8. That the first circumcision of the
flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is
promised instead.
In Jeremiah: “Thus saith the Lord to
the men of Judah, and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, Renew newness
among you, and do not sow among thorns: circumcise yourselves to
your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart; lest my anger go
forth like fire, and burn you up, and there be none to extinguish
it.”
3857
Also
Moses says: “In the last days God will circumcise thy
heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy
God.”
3858
Also
in Jesus the son of Nave: “And the Lord said unto Jesus,
Make thee small knives of stone, very sharp, and set about to
circumcise the children of Israel for the second time.”
3859
Paul
also, to the Colossians: “Ye are circumcised with the
circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the flesh, but
with the circumcision of Christ.”
3860
Also, because Adam was first
made by God uncircumcised, and righteous Abel, and Enoch, who pleased
God and was translated; and Noah, who, when the world and men were
perishing on account of transgressions, was chosen alone, that in him
the human race might be preserved; and Melchizedek, the priest
according to whose order Christ was promised. Then, because that
sign did not avail women,
3861
but all are sealed by the sign of the
Lord.
3857
Jer. iv. 3, 4
.
3858
Deut. xxx. 6
.
3859
Josh. v. 2
.
3860
Col. ii. 11
.
3861
This appears to be the natural reading, but it rests on slight
authority; the better accredited reading being “seminis”
for “feminis.”