ἐξουσίας· ^{11}ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ,
ἡ κεφαλὴ] The image expresses much more than the idea of sovereignty:
the head is also the centre of vital force, the source of all energy and
life: see the note on ver. 19.
πάσης ἀρχῆς κ.τ.λ.] ‘_of every principality and power_’, and therefore
of those angelic beings whom the false teachers adopted as mediators,
thus transferring to the inferior members the allegiance due to the
Head: comp. ver. 18 sq. For ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας, see the note on i. 16.
11. The previous verses have dealt with the theological tenets of the
false teachers. The Apostle now turns to their practical errors; ‘You do
not need the circumcision of the flesh; for you have received the
circumcision of the heart. The distinguishing features of this higher
circumcision are threefold. (1) It is not external but inward, not made
with hands but wrought by the Spirit. (2) It divests not of a part only
of the flesh, but of the whole body of carnal affections. (3) It is the
circumcision not of Moses or of the patriarchs, but of Christ’. Thus it
is distinguished, as regards _first_ its character, _secondly_ its
extent, and _thirdly_ its author.
περιετμήθητε] The moment at which this is conceived as taking place is
defined by the other aorists, συνταφέντες, συνηγέρθητε, etc., as the
time of their baptism, when they ‘put on Christ’.
ἀχειροποιήτῳ] i.e. ‘immaterial’, ‘spiritual’, as Mark xiv. 58, 2 Cor. v.
1. So χειροποίητος, which is used in the N. T. of material temples and
their furniture (Acts vii. 48, xvii. 24, Heb. ix. 11, 24, comp. Mark
_l.c._), and of the material circumcision (Ephes. ii. 11 τῆς λεγομένης
περιτομῆς ἐν σαρκὶ χειροποιήτου). In the LXX χειροποίητα occurs
exclusively as a rendering of idols (אלילם, e.g. Lev. xxvi. 1, Is. ii.
18, etc.), false gods (אלהים Is. xxi. 9, where perhaps they read
אלילים), or images (חמנים Lev. xxvi. 30), except in one passage, Is.
xvi. 12, where it is applied to an idol’s sanctuary. Owing to this
association of the word the application which we find in the New
Testament would sound much more depreciatory to Jewish ears than it does
to our own; e.g. ἐν χειροποιήτοις κατοικεῖ in St Stephen’s speech, where
the force of the passage is broken in the received text by the
interpolation of ναοῖς.
For illustrations of the typical significance of circumcision, as a
symbol of purity, see the note on Phil. iii. 3.
ἐν τῇ κ.τ.λ.] The words are chosen to express the _completeness_ of the
spiritual change. (1) It is not an ἔκδυσις nor an ἀπόδυσις, but an
ἀπέκδυσις. The word ἀπέκδυσις is extremely rare, and no earlier
instances of it are produced; see the note on ver. 15 ἀπεκδυσάμενος. (2)
It is not a single member but the whole body, which is thus cast aside;
see the next note. Thus the idea of completeness is brought out both in
the energy of the action and in the extent of its operation, as in iii.
9 ἀπεκδυσάμενοι τὸν παλαιὸν _ἄνθρωπον_.
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