Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists

Spiritual Israel replaced the Jewish nation (Gal.
3:27-29; 6:15, 16).
Christ's death ratified the new covenant. People
entered this covenant through spiritual
circumcision--a response of faith to Jesus' atoning
death. Christians have "the gospel for the
uncircumcised" (Gal. 2:7). The new covenant
requires an "inward faith" and not an "outward rite"
of those who would belong to spiritual Israel. One
can be a Jew through birth; but one can be a
Christian only through the new birth. "For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
avail anything, but faith working through love"
(Gal. 5:6). What matters is "circumcision is that of
the heart, in the Spirit" (Rom. 2:28, 29).
Baptism, the sign of a saving relationship with
Jesus, represents this spiritual circumcision. "In
Him you were also circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands, by putting off
the body of the sins of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in
baptism, in which you also were raised with Him
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