Bible Dictionary
Concision
Concision means “mutilation.” Paul used the term contemptuously for teachers who insisted on circumcision as necessary for Gentile believers, contrasting their outward cutting with true spiritual worship in Christ.
Definition
Concision means “mutilation” or “cutting.” Paul used this contemptuous term for those who emphasized fleshly circumcision as necessary for Gentile converts. It contrasts merely external cutting with the true circumcision associated with Christ.
Biblical Usage
In Philippians, Paul warns believers against the Judaizing teachers whom he calls the concision. He distinguishes their fleshly circumcision from the true circumcision of those who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(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.”
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kon-sizh'-un (katatome, "mutilation," "cutting"): A term by which Paul contemptuously designates the merely fleshly circumcision upon which the Judaizers insisted as being necessary for Gentileconverts (Php 3:2), as distinguished from peritome, the true circumcision (Php 3:3). Compare Ga 5:12 and De 23:1, and see CIRCUMCISION.</p>