism in general, or against believers practicing baptism, but instead saying that an apostate’s baptism would profit him nothing.  Likewise Paul is saying (in Gal. 5:2) that an apostate’s circumcision would profit him nothing, but (in Rom. 3:1-2) that a believer’s circumcision would profit him much in every way.