In Colossians 2:11-12 we read about the circumcision in Christ and being buried with Christ in baptism and risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God. But what does buried with Christ in baptism and risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God mean according to the Bible?
The circumcision in Christ
In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:11-12)
The new creation is circumcised in the circumcision of Jesus Christ. This circumcision is not made with hands, a natural circumcision of the foreskin of a male. But this circumcision is a work of the Spirit and takes place by putting off the body of the sinful flesh of males and females. The circumcision in Christ; the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, takes place by baptism, when the old man (flesh) is buried with Christ and becomes a partaker of His death and the new man (spirit) has risen from the dead through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead.
The old man is buried with Christ in baptism
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin (Romans 6:1-7)
When you were baptized, you were circumcised in the circumcision of Christ and you have buried your old former life.
The old man, who is carnal and sense-ruled and is dominated by the sinful nature, no longer exists.
The old man, the carnal man, has died in Christ and the new man, the spiritual man, has been risen in Christ from the dead.
Old things have passed away, all things have become new!
You believed in Jesus Christ and decided to follow Jesus and entered a covenant with Him and as a sign of the covenant is the circumcision in Christ.
Just like in the Old Covenant the natural circumcision of the foreskin was a sign of the covenant between God, Abraham, and his Seed, in the New Covenant, the circumcision by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh through baptism, is a sign of the New Covenant in Christ.
The new man is risen with Christ from the dead
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:8-16)
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Romans 8:10)
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:13-14)
Jesus Christ has conquered the death! If you have become a new creation in Him, you have been redeemed from the power of sin and death by the putting of the body of the sins of the flesh and you have been given power in Christ to reign over sin and death.
You shall no longer listen to the flesh and be led by the sinful nature of the flesh and fulfill the lusts and desires of the flesh, since the flesh with its sinful nature has died in Christ.
The proof that the flesh has died in Christ
If the flesh with the sinful nature has died in Christ, the flesh shall no longer produce the unrighteous works of the flesh, which are a.o. adultery, fornication, divorce, (sexual) uncleanness, effeminacy, inordinate affection (lust), evil concupiscence, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, stealing, murders, drunkenness, revellings (1 Corinthians 6:9- 6, Galatians 5:19-21, Colossians 3:5-10).
If you still do the works of the flesh, you are not circumcised in Christ, because the body of the sins of the flesh has not been put off and is not buried in Christ but is still alive.
The old creation, who belongs to the world and lives in the kingdom of darkness, does these unrighteous works. But if you are born again and you are circumcised in the circumcision of Christ by the putting off the body of sins of the flesh, you shall not do those works anymore, but you shall do righteous works according to the will of God.
You shall listen to the Father and submit yourself to His Word and obey the words of God and apply them into your life, since the Word of God is the truth. You shall walk after the Spirit in the will of God and the Spirit shall reign in your life. As a result, you shall live a holy life unto God and bear the fruit of the Spirit.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
