circumcision or no circumcision, that is the question...

I'm reading Acts 16 where Paul meets Timothy for the first time. Paul decides Timothy has great leadership potential and so invites him to be his disciple. Timothy agrees. Paul then circumcises Timothy and they leave to bring a message to Christian communities in other cities.

The message is simple.

"If you are not Jewish and you believe in Jesus, you don't have to identify with being Jewish by getting circumcised before you can follow Jesus."

No doubt, this helps your evangelism campaign if you tell a bunch of guys interested in following Jesus,

"We're not going to make you go through with an initiation rite where you have your foreskin cut off with a stone knife if you want to follow Jesus."

It's not like you're going to hear a lot of protest-

"O, come on, can't I get my foreskin cut off, too?"

I don't think so.

So what's with Timothy?

Timothy has a Jewish mother who has become a follower of Jesus and a Gentile father who hasn't. Even though Timothy was earlier raised in Judaism by his mom, and now as a Christian, he doesn't get circumcised and so is not able to practice his Jewish faith fully. Can't go into synagogues and such. My guess is his dad says to his mom, "You can teach him all you want, I just don't want him identifying with being a Jew." And if this means he can't be circumcised, I'm sure a young Timothy didn't give much of an argument.

"What do mean I can't have my foreskin cut off? Come on, mom, please..."

I don't think so.

So, Paul goes to Timothy's hometown and takes Timothy on as a disciple. They will travel to other Christian communities in other cities delivering the message that you don't have to be circumcised first before you can become a Christian. But, before they leave, Paul circumcises Timothy?

Come on, what gives?

What gives is being willing to go all out to follow Jesus.

Paul is not done sharing the gospel message with Jews. His standard practice is still to go into town and teach in the Jewish synagogue first. Paul is delivering the "no circumcision" message to the Christian communities, but they don't meet in the synagogues. If you want to teach in the synagogue you still must be a Jew. So, in order for Timothy to go into the synagogues with Paul, he had to be circumcised, first.

And that's the story.

Except, I still have one question. How do the folks in the synagogue know if you are circumcised or not?

I guess, being scanned at the airport isn't such a bad thing after all...