Lady Crosstalk
Well-Known Member
More lies. Baptism does not bring one, or 'initiate' one into the New Covenant. That is done by faith, and faith alone. (Acts 16:31) (Acts 8:37-38) Then comes baptism.
Circumcision identified one as a child of Israel. It didn't identify one as a child of God.
Stranger
Yes, circumcision identified one as coming from "the loins of" Jacob/Israel. It did not necessarily indicate that one was a believer--the Israelites who practiced child sacrifice were almost certainly unbelievers--Yahweh had forbidden human sacrifice.
An example of confusing nationality or ethnicity with religion: An Italian-Canadian friend of mine became an evangelical Christian and one day, because his father was getting up in years, decided that he needed to try to coax his dad away from the RCC. My friend started off by telling his dad that he had become an evangelical Christian and that the father should too. The startled father replied, "What do you mean that you are not a Catholic anymore?! You're Italian--of course you're a Catholic!" In the father's mind, one's ethnicity dictated one's religion. Germans were Lutheran, the English were Anglican, etc.