the cross is contrasted with the blood of proselyte circumcision. Christ’s death is viewed metaphorically as a sacrifical circumcision. The close parallels between Ephesians 2:11ff and Colossians 2:11–12 suggest that the reference to the ‘circumcision of Christ’ in Colossians 2:11 is to his death. That Paul proceeds in Colossians 2:12 to speak of burial with Christ in baptism indicates that he does have in mind a correspondence between circumcision and baptism. This correspondence is not between