1. Acts 7:8 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What was the meaning and purpose of circumcision?

Acts 7:8 (ESV)

8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

Circumcision was the visible sign of the covenant between God and Abraham (and his descendants). It was instituted in Genesis 17:1–27. God promises to be Abraham’s God and to make his descendants the special objects of his care.1