Deuteronomy 30:6

—Does God circumcise the heart or was Israel to circumcise their own hearts?

Problem:

According to this verse, “the Lord your God will circumcise your heart.” However, earlier in the same book Moses called on Israel to “circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (

Deut. 10:16

). But how can we have it both ways?

Solution:

The truth is that there is both an

active

and

passive

role for humans in salvation. We are active in

receiving

the gift, but we were not active in the

giving

of the gift. We actively

submit

our hearts to God, but we are not active in

saving

our own hearts. In short, while we are active in receiving or accepting salvation, we rely entirely on God in providing or accomplishing salvation. Even though the one rescued is active in receiving the lifeline, nonetheless, he is dependent in being rescued by the rescuer who pulls in the rope. Likewise, we actively submit to the life-saving operation, but we are dependent in receiving the physician’s skillful surgery that saves our life. The situation can be summarized as follows: