Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Festival of the Circumcision and Naming of our Lord

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: Galatians 3:23-29 (NKJV)
 
3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
 
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
 
Devotion
 
Our Lord Jesus was made man according to the will of the Father. He was also subject to the Law and its observances in obedience to the Father’s will. God declared that He was well pleased with Jesus, which affirmed that the Son had done everything perfectly according to the divine will. No man had ever accomplished that.
 
In all that Jesus did, from His birth to His death and resurrection, we see both the teaching of God’s holy Law and the perfection of faith. While God’s people do not practice the ceremonial observance of circumcision anymore, we do have the Sacrament of Baptism. Faithful parents of the Old Testament Church would make their young children members of God’s people by circumcision, but now we have the command and promise that our membership in the Body of Christ is established with water and the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
 
The Law serves its purpose by pointing us toward Christ as our righteousness. When the Law accuses and terrifies us, we find forgiveness and peace in our crucified Savior. When we need to know what works of love look like, faith makes us to see how our Lord accomplishes those works through us according to His commands. In all things we are to cling to the name of our Lord Jesus and His perfect fulfillment of the Law of righteousness. And in Baptism we have put on His righteousness.
 
Prayer: O Lord God, who for our sakes hast made Thy blessed Son, our Savior, subject to the Law and caused Him to endure the circumcision of the flesh, grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit that our hearts may be pure from all sinful desires and lusts; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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