Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 2:11

"in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;" — Colossians 2:11 (ASV)

Paul now expands on the idea of Christ’s sufficiency. Our Lord has done three things for us: spiritual circumcision (vv.11–12), forgiveness of sins (vv.13– 14), and victory over evil forces (v.15).

In union with Christ, believers have true “circumcision,” i.e., they have found in him the reality symbolized by Mosaic circumcision. The Christian’s “circumcision” is defined as “the putting off of the sinful nature.” “Putting off” (GK 589) uses the picture of stripping off and casting away a piece of filthy clothing. The “sinful nature” (lit., “the body of the flesh”) has been variously explained, but only two interpretations seem worthy of consideration. One understands “body” to be a reference to the physical body, “flesh” to be a description of the body as conditioned by our fallen nature. The other takes “body” to denote something like “mass” or sum total, “flesh” to denote our sinful nature (i.e., the entire carnal nature; cf. NIV).

The description of Christian circumcision as “not... done by the hands of men” is obviously intended to contrast the Christian’s “circumcision” with that required by the Mosaic law (and advocated also by the errorists of Colosse). The circumcision prescribed by Moses, which represented the cutting away of a man’s uncleanness and was the outward sign of participation in Israel’s covenant with God, was made with hands (i.e., was physical), and it affected an external organ of the body. The circumcision that the believer experiences in Christ is spiritual, and it relates not to an external organ but to one’s inward being. In short, it is what elsewhere in Scripture is called “circumcision of the heart” (Romans 2:28; cf. Php 3:3)—something that took place at the time of conversion.