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, ekuhlutheni umzimba wezono zenyama, ngalo ulwaluko lukaKristu: Wangcwatywa kunye naYe elubhaptizweni, ekuye, navuswa nokuvuswa naye, ngokholo lokusebenza kukaThixo, owamvusayo kwabafileyo (KwabaseKolose 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 (inyama) is buried with Christ and becomes a partaker of His death and the new man (umoya) 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? Makube lee oko. 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? Ngoko ke sangcwatywa naye ngokubhaptizelwa ekufeni: ukuze njengokuba uKristu wavuswayo kwabafileyo ngalo uzuko loYise, Ngokunjalo nathi sifanele sihambe sinobomi obutsha.
Kuba ukuba similiselwe kuye ngemfano yokufa kwakhe, nathi siya kuba kwanjengemifuziselo yovuko lwakhe: Ukwazi oku, ukuba umntu wethu omdala wabethelelwa emnqamlezweni kunye naye, ukuze umzimba wesono uphuthiswe, ukuze singabi sasikhonza isono. kuba owafayo ugwetyelwe, wakhululwa kuso isono (AmaRoma 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, umntu wokomoya, 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, kwaye 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
Ukuba ke sifile kunye noKrestu, siyakholwa ukuba sodla ubomi kwandawonye naye: sisazi ukuba uKristu, evusiwe nje kwabafileyo, akabi safa; ukufa akusenagunya kuye. Kuba wafa ngaloo nto, Wafa kwakanye kwisono: udla ubomi ngokobudlayo, uphilela uThixo. Ngokunjalo nani zibaleleni ekuthini, ningabafileyo okunene kwisono, kodwa budla ubomi kuThixo ngoYesu Kristu, iNkosi yethu.
Ngoko isono masingalawuli emzimbeni wenu onokufa, ukuze niwululamele ngokweenkanuko zawo. Kanjalo amalungu enu maningawanikeli kuso isono, ukuba abe ziintonga zentswela-bulungisa;: kodwa zinikeleni nina ngokwenu kuThixo, njengabaphilayo bephuma kwabafileyo, amalungu enu ke, ukuba abe ziintonga zobulungisa kuThixo. Kuba isono asiyi kuniphatha ngabukhosi: kuba aniphantsi komthetho, kodwa phantsi kobabalo.
Yintoni ke? sone na, ngokuba singekho phantsi komthetho, kodwa phantsi kobabalo? Makube lee oko. 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? (AmaRoma 6:8-16)
Kwaye ukuba uKristu ungaphakathi kwenu, umzimba ufile ngenxa yesono; kodwa uMoya ububomi ngenxa yobulungisa (AmaRoma 8:10)
Kuba, ukuba niphila ngokwenyama, ewe uya kufa: kodwa ukuba niyazibulala ngoMoya, zife iintlondi zomzimba, niya kuphila. Kuba bonke abakhokelwa nguMoya kaThixo, bangoonyana bakaThixo bona (AmaRoma 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. ukukrexeza, uhenyuzo, uqhawulo-mtshato, (ngokwesondo) uncleanness, effeminacy, inordinate affection (lust), evil concupiscence, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying, lasciviousness, unqulo-zithixo, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, stealing, murders, drunkenness, revellings (1 KwabaseKorinte 6:9- 6, kwabaseGalati 5:19-21, KwabaseKolose 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. Nje ngeziphumo, you shall live a holy life unto God and bear the isiqhamo soMoya.
‘Yibani yityuwa yehlabathi’
