In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Implying that they did not need, as the Judaizers taught, outward circumcision, since they had already the inward spiritual reality.
Are, х perietmeetheete (G4059)] - 'ye were (once for all) circumcised (spiritually, at your conversion and baptism, Romans 2:28-29; Philippians 3:3) with a (so the Greek) circumcision made without hands:' opposed to "the circumcision in the flesh made by hands" (Ephesians 2:11; Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6). So Christ's own body, by which the believer is sanctified, is "not made with hands" (Mark 14:58; Hebrews 9:11: cf. Daniel 2:45).
In (the, your) putting off - as an old garment (Ephesians 4:22): alluding to putting off the foreskin in circumcision.
The body of the sins of the flesh. So C. But 'Aleph (') A B Delta G f g, Vulgate, read 'the body of the flesh,' omitting "of the sins;" i:e., "the body" of which the prominent feature is fleshliness (cf. Romans 6:6, "the body of sin;" Romans 8:13, where "flesh" and "the body" correspond). This fleshly body, in its sensuousness, is put off in baptism, the seal of regeneration, when received in repentance and faith. In circumcision the foreskin only was put off; in Christian regeneration 'the (whole) body of the flesh' is spiritually put off in its ideal, however imperfectly believers reach that ideal. Compare Colossians 1:22, "The body of His flesh," which is holy, necessitates those incorporated with Him to put off 'the body of their flesh,' which is corrupt.
By - Greek, 'in.'
The circumcision of (undergone by) Christ. Spiritual circumcision is realized in union with Christ, whose "circumcision" implies His having undertaken for us to keep the whole law (Luke 2:21): identification with Him in all His obedience is the source of our justification and sanctification. Ellicott, 'The circumcision originating from (imparted in union with) Christ.' The former view better accords with Colossians 2:12; Colossians 3:1; Colossians 3:3-4, similarly, makes the believer to have personal fellowship in the several states of Christ-namely, His death, resurrection, and appearing in glory. Nothing was done or suffered by our Mediator but has its counterpart in believers. The first shedding of His blood in circumcision, in fulfillment of the whole law, and the last shedding of it on the cross, vicariously justify, and, by union with Him, sanctify us. But Pearson, 'Joshua, the type (not Moses in the wilderness), circumcised the Israelites in Canaan (Joshua 5:2-9), born in the wilderness; the people that came out of Egypt, who were circumcised, having afterward died in the wilderness. Jesus, the antitype, is the author of the true circumcision; therefore called "the circumcision of Christ." As Joshua was "Moses' minister," so Jesus, "minister of the circumcision for the truth of God" unto the Gentiles (Romans 15:8).