In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ
—Colossians 2:11

In the Old Testament the circumcision was the sign of the covenant between man and God. (Genesis 17:11) But what is the meaning of it and how the circumcision affect us today? Paul often said that the true circumcision is the circumcision of the heart and not of the flesh. (Romans 2:29) Even in the Old Testament the Lord said: “…circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deuteronomy 10:16) But how you can circumcise the foreskin of your heart? Do our hearts even have the foreskin?

In order to understand the meaning of the circumcision we need to know what the foreskin represents. According to Colossians 2:11 it is the body of the sins of the flesh. By the way, the flesh isn’t all sinful. Jesus had flesh, but in His flesh there was no sin. Since Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin came into the world and man got new organ called sin in the flesh. Where does it located? It’s in a person’s heart. Jesus said that man sins in his own heart and from the human heart comes all kinds of evil and wickedness. (Mat 5:28; Mat 15:18-19) That’s why the Lord commanded to circumcise the foreskin of a heart and remove the sin in the flesh. Only men have no power to accomplish it.

But thanks be to God, Jesus said: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27) Not only the Son of God washed our sins with His own blood on the cross, but He also took upon Himself the image of the old Adam and was circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. He took upon Himself our heart of stone and cried out: “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” His Father never left Him, but He took our uncircumcised heart and that is why He felt that God is far away from Him.

On the cross our heart was circumcised and the sin in the flesh was removed. I believe with all my heart that the pierced side of Jesus is the sign that our heart was circumcised. The sin in the flesh was removed and now we have a new heart – the heart of Jesus, and we can enjoy the freedom from sin forevermore.