Thomas Aquinas Commentary Colossians 2:11-15

"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; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, [I say], did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out that way, nailing it to the cross; having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." — Colossians 2:11-15 (ASV)

Above, Paul warned the faithful against the deceptions of worldly philosophers; here he instructs and warns them against those heretics who wanted to drag them into observing the law. First, he instructs them to avoid such people; second, he rejects the false enticements they used (Colossians 2:18). Regarding the first point, he does two things: first, he shows that the observances of the law were fulfilled in Christ; and second, he rejects these observances, showing that believers are not bound to follow them (Colossians 2:16).

Among the observances of the law, the first was circumcision. Through this, the Jews professed their observance of the Old Law, just as we profess our observance of the New Law by baptism: I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law (Galatians 5:3). So Paul says that the faithful have been circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, from which it follows that the physical one has ceased. First, he shows what kind of circumcision they have received; and second, how it was received. Finally, he explains why they were circumcised in this way (Colossians 2:13).

Regarding the first point, we should note that there are two kinds of circumcision: bodily and spiritual. We have been circumcised by Christ with a spiritual circumcision, not the bodily kind. So first, Paul sets aside such a bodily circumcision and then explains the spiritual circumcision. Paul continues: In him... you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal (Romans 2:28).

By putting off the body of flesh. This can be understood in two ways. In the first interpretation, Paul says that you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh—that is, by putting off the corruption of the flesh, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:50: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. He is saying, in effect: You have been circumcised because you no longer have the vices of the flesh: You have put off the old nature with its practices (Colossians 3:9).

A second explanation is this: You have been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, unlike the circumcision made with hands, which consists in putting off the body of flesh that is cut from it. Thus, in another version of this passage, we find "skin of the flesh" instead of "body of flesh," meaning the removal of a small part of the body that is flesh. (The meaning is not that the body is one thing and the flesh another). Paul uses the word 'flesh' to refer us back to the law, where it speaks of flesh: You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins (Genesis 17:11). He also uses this word to show that it is a carnal observance.

But we are not circumcised in that physical way, but with the circumcision of Christ. For just as Christ accepted a likeness to sinful flesh—that is, flesh that could suffer—to free us from sin, so He also accepted the remedies contained in the law to free us from its observances. Alternatively, we could interpret "the circumcision of Christ" to mean the circumcision that Christ accomplishes in us, which is a spiritual circumcision, as Romans 2:29 says: spiritual and not literal.

Second, he shows that we have received this circumcision in baptism, and so baptism is a spiritual circumcision. First, he shows that in baptism we have a symbol of Christ’s death; second, that in baptism we receive a likeness to His resurrection (Colossians 2:12b).

So Paul says, and you were buried with him in baptism. This is because in our baptism we find a likeness to Christ’s death. Just as Christ was placed in the tomb after being put on the cross, so a person who is baptized is put under the water—and this is done three times, just as Christ was in the tomb for three days. Again, you were buried with him in baptism; that is, your baptism was like the death of Christ, for as His death destroyed sin, so also does your baptism.

And just as Christ rose from the tomb, so we rise from our sins in the present and, in hope, from the corruption of the flesh. This is accomplished through faith in the working of God, because it was by God's power that Christ was raised: Raise me up, that I may requite them (Psalms 41:10). And by believing in this resurrection, we come to share in it: He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). But Christ also raised Himself, because the action of the Father and of the Son is the same: I will awake the dawn (Psalms 108:2).

Then (Colossians 2:13), he shows the nature of this likeness. First, he states the likeness; and second, how we are freed from our sins (Colossians 2:14).

The text is not difficult. I said that you have been circumcised because you have been buried with Christ in baptism. He compared baptism to the burial and death of Christ. Yet, one could say it would be more to the point to say that Paul first shows that baptism is a circumcision. And second, he shows why it is a circumcision: because sin is superfluous, and the foreskin is superfluous. Therefore, to remove sin and to remove the foreskin are the same. Since sin is removed in baptism, baptism is the same as circumcision. And so Paul says, and you, who were dead in trespasses—that is, because of your sins: The death of sinners is the worst (Psalms 34:21)—and in the uncircumcision of your flesh—that is, in your carnal concupiscence, which is related to original sin, as though you were chained with a debt of evil actions and mortal sin.

God made you alive. God, when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5). He made you alive by removing every sin from you, forgiving and remitting all your faults. Thus, to be circumcised is the same as to be made alive, for the same baptism that removes the death of sin also circumcises us by cutting off original sin.

But how has God forgiven us? I answer that a person incurs two things by sinning: a debt of guilt and slavery to the devil. And so he explains how sins are forgiven: first, our being freed from slavery to the devil; and second, the removal of the debt of guilt.

He says, having canceled the bond which stood against us. This bond, or written decree, can be understood in two ways. In one sense, it is the Old Law: By abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two (Ephesians 2:15). This is its meaning when he is speaking here in reference to the Jews, as if to say: and you... God made alive.

Alternatively, a written bond is a warranty typically used in contracts. Whoever violates God’s bond is subject to a debt of punishment. This violation is retained in the person’s memory, which it disturbs and stains; it is retained in God’s memory, as He is the judge of such matters; and it is retained in the memory of the devils, who will torment them. The memory of this violation is called a bond. And it is Christ who has forgiven all by having canceled the bond—that is, the memory of the transgression—which stood against us. The bond, in both its meanings, was against us: the Law, because it gave humanity a knowledge of sin but did not help in overcoming it; and the memory of our transgressions, for which we deserved to be punished. The term 'bond' is used because its violation is not forgiven in such a way that it means the sin never happened. Rather, such sin is not remembered by God as something to be punished, it is not remembered by the devils as something to accuse us of, and we do not remember our sins as reasons for sorrow: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (Psalms 32:1).

Another interpretation of this passage is that Paul is speaking here in general to everyone, not just to the Jews. In that case, we can say that a command was given to the first man: You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die (Genesis 2:16). But man violated this law, and the memory of this violation became a bond that stood against us, which Christ canceled.

How did Christ cancel this bond? On the cross. For this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. It was the custom for a bond to be torn up once a person had fulfilled all his obligations. Now, man was in sin, and Christ paid for this by His suffering: What I did not steal must I now restore? (Psalms 69:4). Therefore, at the moment of Christ’s death, this bond was canceled and destroyed. And so he says, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross, by which He took away our sin by making satisfaction to God.

Then (Colossians 2:15), he shows how Christ freed us from the slavery of sin. For if a creditor holds a man captive on account of a debt he owes, it is not enough merely to pay the debt; the person himself must also be freed. This is what Christ did. So Paul says, He disarmed [or rather, "despoiled"] the principalities and powers. This despoiling can refer to those saints who had died before Christ’s passion. In this sense, Christ freed them from the lower world by despoiling the devil: As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit (Zechariah 9:11); Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued (Isaiah 49:25). But if we understand this as referring to the living, then He despoiled them from the devils: But when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil (Luke 11:22); Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out (John 12:31).

Thus he says, He disarmed the principalities and powers—that is, the devils themselves: Against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). And made a public example of them—that is, the saints—as one who had authority in heaven over the dead and the living, in the kingdom of His glory or of His grace. Or we could say He made a public example of them, meaning He drove out the principalities from humanity—Awake, and put on strength, O arm of the Lord (Isaiah 51:9)—and did so with a public judgment, so it could be known that they were expelled. For at one time the world served idols, but not anymore.

Alternatively, we could say there was a public example before the multitude of angels, because Christ descended into the lower world of the saints and ascended into heaven. Triumphing over them in him—that is, in Himself, in His own power. By the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself (Philippians 3:21).

Another version of this passage reads: He put off his flesh, and exemplified the principalities and powers, triumphing confidently. He put off his flesh—that is, His mortality. Flesh and blood—that is, the mortality of bodily corruption—cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50); Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him (Romans 6:9), Even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer (2 Corinthians 5:16). He exemplified means He gave us an example of how the principalities and powers are to be overcome. The meaning of the rest stays the same.