Genesis 17:11

11. Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin The act of circumcision consisted in cutting off the prepuce, or foreskin, which covers the glans of the penis in males . Whether this custom originated with this covenant with Abraham, or whether it was in use among ancient peoples before this time, is a disputed question . It appears probable, on the whole, that the practice was older than Abraham, and the language here used seems to favour this view . Were this the origin of circumcision, we should naturally have expected particular directions as to the mode of performing it, but the absence of such directions rather implies that the custom was not new, or strange . As the rainbow appeared in the sky before it was made the token of God’s covenant with Noah, and as divers baptisms were in use before the baptism of water was made a sacrament of the Christian Church, so circumcision may have been practised before Abram’s time, but was consecrated into a new meaning by the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham “received the sign of circumcision,” says the apostle, “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.”

Romans 4:11. The typical significance of circumcision arises from the consideration that, as the depravity and corruption of human nature are transmitted by generation, and the promise is to the seed of Abraham, so the organs of generation receive the symbol of “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh,” (Colossians 2:11,) and the chosen seed are thereby set apart and consecrated as holy unto the Lord . The spiritual significance of the rite is recognised in such texts as Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 44:7; Romans 2:28-29. For more on the subject of circumcision, see note at the end of this chapter .