Yes it does, IF someone is circumcised in order to be justified before God. Let’s look at Galatians 5:1-4 to prove this: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul say to you that IF YOU BECOME CIRCUMCISED, CHIRST WILL PROFIT YOU NOTHING. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you are fallen from grace” (NKJV). Could words be clearer? I think not, for Paul states emphatically in this passage that if one is circumcised, they aren’t really trusting in Christ to save the, but rather they are “attempting to be justified by law.” So, the obvious conclusion is that God, in the Bible, is condemning circumcision as a means of being made righteous in His sight.

The letter to the Galatians isn’t the only one which teaches us that circumcision doesn’t save. After the gospel was preached in a city called Antioch many sinners believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior and along came false teachers from Judea telling them it isn’t enough to simply believe in Christ; you must also be circumcised. We read of this in Acts 15:1: “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’.” This caused so much trouble that a church council was convened in Jerusalem to discuss the matter. Let’s read the conclusion that they reached in verses 7-11: “And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, who do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they’.” All that were assembled agreed with Peter (and others who gave the same opinion” and they ended up writing a letter with these words in it: “Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, UNSETTLING YOUR SOULS, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law’—to whom we gave no such commandment (verse 24). This settled the matter; they were NOT to be circumcised or keep the law of Moses in order to be saved; it was enough to simply “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Perhaps it should be mentioned that there is nothing wrong with being circumcised if one is having it done for various health benefits (i.e. easier hygiene, decreased risk of urinary tract infections, and a reduced risk of sexually transmitted diseases). But as we have seen, it should not be done with the thought of meriting one’s salvation. In God’s Mind, circumcision has no spiritual advantage, as we see in Galatians 6:15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” The fact is even in Old Testament times circumcision was simply an external ritual that was performed to show that the Jew was in an external “covenant relationship with God.” This is confirmed in Genesis 17:10-11, “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” (263.3) (DO)