[B-Greek] Col. 2:11 Going beyond grammar?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Aug 15 03:12:18 EDT 2009


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yancy W Smith" <yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net>
To: "greek B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 15. august 2009 00:53
Subject: [B-Greek] Col. 2:11 Going beyond grammar?

> However, it is not at all clear how, on this reading, how "APEKDUSEI
> TOU SWMATOS THS SARKOS" refers to the believer's circumcision at all.
> Rather, the verse appears to refer to two metaphorical circumcisions:
> that of Christ and that of believers and this phrase refers to the
> first non literal "circumcision," i. e., the death and resurrection of
> Christ himself in which his weak, human body was violently "stripped
> off" and he was reclothed with spiritual power, with a tranformed
> body. The implication of such a total transformation contrasts
> unfavorably with the partial, bit of flesh removed in literal
> circumcision. That this is accomplished "in union with Christ" and not
> performed by Christ makes sense of the connection with baptism in the
> succeeding verse. In this case the image of Christ is similar to what
> Paul describes as "a live giving Spirit" in Romans. So, "in union with
> Christ" here makes much more sense of the phrase, an classic instance
> of Paul's Christ mysticism. The translation as given in the NLT is a
> midrashic transformation with very little connection to what the text
> actually says. Unfortunately, it goes so far beyond grammar that it
> invents an intrusive image of Christ like a Rabbi (?) performing
> circumcisions. How does that fit in with the imagery of death, burial
> and resurrection?

This is a very unusual exegesis of APEKDUSEI TOU SWMATOS THS SARKOS, different 
from anything I have ever heard or seen. Without arguments you cannot expect us 
to accept such a novel idea as correct.

I agree that there is a close connection to baptism through the imagery of 
death, burial and resurrection as in Romans 6 and verse 12. I won't go into the 
relationship between regeneration and baptism in Paul's thought.

You seem to take the genitive in EN THi PERITOMHi TOU CRISTOU as an objective 
genitive as if it Christ who was undergoing a metaphorical circumcision. I can 
find no support for such an idea either here or in the NT as a whole. You also 
object to a subjective genitive. Of course, we do agree that the circumcision of 
the believer is metaphorical and therefore has several strands of meaning. One 
is the change from a spiritually "uncircumcised state" described by sin and 
death to a state of forgiveness and life in v. 13. Another is the change of 
state from being outside the people of God to being inside the people of God 
just as the literal circumcision was a sign of the inclusion in God's people of 
the old covenant.

APEKDUSIS is an uncommon word, but it is clearly related to the verb APEKDUOMAI 
in Col 3:9 where the context is the same, talking about removing/stripping off 
the old "person" and putting on the new "person". This refers to a believer, not 
to Christ.

Iver Larsen




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