Lectio 3
Lecture 3
Consepulti et resurrecti cum Christo
Buried and raised with Christ
2:11 in quo et circumcisi estis circumcisione non manu facta in expoliatione corporis carnis, sed in circumcisione Christi: [n. 101]
2:11 In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made with hands in despoiling of the body of the flesh: but in the circumcision of Christ. [n. 101]
2:12 consepulti ei in baptismo, in quo et resurrexistis per fidem operationis Dei, qui suscitavit illum a mortuis. [n. 106]
2:12 Buried with him in baptism: in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God who has raised him up from the dead. [n. 106]
2:13 Et vos cum mortui essetis in delictis, et praeputio carnis vestrae, convivificavit cum illo, donans vobis omnia delicta: [n. 109]
2:13 And you, when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, forgiving you all offences: [n. 109]
2:14 delens quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti, quod erat contrarium nobis, et ipsum tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci: [n. 112]
2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross. [n. 112]
2:15 et expolians principatus, et potestates traduxit confidenter, palam triumphans illos in semetipso. [n. 116]
2:15 And despoiling the principalities and powers, he has exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in himself. [n. 116]
101. Supra munivit fideles contra deceptiones saecularis sapientiae, hic instruit et munit eos contra haereticos, volentes eos ad legalia trahere, quos
101. Above, Paul warned the faithful against the deceptions of the worldly philosophers; here he instructs and warns them against those heretics who wanted to drag them into the observances of the law.
primo docet vitare;
First, he instructs them to avoid such persons;
secundo excludit eorum falsam seductionem, ibi nemo, et cetera.
second, he rejects the false enticements they used, at let no man seduce (Col 2:18).
Iterum prima in duas, quia
In regard to the first, he does two things:
primo ostendit legalia esse impleta in Christo;
first, he shows that the observances of the law were completed in Christ;
secundo ea excludit, ostendens quod non tenentur ad ipsa, ibi nemo vos.
and second, he rejects these observances, showing that they are not bound to follow them, at let no man therefore judge (Col 2:16).
102. Inter legalia autem primum est circumcisio, in qua Iudaei profitebantur observantiam veteris legis: sicut nos in baptismo profitemur observantiam novae legis. Gal. V, 3: testificor omni circumcidenti se, quoniam debitor est universae legis faciendae. Unde dicit quod fideles sunt circumcisi quadam spirituali circumcisione. Ex quo sequitur quod illa cessat. Unde
102. Among the observances of the law, the first was circumcision. By this, the Jews professed their observance of the old law, just as we profess our observance of the new law by baptism: I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law (Gal 5:3). So Paul says that the faithful have been circumcised with a certain spiritual circumcision, from which it follows that the other has ceased.
primo ostendit quali circumcisione sunt circumcisi;
First, he shows what kind of circumcision they have received;
secundo in quo accipitur haec circumcisio, ibi consepulti;
and second, how it was received, at buried with him.
tertio assignat rationem huius circumcisionis, ibi et vos cum mortui.
Finally, he tells why they were circumcised in this way, at and you, when you were dead.
103. Circa primum sciendum est quod duplex est circumcisio, scilicet carnalis et spiritualis. Per Christum vero sumus circumcisi, non circumcisione carnali, sed spirituali. Et ideo primo excludit carnalem; secundo adstruit spiritualem.
103. In regard to the first, we should note that there are two kinds of circumcision, bodily and spiritual. We have been circumcised by Christ with a spiritual circumcision, and not by the bodily kind. So first Paul eliminates such a bodily circumcision, and then explains about this spiritual circumcision.
Dicit ergo: in quo, scilicet Christo, circumcisi estis circumcisione non manufacta. Rom. II, 28: non enim qui in manifesto Iudaeus est; neque quae in manifesto in carne est circumcisio, sed qui in abscondito Iudaeus est, et circumcisio cordis in spiritu, non littera, et cetera.
Paul continues: in whom, that is, in Christ, also you are circumcised with circumcision not made with hands: for he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal (Rom 2:28).
104. In expoliatione corporis carnis. Hoc dupliciter potest legi. Uno modo sic. Dico: circumcisi, non manufacta circumcisione, vos dico manentes, in expoliatione, etc., id est, carnalis corruptionis, secundum illud I Cor. XV, 50: caro et sanguis regnum Dei non possidebunt, etc.; quasi dicat: ideo circumcisi, quia non habetis iam vitia carnis. Infra III, 9: expoliantes vos veterem hominem cum actibus suis, et cetera.
104. In despoiling of the body of the flesh. This can be understood in two ways. In the first way Paul says that you are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in despoiling of the body of the flesh, that is, by putting off the corruption of the flesh: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable (1 Cor 15:50). He is saying in effect: you have been circumcised because you no longer have the vices of the flesh: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds (Col 3:9).
Vel, dico, circumcisione non manufacta, quae circumcisio manufacta consistit in expoliatione corporis carnis, quae abscinditur ab alia. Unde alia littera habet: cutis carnis, scilicet corporis carnis, id est particulae corporis, quae est caro, non quod aliud sit corpus et aliud caro. Et dicit carnis, alludens legi, ubi fit mentio de carne. Gen. XVII, 11: circumcidetis carnem praeputii vestri, et cetera. Et hoc ut ostenderet, quod est quaedam carnalis observantia.
Another explanation would be: you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, which circumcision made with hands consists in a despoiling of the body of the flesh which is cut from it. And so in another version of this passage we find skin of the flesh, instead of body of flesh, that is, putting off a small part of the body which is flesh. The meaning is not that the body is one thing and the flesh another. Paul uses the word flesh to refer us back to the law, where it speaks of flesh: you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins (Gen 17:11). He uses this word also to show that it is a carnal observance.
105. Sed nos non tali sumus circumcisi, sed circumcisione Christi. Sicut enim Christus assumpsit similitudinem carnis peccati, id est carnem passibilem, ut a peccato liberaret; ita et remedia legis, ut a legis observantia liberaret. Vel quam Christus facit in nobis, quae est spiritualis circumcisio, ut dicitur Rom. II, 29, non littera, sed spiritu.
105. But we are not circumcised in that way, but with the circumcision of Christ. For just as Christ accepted a likeness to sinful flesh, that is, flesh that could suffer, in order to free us from sin, so he also accepted the remedies contained in the law, so that he could free us from the observances of the law. Or, we could interpret the circumcision of Christ to mean the circumcision which Christ accomplishes in us, which is a spiritual circumcision: spiritual and not literal (Rom 2:29).
106. Secundo ostendit quod adepti sumus eam in Baptismo, et sic Baptismus est spiritualis circumcisio. Et
106. Second, he shows that we have received this circumcision in baptism, and so baptism is a spiritual circumcision.
primo ostendit quod in Baptismo exhibetur figura mortis Christi;
And first, he shows that in baptism we have a symbol of Christ’s death;
secundo quod in eo accipitur conformitas ad resurrectionem Christi, ibi in quo et resurrexistis.
second, that in baptism we receive a likeness to his resurrection, at in whom also you are risen.
107. Dicit ergo consepulti, et cetera. Quia in eo exprimitur similitudo mortis Christi, ut sicut Christus ponitur primo in cruce, et postea in sepulchro: ita qui baptizatur, ponitur sub aqua, et ter, sicut stetit Christus triduo in sepulchro. Consepulti etiam, id est, baptizati ad similitudinem mortis Christi, ut sicut in ea destruxit peccatum, ita et in Baptismo.
107. So Paul says: buried with him in baptism, because in our baptism we find a likeness to Christ’s death, and it is this: just as Christ was put into the tomb, after having been put on the cross, so a person who is baptized is put under the water, and this is done three times, just as Christ was three days in the tomb. Again, you were buried with him in baptism, that is, your baptism was like the death of Christ, for as his death destroyed sin, so also does your baptism.
108. Et sicut resurrexit de sepulchro, ita et nos a peccatis in re, et a corruptione carnis in spe. Et hoc per fidem operationis Dei, quia virtute Dei resuscitatus est. Ps. XL, 11: resuscita me, et retribuam eis, et cetera. Et credens hanc resurrectionem fit particeps huius resurrectionis. Rom. VIII, 11: qui suscitavit Iesum Christum a mortuis, vivificabit et mortalia corpora vestra. Sed et Christus resuscitavit se. Eadem est enim operatio Patris et Filii. Ps. CVII, 3: exurgam diluculo, et cetera.
108. And just as Christ rose from the tomb, so we rise from our sins in the present, and from the corruption of the flesh in hope. This is accomplished by the faith of the operation of God, because it was by the power of God that Christ was raised: raise me up, that I may requite them (Ps 41:10). And by believing in this resurrection we come to share in it: he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies (Rom 8:11). But Christ also raised himself, because the action of the Father and of the Son is the same: I will awake the dawn (Ps 108:2).
109. Deinde cum dicit et vos cum, etc., ostendit rationem similitudinis; et
109. Then when he says, and you, when you were dead, he shows the nature of this likeness.
primo ostendit similitudinem;
First, he states the likeness;
secundo modum dictorum, ibi delens, et cetera.
and second, how we are freed from our sins, at blotting out the handwriting.
110. Littera non est difficilis. Dixi vos circumcisos, quia consepulti estis Christo in baptismo. Et comparavit baptismum sepulturae et morti. Sed potest dici quod ad propositum magis esset si dicatur, quod primo ostenditur quod baptismus sit circumcisio; secundo ostendit rationem quare, quia scilicet peccatum est superfluitas, et caro praeputii est superfluitas. Idem ergo est deponi peccatum, et praeputium. Sed in baptismo deponitur peccatum, ergo est idem quod circumcisio. Et ideo dicit cum essetis mortui in delictis, id est, propter delicta vestra. Ps. XXXIII, 22: mors peccatorum pessima. Et praeputio carnis vestrae, id est, carnalis concupiscentiae, quod pertinet ad originale, quasi astricti reatu malorum actuum et peccati mortalis.
110. The text is not difficult. I said that you have been circumcised, because you have been buried, in baptism, with Christ. And he compared baptism to the burial and death of Christ. Yet one could say that it would be more to the point to say that Paul first shows that baptism is a circumcision. And second, he shows why it is a circumcision, that is, because sin is superfluous and the foreskin is superfluous. And so to remove sin and to remove the foreskin are the same. Now sin is removed in baptism. Therefore, baptism is the same as a circumcision. And so Paul says, and you, when you were dead in your sins, that is, because of your sins: the death of sinners is the worst (Ps 34:21), and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that is, in your carnal concupiscence, which is related to original sin, as though they were chained with a debt of evil actions and of mortal sin.
111. Hoc faciens Christus, convivificavit, et cetera. Eph. II, 1: cum essetis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris, et cetera. Et hoc removens a vobis omne peccatum, condonans et remittens vobis omnia delicta.
111. Christ did this: he has quickened together with him: God, when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Eph 2:1). He made you alive by removing every sin from you, forgiving and remitting all your faults.
Idem est igitur circumcidi et convivificari, et hoc in Baptismo per remedium mortis peccati, et cum circumcidimur per remotionem peccati originalis.
Thus, to be circumcised is the same as to be made alive, for the same baptism removes the death of sin and circumcises us by cutting off original sin.
112. Sed quomodo condonavit? Respondeo. Dicendum est quod homo peccando duo incurrit, scilicet reatum culpae, et servitutem Diaboli. Et ideo dicit quomodo sunt peccata condonata.
112. But how has God forgiven us? I answer that a person incurs two things by sinning, that is, a debt of guilt, and slavery to the Devil. And so he explains how sins are forgiven:
Primo quantum ad remotionem servitutis diabolicae;
first, our being freed from slavery to the devil;
secundo ponit ablationem reatus culpae, ibi expolians, et cetera.
and second, he mentions the removing of the debt of guilt, at and despoiling.