In Search of Real Circumcision: Ritual Failure and Circumcision in Paul

3.1 Galatians 5.1-15

As becomes evident even from a cursory reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul is forcefully combating those who represent and accept a ‘different gospel’, which, in his view, is no gospel at all (Gal. 1.6-7). The identity of this group is widely debated, although it is clear that, for them, Gentiles can become part of the people of God through circumcision, which probably implies the keeping of a number of other commandments as well, and possibly the entire law ¹⁸ (see Gal. 2.12, and the association of those ἐκ περιτομῆς with the observance of dietary laws). Paul takes a different position, one which he has reached, during the course of his career, as a result of his reflection on the significance of Christ in relation to justification and inclusion into the people of God (Gal. 1.16; 2.16). According to Paul, being circumcised or not was of no consequence, in the sense that it did not help one to achieve salvation. At worst, it was an impediment to salvation and, in general, subordinate to something else (see further Gal. 3.28 and 6.15; cf. also 1 Cor. 7.18-19). ¹⁹ He is now confronted with a group of Christian missionaries who are seeking to adjust the circumcision practices of the Galatian Christian community. As de Boer has noted, their position vis-à-vis Gentile converts to Christ may be summarized as follows: ‘You believe in Christ – fine; but you must now also observe the law, beginning with the rite of circumcision’ (2011: 60). ²⁰ While Paul mentions the issue of circumcision fairly extensively in ch. 2, noting that he had been commissioned to work among the uncircumcised and that even the Gentile Titus (Ἕλλην ὤν) had not been forced to accept circumcision (Gal. 2.3), ²¹ he addresses the issue head-on in ch. 5, which will now be analysed from the perspective of ritual criticism and ritual failure.

In Gal. 5 the issue of circumcision and its value in relation to the law and Christ is once again at stake, resurfacing for the first time since the reference to τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς in 2.12 (see de Boer 2011: 310). Paul argues that the ritual of circumcision has two effects: the one who undergoes circumcision is obliged to keep the entire law, and it cuts someone off from Christ. ²² Two principles of justification are contrasted with one another: justification is achieved either through reliance on circumcision and (hence) adherence to the law, ²³ or through the Spirit, by faith in Christ, without any regard for circumcision (2.6). ²⁴ In Christ, it is not circumcision or non-circumcision that matters, but faith working through love (compare, with variations, Gal. 6.15 and 1 Cor. 7.19). ²⁵ Paul’s comments could (again) be interpreted as referring to the ineffectuality of a ritual; instead of producing righteousness, the ritual of circumcision – understood as an ongoing communal practice ²⁶ – in fact prevents one from achieving righteousness. ²⁷ And while a case of misframing is certainly in place (from Paul’s perspective: by his opponents; from the opponents view, undoubtedly: by Paul), it is also interesting to note what Paul describes here as a case of ritual failure due to ‘defeat’. That is to say, it can be seen as a case of ritual failure due to the cancelling out of one ritual by another. Viewing Gal. 5 from the perspective of this kind of ritual failure, Paul states that adhering to the ritual of circumcision in order to achieve righteousness is, in fact, defeated by what can be understood as the ritual of adhering to Christ (which, in turn, is undone by returning to the law and circumcision; see the reference to the perverting of the gospel in Gal. 1.7 (μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον)). The result in this instance is that Paul, unlike in Phil. 3 (on which, see 3.2 below), does not claim and reinterpret the notion of circumcision as a ritual, but rather rejects it entirely, in line with the notion of a ritual that has been defeated and, when performed, leads to the opposite of that to which it should lead (ineffectuality). ²⁸ Of course, Paul must argue along these lines, because his own overarching picture of how righteousness is achieved, or accessed, has changed considerably.

As in Phil. 3, Paul runs the risk of losing his grip on the Galatian community, which has come under the influence of other missionaries; thus, he warns against imminent ritual failure, or rather, against the backfiring of a wrongly performed (since wrongly understood) ritual. ²⁹ In doing so, Paul (further) discredits the competing early Christian leaders at work in Galatia, by noting that they do not understand the ritual at stake (i.e. what real circumcision is in relation to the law and to Christ), ³⁰ but also that the ritual practice promoted by them endangers not only the bodies (v. 12), but the very souls of the Galatians – if this anachronistic mode of expressing the situation is permissible. It may well be the case that Paul strengthens his point in a way that is particularly fitting in Galatia, where the cult of the Great Mother, Cybele, involved (or used to involve) the ritual castration of male devotees and priests. ³¹ If, as seems likely, the reference to κατατομή also evokes this Galatian cult – a Γάλλος is, after all, a priest of Cybele as well as a eunuch ³² – then this evocation of ritual castration may serve to elucidate the failure of the (Jewish) ritual of circumcision and the extent of its consequences. A polemic against the Great Mother was probably not Paul’s primary concern, but it attests a kind of ‘double language’, the evocation of a textual reality and even of suggestive language. ³³

While Paul’s argument in Gal. 5 clearly demonstrates the importance of rituals ‘as the focus for the (re)negotiation of the life of a community or group’ (see above, a) and that it is obvious that questions of power and influence (cf. Gal. 1) are very much in the background of it all (see above, b), Paul also fights for his place at the table when it comes to discussing these matters, indicating the centrality of issues of participation in the process of ritual negotiation (see above, c.1). It may also seem, as is the case in Philippians, that the de facto subversion of the ‘Pauline’ ritual practice in Galatia triggers him to produce renewed, and more intense, reflection on the subject. That is to say: due to the fact that Paul’s position on circumcision is being threatened, he has to think it through again and provide (additional) arguments in support of his position. This may have been all the more necessary, because Gal. 5.11 hints at the Galatians’ knowledge of Paul’s earlier position when he still preached circumcision (de Boer 2011: 322-23). One gains the impression that Paul, having once preached circumcision and is now regarded by some as continuing to do so (a possible implication of Gal. 5.11), has not only changed his preaching and practice on the question of circumcision, but is confronted with those continuing its practice, possibly on the basis of his own earlier preaching. He is therefore forced to substantiate further his new point of view. Apparently, he had not done so, or at least not fully, while in Galatia. When confronted with people propagating (and practising) male circumcision for Gentile converts (and not just for Jewish adherents), Paul frames it as a rather unsalutary practice with dire consequences for the community members engaging in it.

My observations in the previous paragraph demonstrate that the threat of ritual failure forces Paul to redevelop his argument concerning (non-)circumcision and to outline how (the) circumcision (of Gentile converts to the cult of Christ) relates to keeping the law, and how both relate to justification (in the sense of a restored covenantal relationship with YHWH). Paul provides this interpretation in Gal. 5. It may well have been new to the Galatians, or at least new in this form, and delivered with such vehemence. When contextualizing all of this historically, and taking into account various contemporaneous views regarding the salvation of Gentiles and their adoption or non-adoption of Jewish ethnicity (a prominent sign of which would be physical circumcision) as part of this process, ³⁴ Paul does make a rather striking move in Gal. 5. Instead of opting for the relatively conventional model of salvation for the Gentiles that does not involve circumcision – because, for Gentiles, inclusion into the Jewish ethnos was not a requirement for salvation – he goes substantially further:

On the basis of the expectations concerning gentile eschatological salvation, we might expect Paul to say to gentiles: do not circumcise, because you are gentiles, not Jews. In effect what Paul says is, do not circumcise, because circumcision is meaningless. His position thus appears to turn into something of a critique on circumcision as such. Since circumcision no longer distinguishes those who belong to God from those who do not, the corollary seems to be that it no longer has value or meaning (Neutel 2015: 100).

When taking all of these factors into account, Paul’s views can be seen to have developed significantly regarding the meaning and appropriate practice of the ritual of circumcision. He moves from a position in which circumcision was essential for all (men) desiring a proper covenantal relationship with YHWH (his Pharisaic past), to thinking that it was still a good thing (possibly also for Gentile converts), a position held after his calling and during his initial years as a missionary (assuming that Gal. 5.11 points to this), and then to a position of indifference (see, e.g., Gal. 3.28), which may have been what he had taught the Galatians, in order to arrive finally at the view that the circumcision of Gentiles upon their conversion to the God of Israel, in the Spirit and through Christ, in fact undoes the positive effects of this conversion. As I indicated above, all of these aspects can be conceptualized with the aid of tools provided by ritual criticism, specifically by the study of ritual failure; they draw attention to the creative potential that is set free by ritual failure, leading to ritual negotiation and innovation, but also to the questions of authority and power involved in the process of renegotiating rituals and, with that, a community’s identity.

3.2 Philippians 3.2-6

In Philippians, the issue of circumcision is at stake most emphatically in ch. 3, where Paul takes issue with the position of those whom he describes as κύνες, at once insulting them and identifying them as unclean. ³⁵ It is likely that ‘the dogs’, the ‘evil workers’ and ‘those who mutilate’ (or ‘castrate’) mentioned in v. 2 are three designations for the same group of people; these designations stand in contrast to Paul’s threefold designation for his own group in v. 3. In his subsequent autobiographical statement, his emphatic reference to the same three topics underlines the close relationship between his group and his own identity and their shared opposition to those mentioned in v. 2. There is a connection between Paul’s references to circumcision, confidence in the flesh, and relating to God in Christ and the Spirit in v. 2 and the recurrence of these topics in vv. 3-15, where Paul unpacks their meaning for him, using his own biography as a tool for this.

It is possible that the ‘evil workers’ attacked here by Paul denote other early Christian missionaries, given that the term ἐργάτης used by Paul to describe them can be employed to designate such ‘workers’. ³⁶ These other missionaries may well have been competing with Paul, ³⁷ a situation which can easily be imagined given the diversity of early Christianity. ³⁸ Further aspects of the identity of this group remain debated. ³⁹ In general, it is assumed that Paul’s opponents are (representatives of) a group who regarded more elements of Jewish (ritual) Torah as binding for Christians than was the case for Paul. ⁴⁰ How ‘Jewish’ was this group may be an anachronistic question; still, from a modern perspective, the descriptor ‘radical Jewish Christians’ probably fits best. The exact issue(s) at stake is (are) not very clear, although if Paul’s language is precise (see κατατομή in 3.2, περιτομή in 3.3 and 3.5; cf. Gal. 5.12; furthermore, κοιλία and αἰσχύνη were used as euphemisms for the male reproductive organ in the LXX), ⁴¹ then circumcision was probably a dominant issue. ⁴² By addressing these competitors as ‘dogs’, Paul uses a pejorative term commonly reserved for Gentiles, that is, for those who are outside the people of God (even if they seem to be part of it, as in Isa. 56), in order to attack ‘radical Jewish Christian’ opponents. ⁴³ Paul’s rhetorical approach is well suited to his use of this particular insult: his entire argument is developed in the context of the question of the identity of the people of God and how belonging to the covenant people is accomplished, that is, through what kind of reliance on the law and on Christ respectively. ⁴⁴ Having outlined this situation, it is now possible to consider the question of circumcision in Phil. 3 from the perspective of ritual criticism, in particular by viewing it as a case of ritual failure.

In Phil. 3.2, as I have noted, Paul addresses the Philippians as follows: βλέπετε τὴν κατατομήν. The word κατατομή – an obvious reference to περιτομή – has negative connotations and is associated with (unidentified) ‘others’. The real and true περιτομή is claimed for Paul’s own group (v. 3: ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή). The designation περιτομή therefore functions as a pars pro toto; the group is identified through reference to one of its characteristics: circumcision. ⁴⁵ It is a characteristic of the (real) circumcision, that is, Paul’s own group, the members of which are described further as οἱ πνεύματι θεοῦ λατρεύοντες καὶ καυχώμενοι ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες (v. 3). The latter description (‘confidence in the flesh’) may be seen to characterize the people with whom Paul here disagrees (which he explores in the following verses) and whom he has already designated as ‘dogs’ and ‘evil workers’ (v. 2). Confidence in the flesh concerns adherence to a form of righteousness that derives from the law (see especially v. 9) rather than a righteousness deriving from faith in Christ (v. 9). An element of Jewish ritual, that is, circumcision, therefore plays a pivotal role in Paul’s statements here. It is regarded as so central to the compared and contrasted identities that both can be described primarily with reference to this ritual (i.e. as κατατομή and περιτομή). Clearly, something is thought to be wrong with some performances of this ritual but not with others. Paul can be seen to engage with the evaluation of two different performances of a ritual (which, as such, stand for a whole way of life) and, accordingly, he engages – both positively and negatively – with different group identities. Even if one were to argue that Paul uses the term περιτομή metaphorically for his own ‘party’, it still implies the expression of a particular identity and ritual practice which, for Paul, is aptly described with the aid of a ritual term.

The question that therefore arises is this: can ritual criticism, specifically the analysis of ritual failure, shed further light on Paul’s thinking in Phil. 3? This would indeed seem to be the case, especially when one draws on Grimes’s categories of ‘ineffectuality’ and ‘misframing’. The first category describes ritual acts that fail to precipitate the anticipated empirical change even though they are executed correctly; for example, a healing ritual that is performed according to all the rules of the ritual and yet fails to produce healing because the patient dies. ⁴⁶ The second category describes the establishment of ritual failure because a ritual is interpreted according to a different framework from its own, thereby resulting in a mismatch (hence ‘misframing’, with the brief definition of ‘genre or act misconstrued’). By using these two categories, it appears that Paul understands the ‘dogs’ and ‘evil workers’ to be performing a ritual act (circumcision) as pars pro toto for achieving righteousness; they seek to belong to the people of God through the ‘performance’ of the law, and yet it does not produce the desired effect, that is, righteousness. One effect of the language used by Paul in these verses is that it characterizes those who advocate adherence to (more of) the ritual precepts of the Torah (than Paul) as being outside the covenant. ⁴⁷ Paul specifically achieves this identification by calling his opponents ‘dogs’, which implies ritual impurity by Jewish standards, and by referring to them as part of the κατατομή. ⁴⁸ This evidently constitutes a contrast with the claims made by Paul for himself and for those who are in agreement with him. ⁴⁹

In all likelihood, Paul suggests in v. 19 that the eventual effect of the ritual performance of physical circumcision is eschatological destruction. The reason for its ineffectuality is, as Paul indicates, the misunderstanding about the correct interpretation and performance of circumcision, that is, the belief that it leads to righteousness. ‘Literal’ circumcision, the removal of the foreskin, as an expression of adherence to the literal law, is not the way that leads to righteousness; it is not περιτομή, but κατατομή. Real περιτομή is performed differently: by ‘worshipping in the Spirit of God and glorying in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 3.3). This ritual leads to righteousness through faith in Christ. Paul indicates that the performance of this ritual is certainly effective; he claims that the promises of salvation for Israel find fulfillment in his own community – a community with the correct ritual practice. ⁵⁰ Therefore, with reference to Grimes’s terminology, it can be claimed that Paul argues that the ‘dogs’ misframe the ritual of circumcision and that this leads to an ineffective practice, whereas his correct framing of the ritual brings about a different performance and different results. The ‘dogs’ will undoubtedly have returned this compliment.

What happens, with reference to ritual failure and ritual renegotiation/renewal, can be described as follows: Paul retains the notion of circumcision as a ritual denoting a particular practice related to gaining righteousness; it is a pars pro toto for that practice. However, because Paul has revised how righteousness can be acquired – that is, through faith in Christ rather than through the law – the meaning of the ritual practice of circumcision and its concrete ritual shape need to be reconsidered. Circumcision obtains a ‘new shape’: ‘worshipping in the Spirit of God and glorying in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 3.3). In the light of this renegotiation, other forms of circumcision appear inappropriate and ineffective. A shift in Paul’s view about the appropriate performance of the law (i.e. its non-performance) thus leads to a revision of that part of the ritual regarded as an expression of reliance on the law par excellence: circumcision. This, once again, relates to its non-performance as far as its former shape is concerned, but to new content with regard to its function as the identity marker of the new group. In other words, the ritual practice remains, but in a (heavily) revised form, and this is prompted by a change in the overall interpretation and evaluation of the ritual performance of the law in its entirety.

Furthermore, in the light of my earlier remarks about the interrelationship of ritual criticism and the negotiation of power within groups, it seems evident that Paul’s criticism of a particular ritual practice in Phil. 3 (because its true meaning is misunderstood) also serves to discredit those (the ‘dogs’) who apparently make claims about the correct interpretation of tradition and its ritual performance in early Christian Philippi. That there is conflict about, or competition for, leadership in Philippi is widely recognized by scholars, ⁵¹ but not the close connection between the discussion in question and ritual criticism (because of perceived ritual failure, or the risk of it). ⁵² Paul discredits his competitors and their ritual practice, from Phil. 3.4 onwards, by outlining his familiarity with his opponents’ viewpoint, ⁵³ even to the extent that he claims to have once followed a similar way of life and ritual practice, albeit in a superior manner. ⁵⁴ Taking up the language he used at the end of Phil. 3.3 (‘no confidence in the flesh’), ⁵⁵ Paul, arguing a minore ad maius, claims to have been superior ‘in the flesh’ to all his opponents, irrespective of what they may think. ⁵⁶ Notably, he is ‘of the circumcision’, from the Israelite tribe of Benjamin; this may be aimed at circumcised Gentile Christians in that Paul is a circumcised Israelite. He was even a Pharisee in terms of his adherence to the law, and, as to righteousness, he was blameless. His zeal for the law was also evidenced by his persecution of the church. Whatever his adversaries might claim, Paul’s basic line in Phil. 3.4-6 is that he can lay claim to the same and indeed to more. ⁵⁷ These considerations are in line with the observation made earlier in this article that, when it comes to ritual failure, ritual criticism or ritual negotiation, power relations are of central importance, whereas the rituals themselves are a key issue in the renegotiation of the life of a community or group.

One must, of course, tread carefully when using ritual failure as an analytical category in relation to circumcision, not least because ‘failure’ terminology can be misleading with reference to Paul and the law. It stands to reason that Paul’s view of circumcision can be interpreted as a pars pro toto for observing the law as a ritual (i.e. as a regulated and performed identity, not in the sense that the law is ‘merely’ a ritual). ⁵⁸ However, it seems that his rethinking about the significance of the law (and therefore circumcision) – in the light of faith in Christ as a means (or rather: the means) of justification before God – has led him also to reconsider the significance of circumcision. Continued ritual praxis of circumcision and adherence to the law among the early Christian communities brought about a renewed understanding of both rituals. The ‘literal’ practice of circumcision prompted Paul to develop his thinking on the identity of early Christians (‘real’ circumcision), on the content/form of true circumcision, and on the place of the law in early Christian thought. Clearly, Paul’s new understanding of the significance of Christ also marked a change in ritual practice (see above, c.2) in that he discovered a new way of expressing the identity of those belonging to the covenant community, which is by being justified through Christ. ⁵⁹ At the same time, the threat of ritual failure for the Philippian community may have encouraged Paul to set out his case against physical male circumcision as a sign of keeping the law, possibly with the aid of new arguments. Different from his argument in Galatians, Paul overtly reclaims circumcision for his own purposes in Philippians, and he will continue to do so in Romans.

3.3 Romans 2.25-29

Romans 2.25-29 is part of a longer section which starts in 2.17 and contains a long diatribe that, as noted by Jewett, concerns ‘questions of Jewish exceptionalism and … assertion of superiority’. ⁶⁰ The issue at stake is the advantage brought (ὠϕελεῖ) by circumcision and adherence to the law, especially when it comes to being part of the covenant community (hence, salvation). ⁶¹

In this particular context, the focus is upon the ritual of circumcision as an identity marker and on the correct interpretation and performance of what can be termed real circumcision. ⁶² A number of Grimes’s categories of ritual failure seem to be applicable in this respect. First, in v. 25, Paul argues that being a transgressor of the law is tantamount to undoing one’s circumcision (ἐὰν δὲ παραβάτης νόμου ᾖς, ἡ περιτομή σου ἀκροβυστία γέγονεν). ⁶³ This could be understood as a case of ‘misapplication’ (category 1.1.b): a ritual fails because it is performed by an inappropriate person (one who transgresses the law). At the same time, it could, more appropriately, be described as a case of ‘defeat’ (category 7): one ritual is defeated by another. That is to say: when conceptualizing the transgression of the law as the performance of a ritual – which is certainly possible given that adherence to the law can be viewed as a ritual practice expressing identity – not keeping the law defeats the ritual of circumcision. ⁶⁴ Secondly, when focusing on vv. 27-29, there is another category which, from the perspective of ritual criticism, seems more apposite to describe what is argued by Paul (category 3, ineffectuality). Paul points out in v. 27 that the one who is both circumcised and keeps the law will judge the one who is circumcised and does not keep the law, ⁶⁵ and, in v. 28, that someone is not a Jew on the basis of outward characteristics (οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ ϕανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν). In fact, he states that (physical) circumcision is a ritual that does not produce what it should, because it does not enhance one’s Jewish identity. ⁶⁶ Rather, the act that makes someone a Jew is inward not outward circumcision (v. 28b), or, more specifically, circumcision of the heart (v. 29). In doing so, Paul, as it were, replaces one ritual with another; in line with other Jewish traditions, ⁶⁷ circumcision of the male foreskin is replaced with that of the heart. With regard to physical circumcision, Paul does indeed seem to argue that it is an ineffectual ritual (category 3; a ‘flop’, in Grimesian terminology [2.4], might also be a way of describing Paul’s view of physical circumcision).

All the while, Paul also denies the detrimental consequences of another kind of ritual failure (failing to perform a ritual), that is, the ‘literal’ keeping of the law which includes physical circumcision. He denies that a certain kind of behaviour – not circumcising – would qualify as ritual failure. ⁶⁸ Paul’s subsequent reinterpretation of what real circumcision (of the inner variety) entails is a good example of what ritual theory has identified as ‘the importance of (perceived) failure and disagreement for triggering critical thinking and reflection’. As a background to all this remains Paul’s conviction – as in Galatians and Philippians – that, for Gentiles to join the people of the covenant, it is no longer necessary to become part of the Jewish ethnos with its own ritual law. ⁶⁹ In fact, to retain a view of the law that would make this necessary, and to equate membership of the Jewish ethnos with membership of the covenant community, ⁷⁰ would, in Paul’s view, amount to a failed expression of identity, and hence to ritual failure.

Paul also argues in Romans against (real or imaginary) competitors. This is well in line with the general observation that ritual criticism and the identification of ritual failure are virtually always related to a struggle for power, status and influence. This dynamic has already been discussed in detail with reference to Philippians and Galatians; however, since its structure remains the same in Romans, it only needs to be mentioned here in passing. Nevertheless, it is still worthwhile to underline the ritual aspect of Paul’s argument in Rom. 2, because discussion of ritual is an integral part of Paul’s argument, that is, circumcision as the ritual performance of a particular understanding of circumcision and, consequently, of the law and how it should be kept. ⁷¹ Paul’s concern is about an embodied and performed identity – a lived reality – rather than about circumcision as a theological concept or even a symbol. This realization changes one’s perspective on early Christian ‘theology’ and its function: it appears less as an intellectual exercise (even if intellectual prowess is involved) than as the renegotiation of embodied and performed group identity. A major concern for Paul in Romans is that Israel consists of both Jews and Gentiles, which is played out through the reinterpretation and renegotiation of a ritual (see above, a). What is clear in Rom. 2.25-29 is the interrelationship of ritual failure and ritual negotiation. Paul has come to a new understanding of the role of the law as a result of the Christ event. He also re-evaluates and renegotiates the meaning of circumcision; physical circumcision is, as a result, replaced with a circumcision of the heart. This, to be sure, is the major difference between his own position and that of those whom he addresses in Rom. 2.25-29. Paul and his interlocutors would agree on the principle that circumcision is required, just as it is necessary to keep the law in an appropriate way. ⁷² However, because of the Christ event, Paul differs from his dialogue partners as to the precise shape of circumcision. As Dunn puts it: ‘the difference is that in Paul’s view the interpretation of that commandment (c.q., of male circumcision) made necessary by the circumstances of the new age calls for a practice of the law (including circumcision) that need not include the outward rite’ (Dunn 1988: 121, 127).

Before proceeding to the conclusions of this study, one important matter needs to be clarified, and this is most effectively done with reference to Rom. 2.25-29: does not Paul interpret circumcision in such metaphorical terms that ritual studies lose their usefulness as an analytical tool? This is a very valid question, but the answer must be a negative one. By following Michaels’s five characteristics of a ritual (1999: 29-30, see n. 8 above), this response can be substantiated by noting that the (seemingly) spiritualized ritual of circumcision to which Paul refers in Rom. 2.29 (of the heart) is not just a figure of speech, but denotes a real and personal transformation. It is intentional and leads to a new direction in life, namely, her/his ‘performance’ of her/his identity, which can be understood along ritual lines. This is even more so when it pertains to law observance; it provides a person with a ‘grammar’ for living in a particular way, and doing justice to its content, as is the case in Rom. 2.25-29. Even ‘circumcision of the heart’ can be understood in ritual terms or, more precisely, as a particularly effective way of performing the ritual that embodies a person’s identification with the law and the following of its precepts.