Danguet
Ndiaye
Rel 200
Dr. Bayens

I Titus and Paul are here in Jerusalem where there are lots of Christian Jews with their beliefs. These people consider themselves very close to God because of their possession and they even call themselves the true Israel of God which means the family of God. I don’t meet all the conditions because I wasn’t circumcised as a baby and now they want me to do so in other to be a member of the true Israel but Paul says not to get circumcised because that’s what will make a member of it. I am going to listen to Paul for so many reasons. I appear to be a gentile and a companion of Paul who refuse to have me circumcised for his reasons. After completing my journey to the island, I have influence of the new churches that Paul has established. If you read the Galatians, I accompanied Paul to Jerusalem and there were also another companion of Paul that came along with us by the name of Barnabas. Barnabas is mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians in chapter four verse ten and Paul tells us that Barnabas received commandments from Jesus and he also got a his surname Joses from the Apostles. In this time, Circumcision was a big deal to the Jews Christians and you wouldn’t be considered a true believer without doing that part of their faith. This is kind of like one of the four Jews groups by the name of Essenes. The Essenes were Jews born and circumcised at the eight day after birth and their main needs was a high priest to replace the corrupted ones at the tempo. Now they are insisting that I Titus needs to be circumcised so now I would like what to do. I am not going to do it anyway because of my Companion believes I should not do it in other to become faithful.
Now the nation wants to know who Paul is and why he refuges to have me circumcised because I don’t mind doing it in other to be part of the people of God. In Philippians, Paul described himself as a Jews born, circumcised eighth day after birth. He was from the tribe of Benjamin which made him one of the people of Israel. He’s father thought him when he was very young and sent him to Jerusalem at the age of ten. He lived in many different places during his life time for example, Tarsus, Rome, Galatia, Colossae, Ephesus Philippi etc… living on this numerous places make a big impact on his view toward ,Roman politics, culture, Greek culture and specially his view toward religion which he will use later to change the lives of others and get them peace.
According to Paul, a reason I shouldn’t be circumcised in other to be a true Israel of God is the promise God to Abraham. He was promised by God that he will be the father of many nations before he was circumcised. At that time, his wife Sarah borne him no child and she reached age which means she couldn’t have any child at that age so Sarah allowed him to take an Egyptian’s slave who were their maid by the name of Hagar and she bears a child for Abraham. During her pregnancy, she faced lots of difficulty at the house. According to the book of genesis, Sarah mistreated her so she fled away from the house to avoid the mistress that’s when the angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery so according to this, Ishmael mean God hears. Just know this, I feel like I should listen to Paul because God’s promise is coming to Abraham because of his faith toward Him and let’s keep mind that Abraham is not circumcised yet. However the question is Abraham will be the father of many nations just with one child. Lord came to fulfiller His promise by giving Abraham a son with Sarah whom they named Isaac which means laugher. He’s called the laugher because when the angel came to announce Abraham Sarah is going to have a child, she heard it and started laughing.
Paul, the apostle, said the gentiles don’t need be circumcised to be descendant of Abraham. By god’s promise, he also told