Having been buried
with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in
the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your
transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together
with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the
certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us;
and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Col 2:12-14
NASB)
Commenting
on this passage and its theology of water baptism, Peter J. Leithart wrote:
Colossians 2:12 refers to a baptism through
or in which we have been buried with Christ, raised through faith in the God
who raises the dead. Verse 13 goes on to describe the difference this baptismal
burial-and-resurrection has on the lives of those who receive it: “When you
were dead in your transgression and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made
you alive together with Him, having forgiven all your transgression, having
canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was
hostile to us” (vv. 13-14a). The imagery is difficult and debated, but Paul
clearly implies that the baptismal event, whatever it was, raised the dead to
new life, granted forgiveness of sins, and canceled debt.
But what was the baptismal event? Is this
baptism water baptism or some overwhelming spiritual event, conversion or something
like it?
Several points favor the conclusion that “baptism”
means baptism here. First, Paul uses language similar to what he used in Romans
6, lining baptism to burial and new life with Christ . . . Second, the flow of
thought supports the idea that Paul is referring to water baptism. He is
challenging the Jewish use of circumcision as a tribal badge and claims instead
that the true circumcision is one done “without hands,” that is, by God Himself
(2:11). What is needed is not merely a stripping off of the foreskin but an entire
“stripping of the flesh,” the flesh of Adamic humanity. This is accomplished
not by the ritual of circumcision but by the “circumcision of Christ,” which is
best understood as a reference to His death in the flesh on the cross. This
interpretation of the phrase leads neatly into the references to burial and
resurrection in verse 12. Jesus’ final work is all summarized here: His
circumcision on the cross, His burial, His resurrection. It is Jesus’
circumcision that undoes the “uncircumcision” of the Colossians and truly removes
the flesh from them . . . Through baptism, the story of Jesus’ circumcision,
burial, and resurrection becomes ours. Tribesmen who grew up looking back to
their ancestors gain a new past in Jesus. Citizens who identify with the “in”
group of their city become members of a new city. Together, in the One New Man,
those who share in the circumcision of Christ by baptism move into a new
future, knowing that Jesus has stripped the rulers and authorities that
appeared to be stripping Him, exposed their emptiness, and triumphed over them
on the cross. (Peter J. Leithart, The
Baptized Body [Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2007], 49-51)
