John Calvin 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)

In whom you also are circumcised. From this it appears that he has a controversy with the false apostles, who mixed the law with the gospel, and by that means made Christ have, as it were, two faces. He specifies, however, one instance by way of example. He proves that the circumcision of Moses is not merely unnecessary, but is opposed to Christ, because it destroys the spiritual circumcision of Christ.

For circumcision was given to the Fathers so that it might be the figure of a thing that was absent. Therefore, those who retain that figure after Christ’s advent deny the accomplishment of what it prefigures. Let us, therefore, bear in mind that outward circumcision is here compared with spiritual, just as a figure with the reality.

The figure is of a thing that is absent; therefore, it sets aside the presence of the reality. What Paul contends for is this: that, since what was shadowed forth by a circumcision made with hands has been completed in Christ, there is now no fruit or advantage from it.

Therefore he says that the circumcision which is made in the heart is the circumcision of Christ. On this account, that which is outward is not now required. For where the reality exists, that shadowy emblem vanishes, since it has no place except in the absence of the reality.

By the putting off of the body. He employs the term body, by an elegant metaphor, to denote a mass made up of all vices. For as we are encompassed by our bodies, so we are surrounded on all sides by an accumulation of vices. And as the body is composed of various members, each of which has its own actions and offices, so from that accumulation of corruption all sins take their rise as members of the entire body. There is a similar manner of expression in Romans 6:13.

He takes the term flesh, as he usually does, to denote corrupt nature. The body of the sins of the flesh, therefore, is the old man with his deeds; only, there is a difference in the manner of expression, for here he expresses more properly the mass of vices which proceed from corrupt nature. He says that we obtain this through Christ, so that unquestionably an entire regeneration is his benefit. It is he who circumcises the foreskin of our heart, or, in other words, mortifies all the lusts of the flesh, not with the hand, but by his Spirit. Therefore, in him is the reality of the figure.