good business opportunity for people who were already wealthier than they were. Paul refutes those who insist on circumcision as a condition for salvation by reminding the Colossians, as he reminded the Philippians, that believers in Jesus possess a vastly superior circumcision not done with hands. By insisting upon physical circumcision as an outward ritual that supplements Christ’s work, the Colossian errorists had reduced circumcision to what Paul calls in Philippians a “mutilation,” a mere physical