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and he says; Beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision. How? We who worship God in spirit, and have no confidence in the flesh. He did not say that we are examining that circumcision and this one, to see which is better, but he did not even grant it the name; but what does he say? That circumcision is concision. Why? For they do nothing else but cut the flesh. For when what is done is not lawful, it is nothing else than a cutting and concision of the flesh. So he either called it this for this reason, or because they were trying to cut up the Church. And we also speak of concision in the case of those who do this thing rashly and simply and without skill. For if one must seek circumcision, he says, you would find it among us. We who worship God in spirit; that is, who worship spiritually. b. For tell me, which is better, soul or body? Clearly the soul. Therefore, that circumcision is not better, but this alone is circumcision. For as long as the type stood, he reasonably brought it forward in comparison, writing, To be circumcised in the foreskin of your heart. Thus also in the Epistle to the Romans he does away with it, saying; For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter. Henceforth he even deprives it of the name, Nor is it circumcision, he says. For the type, as long as the truth is about to come, is called this; but when the truth has come, it is no longer so called. As in a sketch; someone sketched a king in outline; as long as the colors are not added, he is not called a king; but when they are applied, the type is hidden by the reality, and does not appear; and then we say, Behold the king. And he did not say, For in us is the circumcision, but, We are; reasonably. For this is a man, the virtuous circumcision, this is truly a man. But concerning them he did not speak thus, but, Beware of the concision; for they were henceforth in destruction and wickedness. Then, showing that circumcision is no longer in the body, but in the heart, he says; And having no confidence in the flesh, although I have confidence, even in the flesh. What does he mean here by Confidence, and In the flesh? A boast, boldness, a source of pride; and he well added this. For if, being from the Gentiles, he had accused circumcision, and not only circumcision but also those who handled it unseasonably, he would have seemed, as one deprived of the noble birth of Judaism, to be running it down, as one not 62.258 knowing its venerable things, nor having partaken of them; but now as one who partook and accuses, he does not accuse for this reason, as not having partaken, but as having condemned it, not through ignorance, but especially through full knowledge. See, therefore, what he says also in the Epistle to the Galatians, when he falls into the necessity of saying great things about himself, how even so he shows humility; For you have heard, he says, of my former conduct in Judaism; and again here, If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so; and immediately he added; a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He did not say this first, but after saying, If anyone else, showing the necessity, showing that he spoke because of them. If you have confidence, he says, I more so. I say this now, since I had been silent. And see the inoffensiveness of his rebukes; for not doing this by name gave them room to retreat. If anyone thinks he has confidence. And he well said, Thinks, either as if they did not have so much confidence, or as if that confidence were not truly confidence; for it was all of necessity, not of choice. Circumcised on the eighth day. And first he places what they especially boasted of, the matter of circumcision; then, Of the stock of Israel. He showed both things, that he was not a proselyte, nor from proselytes. For from being circumcised on the eighth day, he was not a proselyte; and from, Of the stock of Israel, not of proselyte parents either. But lest you think that, Of the stock

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καί φησι· Βλέπετε τὴν κατατομήν. Ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή. Πῶς; Οἱ πνεύματι Θεῷ λατρεύοντες, καὶ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες. Οὐκ εἶπεν, ὅτι δοκιμάζομεν ἐκείνην τὴν περιτομὴν, καὶ ταύτην, τίς ἐστιν ἀμείνων, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτῇ μετέδωκεν· ἀλλὰ τί φησιν; Ἡ περιτομὴ ἐκείνη κατατομή ἐστι. ∆ιὰ τί; Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλλο ποιοῦσιν, ἢ τὴν σάρκα κατατέμνουσιν. Ὅταν γὰρ μὴ ᾖ νόμιμον τὸ γινόμενον, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ σαρκὸς τομή ἐστι καὶ κατατομή. Ἢ οὖν διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως αὐτὴν εἶπεν, ἢ ὅτι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐπειρῶντο κατατέμνειν. Καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ κατατομὴν λέγομεν ἐπὶ τῶν εἰκῆ καὶ ἁπλῶς καὶ ἄνευ τέχνης τοῦτο ποιούντων. Εἰ γὰρ δεῖ περιτομὴν ζητῆσαι, φησὶ, παρ' ἡμῖν ταύτην ἂν εὑρήσετε. Οἱ πνεύματι Θεῷ λατρεύοντες· τουτέστιν, οἱ πνευματικῶς λατρεύοντες. βʹ. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, τί βέλτιον, ψυχὴ ἢ σῶμα; ∆ῆλον ὅτι ψυχή. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡ περιτομὴ ἐκείνη οὐ βελτίων, ἀλλ' αὕτη μόνη ἐστὶ περιτομή. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ ὁ τύπος εἱστήκει, εἰκότως κατὰ σύγκρισιν προῆγε, Τὸ περιτετμῆσθαι, γράφων, τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν. Οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Ἐπιστολῇ ἀναιρεῖ αὐτὴν, λέγων· Οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομὴ, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ περιτομὴ καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι, οὐ γράμματι. Λοιπὸν δὲ καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτὴν ἀποστερεῖ, Οὐδὲ ἔστι περιτομὴ, φησί. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ τύπος, ἕως ἂν μέλλῃ ἔρχεσθαι ἡ ἀλήθεια, καλεῖται τοῦτο· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀλήθεια, οὐκέτι καλεῖται. Οἷον ἐπὶ σκιαγραφίας· ὑπέγραφέ τις βασιλέα σκιαγραφῶν· ἕως ἂν οὐκ ἐπάγηται τὰ ἄνθη, οὐ λέγεται βασιλεύς· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἐπιτεθῇ, κρύπτεται μὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὁ τύπος, καὶ οὐ φαίνεται· τότε δὲ καὶ λέγομεν, Ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐν ἡμῖν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ περιτομὴ, ἀλλ', Ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν· εἰκότως. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ἡ περιτομὴ ἡ ἐνάρετος, τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ἄνθρωπος. Ἐν ἐκείνοις δὲ οὐκ εἶπεν οὕτως, ἀλλὰ, Βλέπετε τὴν κατατομήν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ λοιπὸν ἐν ἀπωλείᾳ ἦσαν καὶ κακίᾳ. Εἶτα δηλῶν ὅτι οὐκέτι ἐν σώματι γίνεται ἡ περιτομὴ, ἀλλ' ἐν καρδίᾳ, φησί· Καὶ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες, καίπερ ἐγὼ ἔχων πεποίθησιν, καὶ ἐν σαρκί. Τί λέγει ἐνταῦθα Πεποίθησιν, καὶ Ἐν σαρκί; Καύχησιν, παῤῥησίαν, σεμνολόγημα· καὶ καλῶς τοῦτο προσέθηκεν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ὢν κατηγόρει τῆς περιτομῆς, οὐ τῆς περιτομῆς δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀκαίρως αὐτὴν μεταχειριζόντων, ἔδοξεν ἂν, ὡς ἀπεστερημένος τῆς τοῦ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ εὐγενείας, κατατρέχειν αὐτῆς, ὡς οὐκ 62.258 εἰδὼς τὰ σεμνὰ, οὐδὲ μετεσχηκὼς αὐτῶν· νῦν δὲ ὁ μετασχὼν καὶ κατηγορῶν, οὐ διὰ τοῦτο κατηγορεῖ, ὡς οὐ μετασχὼν, ἀλλ' ὡς κατεγνωκὼς, οὐ δι' ἄγνοιαν, ἀλλὰ δι' ἐπίγνωσιν μάλιστα. Ὅρα οὖν τί φησι καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας, ἐμπεσὼν εἰς ἀνάγκην τοῦ μεγάλα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ εἰπεῖν, πῶς καὶ οὕτω καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνην ἐνδείκνυται· Ἠκούσατε γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν ἐμὴν ἀναστροφήν ποτε ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ· καὶ πάλιν ἐνταῦθα, Εἴ τις δοκεῖ ἄλλος πεποιθέναι ἐν σαρκὶ, ἐγὼ μᾶλλον· καὶ εὐθέως ἐπήγαγεν· Ἑβραῖος ἐξ Ἑβραίων. Οὐκ εἶπε τοῦτο προηγουμένως, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν, Εἴ τις ἄλλος, δεικνὺς τὴν ἀνάγκην, δεικνὺς ὅτι δι' ἐκείνους ἔλεγεν. Εἰ πεποίθατε, φησὶ, κἀγὼ μᾶλλον. Τοῦτο νῦν λέγω, ἐπεὶ ἐσιώπων. Καὶ ὅρα τὸ ἀνεπαχθὲς τῶν ἐλέγχων· τὸ γὰρ μὴ ὀνομαστὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖν, κἀκείνοις ἐδίδου χώραν ἀναδραμεῖν. Εἴ τις δοκεῖ πεποιθέναι. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπε, ∆οκεῖ, ἢ ὡς οὐκ ἐχόντων τοσαύτην πεποίθησιν, ἢ ὡς τῆς πεποιθήσεως ἐκείνης οὐκ ὄντως πεποιθήσεως οὔσης· πάντα γὰρ ἀνάγκης ἦν, οὐ προαιρέσεως. Περιτομὴ ὀκταήμερος. Καὶ πρῶτον τίθησιν ὃ μάλιστα ηὔχουν, τὸ τῆς περιτομῆς· εἶτα, Ἐκ γένους Ἰσραήλ. Τὰ ἀμφότερα ἔδειξεν, ὅτι οὐ προσήλυτος, οὔτε ἐκ προσηλύτων. Ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ὀκταήμερος περιτμηθῆναι, οὐχὶ προσήλυτος· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ, Ἐκ γένους Ἰσραὴλ, οὐδὲ προσηλύτων γονέων. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς, ὅτι, Ἐκ γένους