https://youtu.be/4riDtAbB514
In our verse-by-verse study of Romans we are in Romans 2:25; that introduces the concept of a race. The subject of circumcision deals with the beginning of the Jewish race. In the NASB it reads, "For indeed circumcision is of value"
In the Greek the first word is actually "peritome," translated "circumcision," a nominative singular subject. The absence of the definite article emphasizes the quality of the noun.
It is very important to understand that in the beginning circumcision was very meaningful. Abraham who had maximum doctrine resident in his soul was the first man circumcised. It was not so much the outward circumcision that was significant; it was the doctrine that related to it that was important.
When you forget the doctrine and still have the ritual then you lose the meaning. It is the doctrine that matters by itself ritual is meaningless.
Abraham had a son, Ishmael, who was also circumcised, but Ishmael had no doctrine so circumcision had no meaning except that he was obedient.
God also commanded that Ishmael be circumcised. Obedience was involved here but there was no doctrinal factor, except blessing by association with Abraham. All of his life Ishmael was a troublemaker but he had moments of great blessing that were all associated with his father Abraham.
Also with this word is the postpositive particle "men." It is a particle of affirmation that is used with the particle "de" translated "but" to create a comparison that means on the one hand or on the other.
Along with the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar," that is an inferential particle that describes a self-evident conclusion. The verb is the present active indicative of "opheleo" that means to help, to aid, to benefit, to be beneficial, advantageous. It is translated " of value" in the NASB.
So we have "So on the one hand circumcision is beneficial." The present tense is a customary present that denotes what habitually occurs when there is maximum doctrine resident in the soul or where maturity adjustment to the justice of God exists.
Circumcision is beneficial to any Jew who has the same doctrine in his soul that Abraham had when he was circumcised. The problem with the Jew is that God's command was to be circumcised as an infant on the eighth day.
A child has no doctrine, so his circumcision was to be an overt reminder to him about who he was and where he was going regarding God's plan and God's integrity. It was to be the basis for the establishment of his personal sense of destiny.
God's integrity was the principle and he must learn to adjust to God's integrity by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for positional adjustment to God's integrity and then go on to reach spiritual maturity for experiential adjustment to God's integrity through metabolized doctrine just like Abraham did.
Even though the Jew in his body is in the genetic line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in his soul he must have the same doctrine that Abraham had. The customary present denotes what habitually occurs when there is maximum doctrine in the soul.
The active voice: ritual circumcision produces the action of the verb. The ritual was a challenge to grow into spiritual maturity. It was a challenge to acquire maturity adjustment to God's integrity from maximum doctrine in the soul.
The declarative indicative mood represents the verbal action from the standpoint of its reality. The reality of circumcision is found in the fact of maturity adjustment to God's justice that results in the situation where the first conditional clause is true.
The first third class conditional clause is "if you may practice the law" translated from "ean nomos prasso." "ean is translated "if," "nomos" is "law," and "prasso" is in the present active subjunctive translated "may practice."
The subjunctive mood forms a conditional clause with the third class condition of "if." "If and maybe you will and maybe you won't."
The second clause "but if you are a law breaker" begins with another conditional conjunction "ean," with the affirmative particle "de?" Translated "but if" or "on the other hand."
This is the second conditional sentence in this verse, the first one, reversed the protasis and the apodosis. This time we have "de" used correlatively so it is translated "but if on the other hand."
Then the present active subjunctive of the verb "eimi" translated "you might be" or "you are" as in the NASB. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present denoting something that has begun in the past and continues into the present time.
The action is the self-righteous unbeliever, in this case a Jew, who is producing the action. The subjunctive mood is the potential subjunctive, part of the protasis of the third class condition (if and maybe it is true and maybe it is not true).
This subjunctive also implies a future reference being qualified by the element of contingency so it is translated "if on the other hand you are." Then we have the problem, "a law breaker" translated from the predicate nominative of "parabates" that means a transgressor, violator or breaker.
The objective genitive from the noun "nomos" refers to the Mosaic Law being abused, distorted and misapplied by arrogant, self-righteous Jews who are trying to use it as a vehicle for salvation rather than a vehicle for condemnation.
While this is a third class condition of "if" it tends toward reality because this is the actual status of these Jewish unbelievers in our context.
There are two third class conditional clauses used because the possibilities are being examined as possibilities or potentials without regard to what occurred as actual historical reality.
We have the word "if" introducing a third class condition followed by another "if" introducing another third class condition but the actual reality is the second-class condition.
The actual situation is the case of violation or transgression of the law that is the status quo of the Jewish unbeliever who has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and is in positional maladjustment to God's justice.
Circumcision is only beneficial for the Jewish believer because he is adjusted to God's justice for salvation. Circumcision is a ritual without reality for the Jewish unbeliever.
To be a true Jew you have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Esau and Jacob were twins. Esau was a Semitic Gentile; Jacob was a Jew. Esau was negative toward the gospel and therefore maladjusted to God's justice. Jacob was positive toward the gospel and therefore he believed in the Lord, and so he was adjusted to God's justice.
Jacob was adjusted; Esau was maladjusted, and that divided them for time as well as for eternity. Jacob is the perpetuation of the Jewish race; Esau is the perpetuation of the Semitic Edomite race.
The difference was Jacob adjusted to God's justice for salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
"your circumcision has become uncircumcision" translated from the nominative singular subject from the noun "peritome" with the genitive singular personal pronoun su, "your circumcision."
All Jewish males were circumcised on the eighth day, but this was only the ritual that anticipated the reality. The anticipation was not always fulfilled because some Jews believed in the Lord and some did not.
In 586 BC the Jews were taken into captivity through the historical disaster of the 5th cycle of discipline because they were uncircumcised of heart per Jer 9:25, 26. and Jer 6:10;
Distortion of the law into a system of legalism and self-righteousness destroys the significance of the ritual and it portrays the maladjustment of those involved.
Then the perfect active indicative of the verb "ginomai" that means to become so we have" has become." The intensive perfect tense emphasizes a completed action and the existing result.
When special attention is directed to the results of the action stress upon the existing fact is intensified, and this is how the Greek emphasizes a fact in a very strong way by saying that something not only is a fact but it will continue to be a fact.
The active voice: circumcision as a ritual produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality. Then comes the predicate nominative "akrobystia" translated "uncircumcised," so the final phrase is, "if on the one hand you are a transgressor of the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
Translation Rom 2:25; "So on the one hand circumcision is beneficial if you accomplish the purpose of the law (salvation adjustment to the justice of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ): but if on the other hand you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision."
This tells us that ritual without reality is meaningless. The whole purpose of the Jewish race is related to the adjustment to God's justice.
The ritual for the new race was circumcision because it was a sign of Abraham's maximum maturity adjustment to God's justice.
This blessing that came from his maturity adjustment to God's justice or maximum doctrine resident in the soul, was a part of the promise that Abraham would have a son with Sarah and this son would come a new race that would be the means of bringing the seed of the woman, the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ into the world.
Where maladjustment to God's justice is concerned the spiritual connotation of ritual circumcision is erased and the status of the Jew involved is "uncircumcised of heart" and/or maladjusted to God's justice.
We see from this that there is no reality in ritual; the reality always lies in the doctrine that makes the ritual meaningful. The doctrine must be in the soul for the ritual to be meaningful.
Neither the ritual of circumcision nor the activity of law keeping can provide salvation or spirituality.