1 Corinthians 7:18-19

“Is any man called being circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised; is any called in uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised. 19. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is everything.”

Whether we give to the two verbs in the indicative the interrogative or affirmative sense matters little; it is here the hypothetical indicative.

The apostle is alluding to a custom which was introduced among the Hellenistic Jews, of practising a surgical operation intended to disguise their state of circumcision. They wished thereby to escape either persecution, or ridicule, in the public baths or games. These renegades were called meschoukim, recutiti. Epiphanius ascribes the invention of the process to Isaiah. Mention is made of it in the Book of Maccabees (1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 1:15) and in Josephus (Antiq. 12.5. 1). This difference, circumcision or uncircumcision, which had played so decisive a part from the religious standpoint of the Jews, was reduced to nothing by the gospel, which absolutely subordinates the ritual to the moral side of things. The coming of Christ inaugurated a new era, in which holiness alone remains; comp. Romans 2:29. In the expression commandments of God there are embraced the moral contents of the Jewish law and of the example and teachings of Jesus, as well as the directions of His Spirit. Paul in like manner elsewhere contrasts with circumcision and uncircumcision the new creature (Galatians 6:15), or faith acting by love (Galatians 5:6); comp. Romans 13:9, where the whole law is summed up in love. It is evident that Paul is here speaking of the end to be realized, not of the means indispensable to its attainment.