Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)/Concision

by Matthew George Easton

Concision

• Concision (Gr. katatome; i.e., "mutilation"), a term used by Paul contemptuously of those who were zealots for circumcision (Phil. 3:2). Instead of the warning, "Beware of the circumcision" (peritome) i.e., of the party who pressed on Gentile converts the necessity of still observing that ordinance, he says, "Beware of the concision;" as much as to say, "This circumcision which they vaunt of is in Christ only as the gashings and mutilations of idolatrous heathen."