152 Rainer Reuter 2. The General Meaning of οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς The interpretation of the phrase οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς probably depends on what is understood by περιτομή in general. In his article, published 1959 in the ThDNT, Rudolf Meyer emphasised that περιτομή in the New Tes- tament is often used as an ‘abstractum pro concreto’ meaning “circum- cised people”, or “all the Jewry”.19 He finds instances for this use in Rom 3,30; 4,9; 4,12; 15,8; Gal 2,7-9 and for the use of οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς in Rom 4,12. From this group of instances he distinguishes a second set where περιτομή and οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς mean “Jewish Christians”: Act 10,45; 11,2; Gal 2,12; Col 4,11 and Tit 1,10. The same division of groups can be found in Greek lexicons published before20 and after21 Meyer’s article. When examining Meyer’s second group carefully we find that the meaning of οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς in Act 10,45 is “Jews”. Only the following πιστοί explains, that Christian Jews are meant. But this is the meaning of the whole expression οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς πιστοὶ and not the meaning of οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς. Obviously the author of Acts adds πιστοί for reasons of clarification. So we have to regard Act 10,45 as an example of Meyer’s first group, where οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς means “circumsised people”, “Jews”. The addition πιστοί functions as a reference marker, pointing to a special group among the Jews, the Christian Jews. After defining the meaning of the phrase in Act 10,45 the author repeats it in Act 11,2, but now in the shorter form οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς. The meaning of the expression is the same as in Act 10,45, “circumcised people”, “Jews”. The reference to Christian Jews is established by the repetition of the term. The preceding context functions here as a first reference marker, while a second one can be found in the following con- text. When the Jews already mentioned in Act 11,2 praise God for giving repentance and therefore life (Act 11,18) even to the Gentiles, they are clearly depicted as Christian Jews. In Col 4,11 things are quite similar. The author divides the list of the people who deliver their greetings in two parts. Aristarch, Mark and Je- 19 R. Meyer, «περιτέμνω, περιτομή, ἀπερίτμητο», (ThWNT VI, Stuttgart 1959) 80. Ac- cording to my opinion the expression “pars pro toto” or the term “metonym” as used by G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, (Edinburgh 1937 [reprint 1948]) 358 describes the matter more precisely. This expression may be applied both to Jews by birth and proselytes. 20 Cf. for example Abbott-Smith, Greek Lexicon 358. 21 Cf. for instance W. Bauer / B. Aland / K. Aland, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur (Berlin / New York 61988) 1315-1316; BETZ, EWNT III: 187.