“Circumcision of the Heart” or Spiritual Circumcision: From Old Testament Metaphor to New Testament Anthropology The concept of “circumcision of the heart” represents one of the deepest and most dynamic theological ideas running through the entire biblical tradition. It is an evolving image that transforms from prophetic criticism of formalism in the Old Testament to a central anthropological and soteriological category in the New Testament and patristics. Its study reveals the essence of the biblical understanding of the relationship between God and man: from external observance to internal transformation. 1. Old Testament Origins: Critique of Ritual and Call for Inner Change. The concept first appears in the context of prophetic protest against reducing religion to the mechanical performance of rituals, particularly the circumcision of flesh. Deuteronomy (Deut. 10:16, 30:6): “Circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked.” Here, “circumcision of the heart” is a metaphor for removing everything that hinders love for God and obedience to Him: stubbornness (“stiff-neckedness”), pride, closure. The circumcision of flesh should correspond to internal devotion. Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 4:4): “Circumcise yourselves for the Lord, and remove the foreskin of your heart… that My wrath may not go forth.” The prophet links inner circumcision with avoiding God’s wrath, raising it to the level of soteriological (salvific) necessity. Prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 44:7,9): Accuses the sons of Israel, who “are uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh,” allowing strangers into the sanctuary. Here, the unity of the external and internal is evident: the absence of one makes the other meaningless. Thus, in the Old Testament, circumcision of the heart becomes an ideal, a criterion of true religiosity, standing above the physical ritual. It implies the humbling of pride, openness to God, and moral purification. 2. New Testament Revolution: Christological Reinterpretat ... Read more