@MinutesWord

This is unbelievable, is this statement from Ellicott figurative or literal?: "What they do is only to serve as a blind, that they may be able to point to your mutilated flesh as the visible sign of their success in gaining proselytes." Ellicott’s statement is literal in meaning, but expressed with sharp, figurative force —a rhetorical punch meant to expose the ugly reality behind the Judaizers’ motives. Here’s the clearest way to understand it: Ellicott is describing an actual practice (boasting in circumcised converts), using vivid language (“mutilated flesh”) to reveal how dehumanizing and flesh‑driven their behavior really was. He is not claiming the Judaizers literally paraded people around or physically displayed their bodies. He is claiming that they literally counted circumcised Gentiles as trophies , and figuratively that they used those circumcisions as “visible signs” of their success. What is literal? They really did pressure Gentile believers to be circumcised...