iii, 3.--οπεριτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ: with 2
1o—I2.
525
Ἢ ΄ν ~ a A i 1 τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, 12. ' συντα- ἷ Only here
φέντες αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βαπτισμῷ,! ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τῆς πίστεως
and Rom. vi. 4 in Bib. Gk.
1 So Ln. mg., Tr., Lft., Ws. with cBD*FG 47,71. βαπτισματι; T., W.H. with S*ACDcEKLP, by alteration to more usual form.
circumcision not wrought by hands,” 1.€., Spiritual, ethical (cf. Eph. ii. τι, οἱ λεγόμενοι ἀκροβυστία ὑπὸ τῆς λεγομένης περιτομῆς ἐν σαρκὶ χειροποιήτου) .---ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός: “in the stripping from you of the body of the flesh”. The expression σῶμα τ. σαρκὸς is unusual. It means the body which consists of flesh, and of flesh as the seat of sin. By the removal of the home in which sin dwelt sin itself was removed. Itis one of those cases in which the sense of σῶμα approximates to that of σάρξ. This body of flesh is removed from the Christian at his conversion.—év τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. This cannot be the circumcision endured by Christ in His infancy, for that was wrought by hands, and such a reference would be most unfortunate for the polemic against ceremonies and altogether un-Pauline. Usually it is explained as the circumcision of our hearts which comes from Christ. But this has no parallel in the N.T.; further, it practically repeats ἐν @ κ. περιετ.; and, coming between the re- moval of the body of the flesh and the burial with Christ, breaks the connexion. Accordingly Schneckenburger (followed by ΚΙ., Sod., Haupt) suggested that it was really an expression for the death of Christ. (His view that ἀπεκ. τ. σ. τ.σ. was to be taken similarly has met with no acceptance.) In favour of this it may be said that in the immediate context Paul goes on to speak of burial and resur- rection with Christ, and a reference to the death would naturally precede. And circumcision is a happy metaphor for Christ’s death to sin (Rom. vi. το). Meyer’s objection that it is inappropriate since Christ endured actual circumcision is not serious, for, if sound, it should have excluded the choice of these am- biguous words altogether, which naturally suggest a circumcision suffered by Christ. But what creates a grave difficulty is that the thought does not seem to run on con- nectedly. There is a transition from the death of Christ on the cross to the burial of Christians with Him in their own per- sonal experience. Perhaps this interpre- tation involves taking περιετμήθητε of the death of Christians with Christ on the cross (2 Cor. v. 14), for it doubles the
difficulty if Paul passes from the personal experience of the Christian to the cross, and from the cross back to personal experience. This suggests the possibility that wep. X. might be interpreted on the analogy of θλίψεων τ. Χριστοῦ (i. 24) as the circumcision of Christ in the believer. This would give a good connexion, and one that would suit the apparent identi- fication of the circumcision of Christ with the putting off of the body of the flesh. The phrase, however, is so strange, and the idea that Christ dies with us so ques- tionable (we die with Him), that it seems unsafe to adopt it. It is, therefore, best to mitigate the difficulty by the view that in these words Paul interpolates, in a concise and obscure expression, a refer- ence to the great fact which underlay the spiritual experiences of which he is speaking. This circumcision, he would say, that is the removal of the flesh, was first experienced by Christ on the cross, and what happened to you ideally then is realised though union with Him now.
Ver. 12. συνταφέντες αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βαπτισμῷ. This refers to the personal experience of the Christian. The rite of baptism, in which the person baptised was first buried beneath the water and then raised from it, typified to Paul the burial and resurrection of the believer with Christ. Burial seems to imply a previous death, but Rom. vi. 3, 4 perhaps shows that the metaphors must not be rigidly pressed. συνταφ. is to be joined closely with περιετμήθητε. If any distinction in meaning is to be made between βαπτισ- µός and βάπτισμα, it is that the former