Circumcise to your God the foreskin of the heart
And next to this it is said: 'Be circumcised to your God; circumcise the foreskin of your heart.' (Deuteronomy 10:16; Jer 4:4) 'Be circumcised to your God'—necessarily is added 'to your God.' You will understand it from the sensible example. According to the sensible I say: not only those of the circumcision according to Moses' (Ephesians 2:3) law are circumcised, but many others also. The priests of the Egyptians' idols are circumcised, but that circumcision is circumcision to idols and is not circumcision done to God. The Jews' circumcision, perhaps—and certainly then—was done to God.
So when the word says, 'Be circumcised to your God,' understand the saying and move also to the figurative reading, so that you find how, among figurative circumcisions (so that some of them might even say, 'We are the circumcision'), some are circumcised to God, and others are circumcised, yet not to God. There are also other words besides the word of truth, besides the word of the church. Those who philosophize chastise manners and the heart, and those from the heresies chastise, and circumcision happens for them. But it is circumcision, yet not to God; for circumcision happens among them by a false word.
But when according to the church's rule, according to the aim of sound teaching, you are in communion, you are not only circumcised—you are circumcised 'to God.' So 'Be circumcised to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart.' (Philippians 3:21) Who does not pass these words by as clear? So there is a foreskin of the heart, and this must be circumcised.
The one who works the word carefully, searching such things in this place, will examine: foreskin is born with us; circumcision is acquired; and what has come from birth, circumcision removes. If then the word commands the foreskin of the heart to be removed, there must be something born with the heart which he calls foreskin, which must be removed so that someone may be circumcised as to the foreskin of the heart. If anyone understands, 'We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest' (Job 14:4; Prov 20:9); if anyone understands 'the body of our humiliation' in which we were born; if anyone understands, 'No one is clean from filth, not even if his life is one day; his months are numbered'—he will see how we were born with uncleanness and with the foreskin of our heart.
Greek
Καὶ ἑξῆς τούτῳ λέγεται· «περιτμήθητε τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν, περιτέμεσθε τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν. «περιτμήθητε τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν«· ἀναγκαίως πρόσκειται τὸ «περιτμήθητε τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν. νοήσεις δὲ αὐτὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ παραδείγματος τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ· περιτέμνονται, κατὰ τὸ αἰσθητὸν λέγω, οὐ μόνον οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοί. τῶν Αἰγυπτίων εἰδώλοις] οἱ ἱερεῖς περιτέμνονται, ἀλλ' ἐκείνη ἡ περιτομὴ εἰδώλοις περιτομή ἐστιν καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν τῷ θεῷ γινομένη περιτομή· ἡ δὲ Ἰουδαίων τάχα, πάντως δὲ τότε τῷ θεῷ ἐγίνετο.
ἐὰν οὖν λέγῃ ὁ λόγος· «περιτμήθητε τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν«, νοήσας τὸ ῥητὸν μετάβηθι καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τροπολογίαν, ἵνα εὕρῃς πῶς τῶν περιτεμνομένων τροπολογιῶν (ὥστ᾿ ἂν εἰπεῖν τάχα τινὰς αὐτῶν· >ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή<) οἱ μὲν περιτέμνονται τῷ θεῷ, οἱ δὲ περιττέμνοναι μέν. οὐ τῷ θεῷ δέ. εἰσὶν γε καὶ ἄλλοι λόγοι παρὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας, παρὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας. περιτέμνονται τὰ ἤθη καὶ τὴν καρδίαν ὥς τε εἰπεῖν σωφρονίζουσιν οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες, σωφρονίζουσιν οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων καὶ γίνεται αὐτοῖς περιτομή. ἀλλὰ περιτομὴ μέν, οὐ τῷ θεῷ δέ· περιτομὴ γὰρ λόγῳ ψευδεῖ παρ' ἐκείνοις γίνεται.
ὅταν δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἐκ- κλησιαστικὸν κανόνα, κατὰ τὴν πρόθεσιν τῆς ὑγιοῦς διδασκαλίας κοινωνικὸς ᾐς, οὐ περιτέτμησαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ περιτέτμησαι «τῷ θεῷ. «Περιτμήθητε« οὐν τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν, καὶ περιτέμεσθε τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν( τίς ταῦτα οὐ παρέρχεται ὡς σαφῆ; οὐκοῦν έ)στιν τις ἀκροβυστία τῆς καρδίας καὶ ταύτην δεῖ περιτέμνεσθαι.
ὁ ἀκριβώσας τὸν λόγον τοιαῦτα ςητῶν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ἐξετάσει· ἡ ἀκροβυστία συγγεννᾶται, ἡ περιτομὴ ἐπίκτητός ἐστιν, καὶ ὅπερ ἐκ γενέσεως ἐλήλυθεν, τοῦτο περιαιρεῖ ἡ περιτομή. εἰ τοίνυν περιαιρεῖσθαι κελεύει ὁ λόγος «τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας«, ὀφείλει τι εἶναι συγγεγεννημένον τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὃ λέγει ἀκροβυστίαν, ὅπερ περιαιρεθῆναι δεῖ, ἵνα τις περιτετμῆται «τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας. ἐάν τις νοήσῃ τὸ «ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ ολιποί«, ἐάν τις νοήσῃ «τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως‘ ἐν ᾠ γεγεννήμεθα, ἐάν τις νοήσῃ τὸ «οὐδεὶς καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ῥύπου, οὐδὲ εἰ μία ἡμέρα εἴη ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ· ἀριθμητοὶ δὲ μῆνες αὐτοῦτ, ὄψεται τίνα τρόπον γεγεννήμεθα μετὰ ἀκαθαρσίας καὶ ἀκροβυστίας τῆς καρδίας ἡμῶν.