Paul struggled to help the "in group" (Jewish community) realize that they would never be "in" because of their Jewishness. He was preaching against nearly two millennium of different understanding. Yet his words are so timely for the hear and now. Here is what it sounds like to substitute the words "church / unchurched" for "circumcised / uncircumcised".
Romans 4: 9Is this blessedness only for the churched, or also for the unchurched? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was churched, or before? It was not after, but before! 11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still unchurched. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been churched, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12And he is also the father of the churched who not only are churched but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was churched.
How hard it is to not think that we are acceptable because we are churched. We have the rules down, we know how we are supposed to act and we have confirmation from God that he established this community. Those are the exact same things that the Jews once said about themselves.
It produces a "we've got it right" attitude that is a turn-off to every unChristian person seeking God by faith. Perhaps when it is all said and done, God will have to demonstrate more mercy to the "in crowd" than we, the "in crowd", believe he must show to those who are outside.
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