Cutting off flesh

In Genesis 9:11, Yahweh promises not to “cut off flesh” by water. That is the covenant with Noah.

A few chapters later, Yahweh tells Abram that he must cut off the flesh of all male children of Israel, not by water but by a knife.

That means that Abram’s children receive the “cutting off” that all flesh deserves, and got, in the flood. Or, it means that Abram’s cildren are the people who live beyond flesh, the people who have passed under the knife and through the flood that removes flesh.

It also means that the Noachic covenant is over. The world that then was was destroyed by a flood, and a new world came into being. But now God does again cut off flesh through water, the water, the water of baptism.