²⁶ So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?

A Jew not keeping the Law will be judged by the non-Jew who keeps the Law. How ironic is that? The tables would be turned on pride. The Jews were to obey God’s Law and teach the rest of the world so that they too, could keep God’s Law. But they not only failed to keep the Law themselves, but arrogantly judged non-Jews for their not being privileged with the Law. Yet in the end, the Gentiles will judge the Jews for effectively being outside of the Law because of their disobedience.

William MacDonald points out: “Jewish tradition pictures Abraham as sitting at the gate of Gehenna to ensure that no circumcised person be allowed to enter perdition.” This is a classic case of giving more emphasis to a symbolic representation of the truth than the truth itself. Circumcision, as we have already seen, symbolized that the Jews were set apart by God as His covenant people, to obey Him and teach the world about Him. Instead, they disobeyed and judged the world as sinners.

What is the value of a symbol without the truth it symbolizes? Without the reality, the symbolism completely loses its meaning and value. We routinely condemn false advertising, where the container says one thing, but the contents turn out to be something different. Who hasn’t bought a package of potato chips in a large bag, only to find the contents are half air? Yet religions of all kinds exalt the symbolism but give emptiness.

Some, for example, have elevated the symbols of bread and wine (Matt 26:26), teaching that they turn into the actual body and blood of Christ. When Jesus said, “This is My body” (Matt 26:26), it was like He held up a photo and said, “This is Me.” We would not confuse a digital image for the actual person himself, so why confuse Jesus’ symbolic language about bread and wine?

The truth of Paul’s teaching has application to any symbolism we hold that becomes a point of pride and separation from others. For example, some take the head-covering (1 Cor 11:3-17) as being more important than a woman’s spiritual character, a symbol dividing between the faithful and unfaithful, much like circumcision functioned for the Jews. In the tenor of today’s passage, the woman who does not wear a head covering but lives the reality of the symbolism will judge the one who does wear it but does not live the truth it symbolizes.

Lord, help me not take any truth You have given us and turn it into a legal dividing line between me and others.