Did Circumcision Exclude Women Under the Old Covenant?

Some seem to think that the law of circumcision for males excluded women from being equal members of God’s covenant people under the Old Covenant. However, circumcision was never the qualification for being an equal believer. It was the covenant sign commanded for males only (Gen. 17:7–14), while women were explicitly included among Yahweh’s covenant people. Deuteronomy 29:10–13 includes Israel’s “wives” and “little ones” in the covenant, and Joshua 8:33–35 records men, women, children, and resident aliens gathered together to hear the words of the Law. Other examples include Sarah, Hannah, Ruth, and Anna (Heb. 11:11; 1 Sam. 1–2; Ruth 1:16; Luke 2:36–38).

Regardless, for the New Testament physical circumcision no longer defines your identify as the people of God. Paul says that what matters is not circumcision or uncircumcision, but faith working through love and becoming a new creation (Gal. 5:6; 6:15; cf. 1 Cor. 7:18–19). Romans 2:28–29 also shifts the emphasis from outward circumcision to the inward condition of the heart.

So Galatians 3:28 does not mean women were previously unbelievers or excluded from God’s covenant people. Rather, in Messiah, distinctions such as Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female give no one a superior status in relation to the promise. Paul immediately concludes: “And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).