Bullinger on the Circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11)

My friend Joe Mock has a historical theological piece out on “Bullinger and the Circumcisio Christi,” RTR 73.2 (2014): 101-16.

The exegetical debate about Col 2:11 pertains to whether the “circumcision of Christ” is an objective genitive (i.e., Jesus’ death) or a subjective genitive (i.e., spiritual work wrought by Christ).

Mock does a good job here of pointing to Bullinger’s interpretive framework that is both covenantal and canonical. The canon testifies to the eternal covenant that God has made with human beings and in this canon “there is no straw.” Unlike his contemporary Martin Luther, Bullinger is both sola scriptura and total scriptura

On Col 2:11, Mock concludes: “His [Bullinger’s] point is that the circumcision of the old covenant has been replaced by the circumcisio Christi, performed by the ‘hands’ of Christ, on the heart of the believer, through the Holy Spirit. This ‘new’ or spiritual circumcision is symbolized by baptism” (p. 116).