<p>2:29 <i>But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter</i>- It was indeed a radical thing for Paul to re-define self-identity from the outward and visible to the internal and invisible. External appearances were and are what define a person, both within society and to him or her self. By becoming &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo;, this all changes- radically. &ldquo;Inwardly&rdquo; is the same word translated &ldquo;secrets&rdquo; when we read a few verses earlier that God will judge the secrets, the internal things (Rom. 2:16). This is what He looks upon.&nbsp;</p><p>It&rsquo;s significant that circumcision was in any case a private matter. The Canaanite tribes each had various markings or tattoos, usually on the face or somewhere public and visible, just as some African tribes do today. It was immediately obvious that the person was from whatever tribe. God&rsquo;s people, however, had a body marking on the most hidden and intimate place on a man&rsquo;s body, which was not on public display. This in itself reflected how relationship with God was and is something intimate, personal and not immediately visible, in a sense, to the world around us. We who line up in a supermarket look, smell, talk and chose our shopping in a virtually identical way to the world around us. Our separation unto God is internal, intimate and not externally visible. Note that Paul has been talking about not judging; and from that he moves on to talk about circumcision. The connection is in the fact that we cannot judge others because we can only view them externally; God will judge the &ldquo;secrets&rdquo; (2:16), the internal things, because the sign of our covenant connection with God is by its very nature internal and personal to the believer and God. We cannot possibly, therefore, judge others- for we see only the visible and external.</p><p>Circumcision under the new covenant doesn't refer to anything outward, visibly verifiable. For now &quot;he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter&quot; (Rom. 2:29)- seeing we can't judge the secret things of others' hearts, how can we tell who is circumcised in heart or not? The 'sealing' of God's people today, the proof that they are the Lord's (2 Tim. 2:19), is not anything external, but the internal matter of being sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13; 4:30), or being sealed with a mark in the mind / forehead, as Revelation puts it (Rev. 7:3; 9:4).</p><p><i>Whose praise is not of men but of God</i>- We will be praised by God in that He will &lsquo;go through&rsquo; all our good deeds, when we fed the hungry and visited those in prison (Mt. 25:36). He will rejoice over us, glory in us, in the way that only a lover can over the beloved whom He views through eyes of love, counting perfection to us in His eyes (1 Cor. 4:5). This is the real meaning of being &lsquo;Jewish&rsquo;- for Paul is making a word play on the word &lsquo;Jew&rsquo; coming from &lsquo;Judah&rsquo;, the praised one (Gen. 49:8).</p>