περιτομή

περιτομῆς, ἡ (περιτέμνω), circumcision (on which see περιτέμνω);
a. properly, α. the act or rite of circumcision: Jn 7:22; Acts 7:8; Rom 4:11; Gal 5:11; Phm 3:5; οἱ ἐκ τῆς περιτομῆς (see ἐκ, II. 7), the circumcised, they of the circumcision, used of Jews, Rom 4:12; of Christians gathered from among the Jews, Acts 11:2; Gal 2:12; Tit 1:10; οἱ ὄντες ἐκ περιτομῆς, Col 4:11. β. the state of circumcision, the being circumcised: Rom 2:25-28; Rom 3:1; 1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6; Gal 6:15; Col 3:11; ἐν περιτομή ὤν, circumcised, Rom 4:10. γ. by metonymy, 'the circumcision' for οἱ περιτμηθέντες the circumcised, i. e. Jews: Rom 3:30; Rom 4:9, Rom 4:12; Rom 15:8; Gal 2:7-9; Eph 2:11; οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς πιστοί, Christian converts from among the Jews, Jewish Christians, Acts 10:45.
b. metaphorically, α. of Christians: (ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν) ἡ περιτομή, separated from the unclean multitude and truly consecrated to God, Phm 3:3 ((where see Lightfoot)). β. ἡ περιτομή ἀχειροποίητος, the extinction of the passions and the removal of spiritual impurity (see περιτέμνω, at the end), Col 2:11a; ἡ περιτομή καρδίας in Rom 2:29 denotes the same thing; περιτομή τοῦ Χριστοῦ, of which Christ is the author, Col 2:11b. (The noun περιτομή occurs three times in the O. T., viz. Gen 17:13; Jer 11:16; for מוּלָה, Ex 4:26; besides in Philo, whose tract περί περιτομῆς is found in Mangey's edition 2, pp. 210-212 (Richter's edition 4, pp. 282-284); Josephus, Antiquities 1, 10, 5; (13, 11 at the end; contra Apion 2, 13, 1, 6); plural, Antiquities 1, 12, 2.)