CHRIST AND THE CHRISTIAN
“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” Col. 2:11-12) Paul’s letter to the Colossians reads at times like a summary of the Christian faith. Nowhere in the Bible is the preeminence of Christ in the believer’s life more comprehensively presented.
One of the most informative sections of this brief epistle is the second chapter, where Paul ties the believer’s experience to the historical reality of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Notice carefully the gospel truths revealed here which provide tremendous encouragement upon further reflection.
First, Paul says we “died with Christ” (v. 11; 3:3). “I have been crucified with Christ” is the declaration of the faithful believer (Gal. 2:20). When he died, all of his people died with him spiritually (2 Cor. 5:14-15). This death, the once-for-all sacrifice of a perfect man, freed us from sin’s powerful grasp, for it was “the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11). The only fitting response to the fact that when he died, we died with him is to offer our bodies to God, constantly reckoning that we are “dead to sin” (Rom. 6:11-14; Col. 3:1-3).
Paul also tells us that we were “buried with him” through baptism (v. 12; Rom. 6:4). Notice carefully that Christ made us alive while we were “dead” in our sins and it was “the working of God” that saved us (Col. 2:12-13). “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins...But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:1, 4-5). Again, Paul says that God made us alive while we “were dead in trespasses and sins” and that he “made us alive together with Christ.”
Nothing magical or mysterious happens in the act of baptism. The saving moment was when Jesus died for our sins. Paul does not say that Christ is buried with us in the water. This is not talking about a mode of baptism. It says that we were buried with him. Through faith and baptism we identify with him and show that we love him.
Finally, we were “raised with Him” (v. 12). When Jesus emerged from the tomb, we were there, "made alive together with him” (v. 13). Our resurrection with Christ means that our lives should different. We are “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). Though previously we were “dead in trespasses and sins,” we were “made alive” (Eph. 2:1) by being “raised with Christ” (Col. 3:1). Christ’s bodily resurrection included his people, and the significance is that the life we live now is a holy one based on faith in Christ alone (Gal. 2:20).
No wonder Paul writes that the believer’s life “is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). What Jesus did counts for those of us who trust in him and love him.
Dewayne Dunaway
