The true circumcision.
The Colossians did not need the rite of circumcision to make them complete, for they had received the spiritual circumcision, of which the rite was only a type. "In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ." The apostle censures the ritualistic ideas of the false teachers by showing what is the nature and effect of the true circumcision.
I. ITS NATURE. It is not external, but internal, wrought by the Spirit and not by the hands of men. It is "of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter" (Romans 2:29). It is "the circumcision of the heart," so often spoken of even in Old Testament times (Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 44:7; Acts 7:51), which ought to have accompanied the external rite. The Colossians, as Gentiles, were circumcised in this spiritual sense on the day of their conversion.
II. ITS EXTENT. "In the putting off the body of the flesh; "not in the mere cutting off of a part of the body, as in the external rite of Judaism. This language marks the completeness of the spiritual change and its effects upon both body and soul.
1. The body of flesh is more than the mere body, which is not "put off," for it is not evil, but becomes "the temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19). It is the body in its fleshliness, regarded as the seat of the lusts which war against the soul and bring forth fruit unto death. The expression is similar to "the old man which is corrupt" (Ephesians 4:22), "the body of sin" (Romans 6:6), and "sinful flesh," or, literally, "the flesh of sin" (Romans 8:3). The spiritual circumcision implies, not the mere putting off of one form of sin, but the putting off the whole of the power of the flesh.
2. The putting off of the body of flesh implies deliverance from the dominion of sin—dying to sin as a controlling and regulating power, so that the body, hitherto "the instrument of unrighteousness," becomes "an instrument of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13).
III. ITS AUTHOR. "In the circumcision of Christ;" that is, the circumcision wrought by Christ through his Spirit. Its Author is not Moses or Abraham, but Christ himself, by virtue of our union with him. The formation of Christ in the soul as the Author of a new spiritual life is "the circumcision of Christ;" it is the new birth, which, under the power of the Holy Spirit, casts off the power of corruption. It is wrought by the Lord the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18), and is the result of Christ dwelling in us by faith (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:5-8). This is the true circumcision, "whose praise is not of man, but of God."—T. C.