The apostle will not allow that the mere ordinance is really circumcision. The only true circumcision since the Cross is, not a carnal ordinance, but the putting off of the sins of the flesh—the heart-recognition of the fact that the flesh has been put to death in the cross of Christ. It is only as the soul enters into this, and uses the sharp knife of self-judgment upon the flesh, that one is delivered from its power. The mere externalists, including legalists and ritualists of all descriptions,