To Circumcise or Not to Circumcise

The Apostle Paul primarily mentored two younger men on their road to ministry. One was Timothy, the other was Titus. They both have books named after them in the New Testament because Paul wrote them some guidance about how to handle the tricky situations they found themselves in while leading churches.

At the first major church council in Jerusalem that is recounted in Acts 15, the early church decided that those who follow Jesus do NOT need to be circumcised. In the very next chapter of Acts, Paul circumcised a young disciple named Timothy. Hmmm….

And yet Titus, the other young man whom Paul really invested in, did not get circumcised, even though there was pressure to do so by Jewish Christians early on. Here are those two passages:

The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. - Acts 16:3

Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. - Galatians 2:3

How do you make sense of these different actions by Paul? When is it right to give in to social pressure? When is it not right? And think particularly about you and whatever religious/social pressure you may be facing these days - ask God to speak with you and give you wisdom and you process how to handle it.