What is the circumcision made without hands in Colossians 2? How does it relate to circumcision as the sign of the Abrahamic covenant? How does it relate to baptism?
“[11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
— Colossians 2:11-12
Paul’s grammar and theology are both complex but we can untangle what he says. Each phrase is full of meaning, but if we unpack them carefully, we can make sense of the text as a whole.
The “circumcision made without hands” is a reference to Jesus’ death on the cross. Circumcision was instituted as a sign of God’s promise to send the promised seed of the woman/seed of Abraham (Gen. 17) who would be sacrificed and raised again for his people (Gen. 22). The cross fulfills circumcision – just as it fulfills the other bloody sacrifices of the old covenant system.
It’s important to understand that circumcision was a kind of sacrificial ritual. Circumcision cut the one circumcised in two – a big piece and a small piece, but it was a tearing nonetheless. Circumcision shed blood, just like the animal sacrifices. And that blood brought cleaning, after a fashion. Circumcision reduced a mother’s time of uncleanliness (Lev. 12). Circumcision granted access to the Passover meal. (Gentile God-fearers were welcome to the other feasts, but not Passover.)
The sacrifice of circumcision, the cleansing it brought, and the covenant meal to which it granted access, all come to fulfillment at the cross. Jesus was circumcised in his infancy, of course (Luke 2), but that circumcision pointed ahead to the true circumcision of the cross. A little blood was shed on the 8th day of his life, foreshadowing the total blood-letting that would happen in his 33rd year. After the cross, circumcision as a covenant sign (like the animal sacrifices) began to fade away. God no longer requires blood.
All of this undergirds Paul’s point in Colossians 2:11-12. Those who are in Christ (including Gentiles, who are especially in view – note Paul says “you,” not “we”) do not need to be circumcised to be in covenant with God, to be children of Abraham, because “in him you were circumcised.” Contrary to the Judaizers, Gentile believers do not need to be circumcised because they already have been circumcised in union with Christ. In union with Christ, Gentile believers are true Jews, the true Israel, the true circumcision. To apply the physical sign of circumcision would be redundant since they have already posses what circumcision pointed to in Christ. To go on practicing circumcision as a means of covenant entrance or a sign of covenant membership would be to effectively deny what Christ, as the promised seed, accomplished on the cross. Again, God no longer requires blood. The promise of the coming seed has been fulfilled. Salvation has been accomplished.
But that does that mean there is no longer a sacramental means of entrance into the covenant. The question is how we come to be united to The Circumcised One, the Lord Jesus. Paul answers in two ways, objectively and subjectively.
Objectively, the answer is given in the first part of verse 12: “having been buried with him in baptism.” In Colossians 2, as in Romans 6, Paul teaches we are united to Christ in baptism. In the waters of baptism, we are joined to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. We do not need to be circumcised because we have already been baptized in the circumcision that is Christ’s death. Christ’s circumcision is the only circumcision we need.
All who are united to Christ are the true and new Israel. He is the ultimate (and in a sense, final) Israelite. All the promises of God are yes and Amen in Jesus, and so those in union with him are the recipients of the promises made to the patriarchs. Gentiles who are united to Jesus are incorporated into Israel. But they are incorporated into Israel now without being circumcised. Baptism into Christ suffices. We are unified to the Circumcised One, the one who was cut off once and for all at the cross, the true Isaac, who fulfilled the meaning of Passover and brought cleansing – and this is all we need.
Paul also shows how we are united to Christ subjectively in the second part of verse 12: “raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God.” The union with Christ offered to us in baptism has to be received by faith. By faith in God’s resurrection working/power, we come to share in Christ’s new life. We share in his resurrection status and glory.
One more phrase needs explaining, from verse 11: “by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” Putting off the body of flesh is what happens as a result of our co-crucifixion (which is co-circumcision) with Christ. We have died to sin. The old Adam was nailed to the cross. The body of flesh (flesh here representing not the physical aspect of who we are, per se, but the fallen aspect) has been killed and put away so that we can become a new creation in Christ Jesus. Again, this is much like Romans 6 – in our baptismal union with Christ, we died to sin and rose to new life in righteousness. “Putting off the body of flesh” in baptism does mean we no longer sin, for as Luther said, “the old Adam swims well.” But it does mean we are able to fight sin, we are no longer slaves to sin, and we can defeat sin.
So now we can succinctly answer our original questions:
What is the circumcision made without hands in Colossians 2? The circumcision made without hands is Christ’s sacrificial offering of himself on the cross as the seed of the woman and the new Isaac. In his death he fulfills what circumcision pointed to. Whereas circumcision could bring ceremonial cleanness, Christ’s death brings permanent moral and spiritual cleanness before God. Just as circumcision granted access to Passover, so baptism grants access to the Lord’s Supper.
How does this “cirncumcision without hands” relate to circumcision as the sign of the Abrahamic covenant? Now that the Abrahamic covenant is fulfilled in Christ, the bloody rite of circumcision, which separated out the nation of Israel as the people through whom the seed would come, has been fulfilled and abrogated. It no longer functions as a sign of the covenant or as the badge of membership in Abraham’s family. If circumcision separated out Israel, and Christ has now united Jew and Gentile in his death, circumcision can no longer function as the badge of membership in God’s covenant family because that would exclude Gentiles (cf. Acts 15). Note that in Galatians, Paul lumps circumcision in with the law of Moses, even though it was given long before to Abraham, because circumcision, like the law, erected the Jew/Gentile barrier.
How does circumcision relate to new covenant baptism? It is not precise enough to say that baptism “replaces” circumcision since that sidesteps the actual argument Paul makes. It’s closer to the truth to say baptism fulfills circumcision, and it does so because both circumcision and baptism are linked to the cross. We who are baptized *are* circumcised – but we were circumcised in union with Jesus at the cross. We enter into union with The Circumcised One via baptism (objectively) and faith (subjectively), as we receive by what God offers us in the sacrament, namely Christ and all his benefits. But note that there are significant difference between circumcision and baptism: circumcision pointed ahead to the coming seed, baptism unites us to the seed who has come; circumcision was bloody, baptism is watery, since a bloody sign would not be fitting for the new covenant, but water fits with the cleansing blood of Christ and the outpoured Spirit; circumcision divided Jew and Gentile, whereas baptism unites Jew and Gentile.
We can paraphrase Colossians 2:11-12 this way:
“You Gentile believers are being pressured by the Judaizers to be circumcised, but you do not need to be circumcised because you were already circumcised covenantally by a circumcision performed without human hands in your union with Christ. He fulfilled the meaning of circumcision, not only in that he was circumcised as an infant, but especially in his death on the cross, where he offered the final blood sacrifice. The meaning of circumcision – salvation through the promised seed of the woman and seed of Abraham – was fulfilled in his crucifixion, so even as you were co-crucified with him, so you were co-circumcised in him. To receive circumcision would be redundant and would be an insult to Jesus who shed his blood for you. In his circumcision-death, your body of flesh – your fallenness – has been cut off, even as Christ was cut off at the cross. Your flesh died in Jesus’ death on the cross. All of this became yours in baptism, when you were united to Christ, and thus buried with him and raised with him. What God accomplished in your baptism, uniting you to Christ in his death, burial and resurrection, is now yours by faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Jesus from the dead.”
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ADDENDUM: I’ve said before that Colossians 2 very obviously and easily links circumcision to baptism if you take out the intervening explanatory clause: “In him you were circumcised….having been baptized….” I stand by the connection, but it’s important to see that baptism does not merely replace circumcision while meaning the exact same thing. Baptism has, in a very reas sense, replaced circumcision as the badge of membership in Abraham’s family and as the sign of the covenant. But baptism is as different from circumcision as a promise made is different from a promise kept.
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ADDENDUM: For a further argument that baptism now fulfills circumcision’s role as the means of entrance in Abraham’s covenant family, see Galatians 3, especially 3:27-29. I will try to do a similarly detailed exegesis of this text later. In short: To be baptized = to be Christ’s = to be Abraham’s seed. Circumcision can no longer function as the sign of membership in the family of Abraham because it would keep Gentiles out. By contrast, baptism dissolves the Jew/Gentile distinction.
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