Ho Bakolose 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
Le lona le bolotse ho yena ka lebollo le sa etswang ka matsoho, ka ho hlobola mmele wa dibe tsa nama ka lebollo la Kreste: Ho patoa le Yena kolobetsong, moo le tsohileng le yena ka tumelo ya tshebetso ya Modimo, who hath raised Him from the dead (Bakolose 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 (nama) is buried with Christ and becomes a partaker of His death and the new man (moya) 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
Re tla reng he? Na re tla tswela pele dibeng, hore mohau o tle o ate? Molimo ha ho joalo. Re tla etsa jwang, ba shweleng sebeng, phela ka ho sa feleng teng? Ha le tsebe, hore bohle ba kolobeleditsweng ho Jesu Kreste, re kolobeleditswe lefung la hae? Ka baka leo re patilwe le Yena ka kolobetso ho kena lefung: hore jwalokaha Kreste a tsositswe bafung ka kganya ya Ntate, ka mokgwa o jwalo le rona re tsamaye bophelong bo botjha.
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 (Baroma 6:1-7)
Ha u ne u kolobetsoa, you were circumcised in the circumcision of Christ and you have buried your old former life.
Monnamoholo, who is carnal and sense-ruled and is dominated by the sinful nature, no longer exists.
Monnamoholo, motho wa nama, 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 latela Jesu 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, le 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? Molimo ha ho joalo. Ha le tsebe, 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? (Baroma 6:8-16)
Mme ha Kreste A le ka ho lona, mmele o shwele ka baka la sebe; empa Moya ke bophelo ka baka la ho loka (Baroma 8:10)
Hobane ha le phela ka nama, le tla shwa: empa ha le bolaya diketso tsa mmele ka Moya, le tla phela. Hobane bohle ba tsamaiswang ke Moya wa Modimo, ke bara ba Modimo (Baroma 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. bofebe, bohlola, tlhalo, (thobalano) ho se hloeke, effeminacy, lerato le feteletseng (takatso), takatso e mpe, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying, lasciviousness, borapeli ba litšoantšo, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, stealing, murders, drunkenness, revellings (1 Korinthe 6:9- 6, Bagalata 5:19-21, Bakolose 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 tholwana tsa Moya.
‘E be letsoai la lefatše’
