Luke 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS… The teaching of Jewish circumcision resembles the teaching of Christian baptism. Both exhibit the putting away of the filth of the flesh; the first by a wounding of the body (which aptly recalls the severity of the elder dispensation); the second by an outward washing. This, which may be called the practical bearing of the present festival (Circumcision of Christ, 1st January), is brought out in the collect for the day, wherein we beseech God to grant us "the true circumcision of the spirit." And it is worth observing that this was seen, from the very first, to be the mystical teaching of the rite. Thus Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy (which abounds in the loftier class of doctrine), speaks plainly (Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6) of circumcising the heart; and the prophets (Jeremiah 4:4) use the same expression. St. Stephen's language, when he addressed his countrymen for the last time ("Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears," Acts 7:51), seems to show that this continued throughout the whole history of the Jewish people to be the well-understood meaning of the rite; while St. Paul's witness on the point (Romans 2:28, 29) is express. It is interesting to observe how closely this observance was connected with holy baptism, besides being typical of the Christian sacrament, and, indeed, a kind of anticipation of it: a rite performed in infancy, and made the occasion of bestowing a new name. (Dean Burgon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. |
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