Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:17–20, “This is the rule I lay down in all the congregations. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised… Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.” New Testament scholars are increasingly making the argument that Paul’s metonymic statement in 1 Cor 7:18—“do not put on foreskin”—required Yeshua-believing Jews in his congregations to continue to live the circumcised life as a matter of calling and not to assimilate into Gentile lifestyle.

This interpretation of Paul’s rule in all the congregations, which Augustine defended (Op. mon. 11 [12]), remains a minority view in New Testament studies. However, my observation is that this interpretation is beginning to move from the margins to the center of the discussion over Paul’s perspective on the relationship between Yeshua-believing Jews and Torah.