Nilus of Ancyra→Ptolemy|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
"If anyone is not circumcised on the eighth day," it says, "he shall be utterly destroyed" [Genesis 17:14]. It is not the innocent and unreasoning infant who is being punished for not having been circumcised; for it would rather have been fitting that the parents be punished. But it is you yourself He punishes, O man, if you do not, through faith and prayer, circumcise away your wickedness; for the Apostle commands us to be infants in wickedness [1 Corinthians 14:20]. Let us therefore circumcise ourselves with the sword of the Spirit [Ephesians 6:17], looking toward the eighth day, that is, toward the age to come. And let us circumcise away every carnal way of thinking, and every lawless word and deed, so that we may not be utterly destroyed from the midst of the people of those who are saved through Christ.
"If anyone is not circumcised on the eighth day," it says, "he shall be utterly destroyed" [Genesis 17:14]. It is not the innocent and unreasoning infant who is being punished for not having been circumcised; for it would rather have been fitting that the parents be punished. But it is you yourself He punishes, O man, if you do not, through faith and prayer, circumcise away your wickedness; for the Apostle commands us to be infants in wickedness [1 Corinthians 14:20]. Let us therefore circumcise ourselves with the sword of the Spirit [Ephesians 6:17], looking toward the eighth day, that is, toward the age to come. And let us circumcise away every carnal way of thinking, and every lawless word and deed, so that we may not be utterly destroyed from the midst of the people of those who are saved through Christ.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.