As with the old creation, the new creation grows by reproduction, and reproduction is the result of an act of love. And so it is that as we speak the truth in love flowing out of a circumcised heart: the life of Christ being reproduced and nurtured in the hearts of others. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this,” Isaiah 9:7. The zeal of the Lord is the passion of the Lord. May the Lord keep us from reproduction or nurture without passion! ”Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy first love,” Revelation 2:4.

Either way, a preoccupation with physical circumcision misses the point. 

If we have good seed in our hearts, we must not become as a “garden enclosed, a spring shut up, or a fountain sealed,” (Song of Songs 4:12) and this for a lack of passion. “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits…” Song 4:16.

It is so wonderful to be able to speak about such things with those who God has given me.

The reason that David could say what he did about the love he shared with Jonathan, is that sexual love was only a picture — perhaps the best available at the time — but a picture none-the-less, of the surpassing love that we can share in Christ without the limitations of human sexuality. Among other things, we are talking about conversational reproduction. 

The implications of this are a bit unsettling, but I think it’s past time that we became unsettled.  

In this love that surpasses knowledge,

Jay Ferris

Originally written Jan 9, 2000.