In the flesh; either:
1. Carnal, unregenerate, as Romans 8:8,9. Or rather:
2. Uncircumcised in the flesh, as well as in heart, Ezekiel 44:7; such as neither had the grace signified, nor the sign representing it. Who are called Uncircumcision, by way of reproach; to be uncircumcised being the badge of them that were not Israelites, and so were not in the number of God's people. By that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; i.e. by those that are circumcised; the abstract here, as in the former clause, being put for the concrete. He means the carnal Jews, who had the circumcision of the flesh which was made with hands, but not that of the heart, Romans 2:29, made without hands, Colossians 2:11.