Colossians 2:11

2:8-17 There is a philosophy which rightly exercises our reasonable faculties; a study of the works of God, which leads us to the knowledge of God, and confirms our faith in him. But there is a philosophy which is vain and deceitful; and while it pleases men's fancies, hinders their faith: such are curious speculations about things above us, or no concern to us. Those who walk in the way of the world, are turned from following Christ. We have in Him the substance of all the shadows of the ceremonial law. All the defects of it are made up in the gospel of Christ, by his complete sacrifice for sin, and by the revelation of the will of God. To be complete, is to be furnished with all things necessary for salvation. By this one word complete, is shown that we have in Christ whatever is required. In him, not when we look to Christ, as though he were distant from us, but we are in him, when, by the power of the Spirit, we have faith wrought in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are united to our Head. The circumcision of the heart, the crucifixion of the flesh, the death and burial to sin and to the world, and the resurrection to newness of life, set forth in baptism, and by faith wrought in our hearts, prove that our sins are forgiven, and that we are fully delivered from the curse of the law. Through Christ, we, who were dead in sins, are quickened. Christ's death was the death of our sins; Christ's resurrection is the quickening of our souls.

The law of ordinances, which was a yoke to the Jews, and a partition-wall to the Gentiles, the Lord Jesus took out of the way. When the substance was come, the shadows fled. Since every mortal man is, through the hand-writing of the law, guilty of death, how very dreadful is the condition of the ungodly and unholy, who trample under foot that blood of the Son of God, whereby alone this deadly hand-writing can be blotted out! Let not any be troubled about bigoted judgments which related to meats, or the Jewish solemnities. The setting apart a portion of our time for the worship and service of God, is a moral and unchangeable duty, but had no necessary dependence upon the seventh day of the week, the sabbath of the Jews. The first day of the week, or the Lord's day, is the time kept holy by Christians, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. All the Jewish rites were shadows of gospel blessings.

Colossians 2:11-12 . In whom also ye are circumcised — Ye have received the spiritual blessings signified of old by circumcision; with the circumcision made without hands — Namely, an internal, spiritual circumcision; in putting off — Not a little skin, but the whole body of the sins of the flesh — All the sins proceeding from your corrupt nature; by the circumcision of Christ — The circumcision of the heart, which Christ requires and effects. Buried with him, &c. — That is, which he wrought in you when you were, as it were, buried with him in baptism — The ancient manner of baptizing by immersion is as manifestly alluded to here, as the other manner of baptizing by sprinkling, or pouring of water, is, Hebrews 10:22 . But no stress is laid on the age of the baptized, or the manner of performing it, in one or the other place; but only on our being quickened, or renewed, through the powerful operation of his Spirit in the soul, which we cannot but know assuredly, if we really are so: and if we do not experience this, our baptism has not answered the end of its institution.

Wherein — Or rather, by which; ye are risen with him — From the death of sin, to the life of righteousness; through the faith of the operation of God — Faith wrought in you by God: see on Ephesians 2:8 ; or, through faith in the energy of God, as some render δια της πιστεως της ενεργειας του Θεου ; who raised him from the dead — They who put this latter sense upon the passage explain it thus: “The circumcision which Christ performs being accomplished by the influence of the doctrines of the gospel upon the minds of believers, and their belief of these doctrines being founded on their belief of the resurrection of Christ, their belief of that great miracle is justly represented as the means whereby they are made new creatures.” The doctrines of the gospel, however, will produce no such effect, unless they be accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit.

{9} In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the {p} body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: (9) Now he deals precisely against the third type, that is to say, against those who urged the Jewish religion: and first of all, he denies that we have need of the circumcision of the flesh, seeing that without it we are circumcised within, by the power of Christ. (p) These many words are used to show what the old man is, whom Paul in other places calls the body of sin.

Colossians 2:11 . Καὶ ) also . Paul now enumerates the steps in the progress of those, who have become partakers of the fulness of Christ.— περιετμήθητε , ye are circumcised ) As circumcision, so baptism, refers to initiation.— περιτομῇ , with the circumcision ) of the heart.— ἀχειροποιήτῳ , not made with hands ) An epithet very suitable for the New Testament; comp. Ephesians 2:11 ; Hebrews 9:11 ; Hebrews 9:24 .— ἀπεκδύσει ) a word most significant; Colossians 2:15 .— τοῦ σώματος , of the body ) This, as a whole, is opposed to the part, uncircumcision: ἀπέκδυσις σώματος , the putting (stripping) off the body , a mild definition of death . It is different therefore from baptism: it is the circumcision of the heart; it is death spiritual, in a good sense, whereas baptism is compared to burial . [ Communion with (joint participation in) the death and burial and resurrection of Christ is described in this and the following verse .—V.g.]— τῆς σαρκὸς , of the flesh ) There is an apposition between the body of sins and the flesh [not the body of the sins of the flesh , as Engl. Vers., but the body of the sins , that is to say, the flesh ].— ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ) by the circumcision of Christ , which accords with the New Testament; a circumcision, to which that of Moses, in the flesh, gives place.

Not made with hands Compare Mark 14:58; 2 Corinthians 5:1. In allusion to the literal circumcision insisted on by the false teachers. In the putting off (ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει) Only here in the New Testament; and the kindred verb ἀπεκδύομαι to put off only Colossians 2:15 and Colossians 3:9. The verb ἐκδύομαι means to strip off from one's self, as clothes or armor; ἐκ out of, having the force of getting out of one's garments. By the addition to the verb of ἀπό from, there is added to the idea of getting out of one's clothes that of getting away from them; so that the word is a strong expression for wholly putting away from one's self. In the putting off, is in the act or process of. Not by. The body of the sins of the flesh (τοῦ σώματος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τῆς σαρκὸς) Omit of the sins. The body of the flesh (compare on Colossians 1:22) is the body which consists of the flesh, flesh having its moral sense of that material part which is the seat and organ of sin, "the flesh with its passions and lusts" (Galatians 5:24; compare 1 John 2:16). See on Colossians 1:24. For the distinction between σῶμα body and σάρξ flesh, see on flesh, Romans 7:5, sec. 3. In the circumcision of Christ (ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ) The spiritual circumcision effected through Christ. See Ephesians 2:11; Philippians 3:3; Romans 2:29. In, as above. The fleshly circumcision removed only a portion of the body.

(11) The circumcision made without hands. —This abrupt introduction of the idea of circumcision would be difficult to understand, were it not for the knowledge of the enforcement of Jewish observance so strangely mixed with this “philosophy” at Colossæ. (Comp. Ephesians 2:11 , “Ye who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made with hands.”) The phrase “made without hands” is so constantly used of heavenly realities (as in Mark 14:58 ; 2Corinthians 5:1 ; Hebrews 9:11 ; Hebrews 9:24 ), as opposed to earthly symbols, that it comes to have the positive sense of “spiritual.” It is defined below as “the circumcision of Christ”—that which Christ has given us in Himself—in contradistinction to the old circumcision which is now “nothing.” (On the treatment of this subject in the Epistles of this period, comp. with this passage Ephesians 2:11-12 ; Philippians 3:2-3 , and see Notes there.) In putting off the body . . .—The words “of the sins” are not found in the best MSS. They are, no doubt, an explanatory gloss to soften the harshness of the phrase “the body of the flesh.” (1) What “the body of the flesh” is we see clearly by Colossians 3:9, “having put off the old man.” It is, like the “body of sin” (in Romans 6:6) and the “body of death” (in Romans 7:24), the body so far as it is, in the bad sense of the word “flesh,” fleshly. The body itself is not “put off:” for it is not evil; it is a part of the true man, and becomes the temple of God.

It is only so far as in it the flesh rebels against the spirit, and the “old man is gradually corrupted by the lusts of deceit” (Ephesians 4:22), that it is to be “put off.” (2) But why the “body of the flesh,” and not the “flesh” simply? The answer is, no doubt, that which Chrysostom here gives, that the bodily circumcision was but of one member, in mere symbolism of one form of purity; the spiritual circumcision is the putting away of the whole of the power of the flesh, and that, too, not in symbol, but in reality.

11. Implying that they did not need, as the Judaizers taught, the outward rite of circumcision, since they had already the inward spiritual reality of it. are—rather, as the Greek, "Ye were (once for all) circumcised (spiritually, at your conversion and baptism, Ro 2:28, 29; Php 3:3) with a (so the Greek) circumcision made without hands"; opposed to "the circumcision in the flesh made by hands" (Eph 2:11). Christ's own body, by which the believer is sanctified, is said to be "not made with hands" (Mr 14:58; Heb 9:11; compare Da 2:45). in putting off—rather as Greek, "in your putting off"; as an old garment (Eph 4:22); alluding to the putting off the foreskin in circumcision. the body of the sins of the flesh—The oldest manuscripts read, "the body of the flesh," omitting "of the sins," that is, "the body," of which the prominent feature is fleshiness (compare Ro 8:13, where "flesh" and "the body" mutually correspond). This fleshly body, in its sinful aspect, is put off in baptism (where baptism answers its ideal) as the seal of regeneration where received in repentance and faith.

In circumcision the foreskin only was put off; in Christian regeneration "the body of the flesh" is spiritually put off, at least it is so in its ideal conception, however imperfectly believers realize that ideal. by—Greek, "in." This spiritual circumcision is realized in, or by, union with Christ, whose "circumcision," whereby He became responsible for us to keep the whole law, is imputed to believers for justification; and union with whom, in all His vicarious obedience, including His circumcision, is the source of our sanctification. Alford makes it explanatory of the previous, "a circumcision made without hands," namely, "the circumcision brought about by your union with Christ." The former view seems to me better to accord with Col 2:12; 3:1, 3, 4, which similarly makes the believer, by spiritual union with Christ, to have personal fellowship in the several states of Christ, namely, His death, resurrection, and appearing in glory. Nothing was done or suffered by our Mediator as such, but may be acted in our souls and represented in our spirits. Pearson's view, however, is that of Alford. Joshua, the type (not Moses in the wilderness), circumcised the Israelites in Canaan (Jos 5:2-9) the second time: the people that came out of Egypt having been circumcised, and afterwards having died in the wilderness; but those born after the Exodus not having been so.