And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. Sermons
I. THE IMPORT AND DESIGN OF BAPTISM. It solemnly attests that fellowship with Christ in his death and resurrection on which all personal interest in the blessings of his salvation depends. "Baptism is the grave of the old man and the birth of the new." The whole process of spiritual renovation - the death of the corruption of nature and the rise to newness of life - is practically represented and sealed in baptism. We are identified with Christ: 1. In his death. "Buried with him in baptism" unto death. Our baptism unites us to him, so that we died with him. We are "planted in the likeness of death;" but here the apostle asserts a participation in his death. 2. In his burial. After "he died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3), "he descended into the lower parts of the earth" (Ephesians 4:9). So "we are buried with him," shut off from the kingdom of Satan, as the dead in their graves are shut off from the living world; and thus we have with him severed our connection with the old world of sin. 3. In his resurrection. For "we rose with him," that we might henceforth "walk in newness of life." We must share in his death, that we may share in his life. Justification is in order to sanctification. Union with Christ in the one carries with it participation in the other. II. THE INSTRUMENT THROUGH WHICH WE ENJOY THE BLESSINGS SIGNIFIED IN BAPTISM. "Through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead." This shows how the outward is based on the inward, and how it derives from it whatever vitality it possesses. Faith appropriates the act of God's mighty power in Christ when he raised him from the dead, as an act that imparts its virtue to all who in faith realize it. The physical power in raising Christ is the guarantee and assurance of the spiritual power which is exerted in us in regeneration, Faith is necessary to the effect of baptism as it is to salvation. "If thou believest in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). It is by faith we obtain the benefits of the spiritual resurrection and come to "know the power of his resurrection." The grace is received through faith. In New Testament times faith preceded baptism - a proof that baptism is not regeneration. The earliest cases were naturally those of adult baptism, in which there was a profession of faith in Christ. III. THE PLEDGE OF THE SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION. "The working of God, who raised him from the dead." This power to us is made possible and actual by his resurrection; for "in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." His resurrection involves both our bodily and our spiritual resurrection. - T. C.
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. I. IS INWARD AND SPIRITUAL.II. IS COMPLETE. Manual circumcision was the cutting away of only a small part of the flesh. But the spiritual circumcision consists in putting off the whole body of our corrupt nature — the entire fleshly principle. III. IS DIVINE. "By the circumcision of Christ." It is wrought, without hands, by the inward power of the Divine Spirit of Christ. IV. IS REALIZED BY THE THOROUGH IDENTIFICATION OF THE BELIEVER WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION. V. IS WROUGHT IN THE SOUL BY A SPIRITUAL BAPTISM. "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him." VI. IS RECEIVED BY FAITH. "Through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." Faith is not a natural product of the human heart. It is a Divine gift, bestowed on man by a Divine operation. (G. Barlow.) I. EVERY REAL CHRISTIAN HAS EXPERIENCED THE TRUE CIRCUMCISION. The argument is that circumcision was unnecessary, since the Colossians had undergone the new birth which it signified.1. It is spiritual, and plainly distinguished from that which was made with hands. The idea was not a novel one (Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 9:26; Ezekiel 44:7; Acts 7:51; Romans 2:28-29). 2. The true character of the operation is the putting off of the body of the flesh, "the old man," corrupt human nature, with all its carnal instincts and tendencies. Manual circumcision cut off only a small part of the flesh, the spiritual is an entire transformation of the whole man. Old habits are abandoned, evil associations forsaken, and the soul is ushered into a new life, with new thoughts, affections, etc. It is a putting on of the new man. 3. It is Divine, "the circumcision of Christ," ordained and communicated by Him, with Him for its author and model. II. THIS TRUE CIRCUMCISION IS REALIZED ONLY IN UNION WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 1. The Saviour died for us, and when the anxious sinner trusts Christ he is regarded as having died with Him. 2. The reality of death is evinced by burial, and the death of the believer with Christ is the casting off of the body of the flesh. The old man is sepulchred. 3. The soul in regeneration arises with Christ to a new and holy life. III. THIS UNION IS REALIZED IN THE BAPTISM. It is generally assumed that the allusion here is to immersion. 1. But it is difficult to see any resemblance between this and the depositing of Christ's body in a rock-hewn sepulchre. The reference is to the baptism of the Spirit — the Washing of regeneration (1 Corinthians 12:13, cf. 1 Corinthians 1:14). The theory of immersion is that it is the profession of a regeneration which has already taken place; but with St. Paul the burial and resurrection are coincident with the baptism. It is quite possible to die and rise with Christ without water baptism, but not without the baptism of the Spirit. 2. Why does Paul speak disparagingly of "hand-wrought" circumcision, and proclaim its needlessness, if he is to pass immediately to speak of the efficacy of "hand-wrought" baptism? To introduce that would be to introduce the very element of ceremonialism which he is denouncing. IV. THE PRINCIPLE THROUGH WHICH THIS SPIRITUAL BAPTISM IS RECEIVED — "through faith." 1. It is surprising that so many should regard the baptism in which the disciple is said to rise with Christ as that of water. No one is raised out of water by faith, but by the arms which immersed him. The baptism of the Spirit is received by faith: an unbeliever cannot receive it. 2. "In the operation of God" does not mean that that is the origin but the object of faith. If I believe in the power that raised Christ, I believe in the power which has accepted His suretyship for me. This faith regards Christ's resurrection as the keystone of Christianity, the centre of confidence, the only basis of hope. (J. Spence, D. D.) There are two tendencies ever at work to corrupt religion. One is of the intellect, the temptation of the cultured few, which turns religion into theological speculation; the other of the senses, that of the vulgar many, which turns religion into a theatrical spectacle. But opposite as these are they were united at Colossae. To the teaching of the necessity of circumcision —I. The apostle opposes the position that ALL CHRISTIAN MEN BY VIRTUE OF THEIR UNION WITH CHRIST HAVE RECEIVED THE TRUE CIRCUMCISION, of which the outward rite was the shadow, and therefore now obsolete. 1. The language points to a definite past time. When they became Christians a change passed over them parabled by circumcision,(1) It is not made with hands, i.e., it is not a rite but a reality, not transacted in the flesh but in the Spirit, not a removal of ceremonial impurity, but a cleansing of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6).(2) It consists in the putting off of the body of the flesh "the sins of" is an interpolation — a complete stripping off from oneself, as of clothes, in contrast with a removal of a small part of the body. It is true that Christian men, alas! realize this by slow degrees; but on the Divine side it is complete. Christ gives perfect emancipation, and if it is only partial it is because we have not taken the things that are freely given. The foe may keep up a guerilla warfare after he is substantially defeated, but his entire subjugation is certain if we keep hold of the strength of Christ.(3) It is of Christ; not that He submitted to it, but instituted it. 2. What is the bearing of this statement on the apostle's purpose? That circumcision is an anachronism, "as if a flower should shut, and be a bud again."(1) The true centre of gravity, of Christianity, then, is in moral transformation. Surely Christ who gives men a new life by union with Himself by faith has delivered man from the "yoke of bondage," if He has done anything at all. How far away from Paul's conception, then, are those which busy themselves with punctilios of observance! But the hatred of forms may be as completely a form as the most elaborate ritual. We need to have our eyes turned away to the far higher thing, the service of the transformed nature.(2) The conquest of the animal nature is the certain outcome of union with Christ and that alone. Paul did not regard matter as evil, as the Colossian teachers did, nor the body as the source of all sin. But he knew that the fiercest temptations came from it, and that the foulest stains upon the conscience were splashed from the mud which it threw. It is a matter of life and death to find some means of taming the animal that is in us all. We all know of wrecked lives which have been driven on the rocks by the wild passions of the flesh; and when we come to add its weaknesses, limitations, and needs, and remember how high purposes are frustrated by its shrinking from toil, and how often mists born from its undrained swamps darken the vision of truth and God, we do not need to be Gnosties to believe that goodness requires the flesh to be subdued. But no asceticisms or resolves will do what we want. Much repression may be affected by force of will, but it is like a man holding a wolf by the jaws. The arms begin to ache and the grip to grow slack, and he feels his strength ebbing, and knows that as soon as he lets go the brute will be at his throat. Nothing tames the wild beast in us but Christ. He binds it in a silken lash, and that gentle constraint is strong because the fierceness is gone. Christianity would be easy were it a round of observances. Anybody can fast or wear a hair shirt, but the putting off of the body of the flesh is a harder thing. Emotion, theology, ceremonial, may have their value, but a religion that includes them all and leaves out the subjugation of the flesh is worthless. If we are in Christ we shall not live in the flesh. II. Paul meets the false teaching by a reference to CHRISTIAN BAPTISM AS BEING THE CHRISTIAN SIGN OF THE INWARD CHANGE. 1. The form of expression in the Greek implies that the circumcision and burial with Christ in baptism are contemporaneous. You have been baptized — does not that express all that circumcision meant and more?(1) This reference is quite consistent with the subordinate importance of ritual. Some forms are necessary to a visible Church, and Christ has given us two: one symbolizing the initial spiritual act of Christian life, and the other the constantly repeated process of Christian nourishment.(2) The form here presupposed is immersion.(3) There are but two theories: the one is that baptism effects the change, and elevates it into more than the importance of which Paul sought to deprive circumcision, confuses the distinction between the Church and the world, lulls men into a false security, obscures the central truth of Christianity that faith makes a Christian, gives the basis for a portentous sacer-dotalism, and is shivered to pieces against the plain facts of daily life. But it is conclusively disposed of by the words, "through faith in the operation," etc. What remains, then, but that baptism is associated with the change, because in the Divine order it is meant to be its outward symbol? 2. Note the thoroughness of the change. It is more than a circumcision; it is burial and resurrection.(1) We partake of Christ's death inasmuch as — (a) (b) (a) (b) (c) (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Buried with Him It was with St. Paul a principle that the whole Christian life is a following of the blessed steps of one holy life, an imitation of Christ. We are in Him —I. II. III. IV. V. VI. (Bishop Alexander.) People Colossians, PaulPlaces Colossae, LaodiceaTopics Baptism, Buried, Dead, Death, Faith, Operation, Power, Produced, Raise, Raised, Risen, Rose, Wherein, Within, WorkingOutline 1. Paul still exhorts them to be constant in Christ;8. to beware of philosophy, and vain traditions; 18. worshipping of angels; 20. and legal ceremonies, which are ended in Christ. Dictionary of Bible Themes Colossians 2:12 2560 Christ, resurrection 6029 sin, forgiveness 6214 participation, in Christ Library Notes on the Fourth CenturyPage 238. Med. 1. In the wording of this meditation, and of several other passages in the Fourth Century, it seems as though Traherne is speaking not of himself, but of, a friend and teacher of his. He did this, no doubt, in order that he might not lay himself open to the charge of over-egotism. Yet that he is throughout relating his own experiences is proved by the fact that this Meditation, as first written, contains passages which the author afterwards marked for omission. In its original form … Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations July 18. "Ye are Complete in Him" (Col. Ii. 10). January 15. "As Ye have Received Christ Jesus So Walk in Him" (Col. Ii. 6). June 2. "As Ye have Therefore Received Christ Jesus the Lord So Walk Ye in Him" (Col. Ii. 6). Christian Progress The Fear which Terminates in the Second Death. Christ Triumphant A Warning to Believers Conflict and Comfort. Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4. The Disciple, -- Master, Some People Say that the Comfort and Joy that Believers Experience... The Faithful Steward The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father and to the Son. The Person Sanctified. The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzum; Council of Constantinople, His Eyes are Like a Dove's by the Rivers of Waters, Washed with Milk, and Sitting Beside Overflowing Streams. Christians must not Forsake the Church of God, and Go Away and Invoke Angels And... The Poison and the Antidote More Particularly, in what Respect Christ is Called the Truth. Faith In the Work of the Redemption of Man, not Only the Mercy, but Also the Justice, of God is Displayed. He Made the Pillars Thereof of Silver, the Couch of Gold, the Ascent Thereto of Purple; and the Midst Thereof He Strewed with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem. Links Colossians 2:12 NIVColossians 2:12 NLT Colossians 2:12 ESV Colossians 2:12 NASB Colossians 2:12 KJV Colossians 2:12 Bible Apps Colossians 2:12 Parallel Colossians 2:12 Biblia Paralela Colossians 2:12 Chinese Bible Colossians 2:12 French Bible Colossians 2:12 German Bible Colossians 2:12 Commentaries Bible Hub |