Concision, (κατατομή, a cutting down, i.e. entire mutilation of the parts), a contemptuous term used by Paul in Philippians 3:2, to denote the zealots for circumcision. In classical writers the Greek word denotes a groove or channel, etc. (see Liddell and Scott, s.v.), but the apostle parodies the term previously employed, for the purpose of indicating more pointedly the real character of the sectaries in question; instead of saying “beware of the circumcision” (περιτομήν), namely, the party who pressed the necessity of still observing that ordinance, he says “beware of the concision” (κατατομήν); as much as to say they no longer deserve the old and venerable name; what they stickle for is a mere concision, a flesh- cutting. He then goes on to state the reason, “for we are the circumcision “the reality has now passed over into us, who believe in Christ and are renewed in the spirit of our minds. (See Sommel, Obss. Philol. on this passage, Lond. 1793.) Similarly in Galatians 5:12, he says even more pointedly, “I would they [the same class of Judaizing teachers] were even cut off” (ἀποκόψονται, would for themselves cut off wholly the organ circumcised, and not be content with a mere scarification of it), i.e. make themselves outright eunuchs (comp. the allusions to their impurity, ver. 13, 19. 24). So Chrysostom and Jerome explain (περικοπτέσθωσιν, abscindantur). SEE CIRCUMCISION.
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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Concision
Bible reference(s): Galatians 5:12, Philippians 3:2
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.
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