在歌羅西書中 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 (歌羅西書 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 (肉) is buried with Christ and becomes a partaker of His death and the new man (精神) 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
那我們該說什麼? 我們要繼續犯罪嗎, 使恩典顯多? 上帝禁止. 我們該如何, 向罪死了的人, 繼續住在那裡? 你不知道嗎, 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: 就像基督藉著天父的榮耀從死裡復活一樣, 即使如此我們也應該走在新的生活中.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: 知道這一點, that our old man is crucified with Him, 使罪身被毀滅, 從今以後我們不應該為罪惡服務. 因為死人已脫離罪孽 (羅馬書 6:1-7)
當你受洗時, you were circumcised in the circumcision of Christ and you have buried your old former life.
老人, who is carnal and sense-ruled and is dominated by the sinful nature, no longer exists.
老人, 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, 和 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
現在如果我們與基督同死, we believe that we shall also live with Him: 知道基督從死裡復活，不再死; 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. 同樣，你們也算自己確實在罪上是死的, 而是藉著我們的主耶穌基督向神活.
因此，不要讓罪在你必死的身體上作王, 叫你們順從它的私慾. 也不要將你們的肢體獻給罪惡，作為不義的工具: 但要將自己降服於神, 就像那些從死裡復活的人一樣, 和你的肢體作為上帝公義的工具. 因為罪惡不會統治你: 因為你們不在律法之下, 但在恩典之下.
那怎麼辦? 我們會犯罪嗎, 因為我們不受法律約束, 但在恩典之下? 上帝禁止. 你不知道嗎, 你們把自己當作僕人來服從, 你們是他的僕人，你們要服從他; 是否犯了至於死的罪, 或順從正義? (羅馬書 6:8-16)
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (羅馬書 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 (羅馬書 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. 通姦, 淫亂, 離婚, (性的) 不潔, effeminacy, 過度的感情 (情慾), 惡欲, 貪婪, 憤怒, 憤怒, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying, lasciviousness, idolatry, 巫術, 仇恨, variance, emulations, 衝突, seditions, 異端, envyings, stealing, 謀殺, drunkenness, revellings (1 哥林多前書 6:9- 6, 加拉太書 5:19-21, 歌羅西書 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 聖靈的果子.
‘成為地球之鹽’
