Colossians 2:11

Colossians 2:11. In whom ye were also circumcised. ‘ Also' belongs to the verb, not to ye, and a past fact is spoken of (comp. Colossians 2:12-13); hence ‘were' instead of ‘are.'

With a (not, ‘the') circumcision, etc. The absence of the article is rhetorical. ‘This higher circumcision ‘is distinguished, as regards first its character, secondly its extent, and thirdly its author' (Lightfoot).

N ot wrought by hands, contrasted with that ‘wrought by hands' (see Ephesians 2:11; comp. marg. references. This circumcision of the heart consists: in the putting off the body of the flesh. (The phrase ‘of the sins' is wanting in the best manuscripts, in other authorities, and is rejected, as a gloss, by all recent editors.) The word ‘putting off' is rare (comp. Colossians 2:15 and chap. Colossians 3:9), implying both an unclothing and a putting away. The various reading and the context also point to the ethical sense of ‘flesh' as the necessary one (see Excursus, Romans 7). But why is the word ‘body' used? Paul never teaches that the body is the specifically fleshly (i.e., sinful) part of our being, nor is the reference to the material earthly body an apt one; that body we do not put off at baptism. Hence it seems best to explain the phrase as referring to the organism of sin (comp. Romans 6:6; Romans 7:14). The figure of circumcision naturally suggests this expression. Meyer and others take ‘flesh' in the ethical sense, but ‘body' in the material sense; the body consisting of the flesh, in its depravity. But even these writers guard their explanation against the notion that the body is the source of sin; the same body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, is no longer ‘in the flesh.'

In the circumcision of Christ. Parallel to the preceding clause; the E. V. (‘by') is misleading. Of this circumcision Christ is the originating cause: ‘Christ by union with Himself brings about the circumcision and imparts it to believers' (Ellicott). It is incorrect to weaken this into Christian circumcision, or to refer it to the circumcision of the child Jesus, or to regard the circumcision as directly wrought by Christ.