Supremacy in Identity

Colossians 2:11–15 ESV

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

We concluded last week with Paul declaring that we are complete in Him, because of what Christ Jesus has done for us.

THOUGHTS ON THE TEXT

We cannot put off the body of the flesh on our own. Circumcision was given as a sign of God's favored people, the nation of Israel. We cannot raise the dead to life, we cannot bring things to life on our own. After her brother Lazarus had died, Jesus told Mary, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Do you believe this? Mary responds, yes I do believe in the resurrection that will come at the end of the age. Jesus responded with, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus came to earth to inaugurate the new temple of God that is being created through the greater temple being nailed to a cross.

When someone puts off the body of flesh and puts on the body of Christ, the authorities of this world are disarmed and set to open shame. What does it mean for them to be put to open shame?

The transformation from death to life. It is a visible and spiritual declaration that his power has been broken and that Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the dark forces of evil at work in this world.

OUR IDENTITY PROBLEM

Who are you? Why are you here? Where are we going? Humanity is born with an identity problem. We do not know who we are in relation to Jesus Christ.

We must define our identity. If we are going to move forward in our walk with Christ. We must define our identity in Christ. This Colossian text follows a typical pattern Paul used in writing his letters.

This is sometimes referred to as the Indicative and Imperative approach. The reality of who we are in Christ is the indicative. The corresponding and practical application is imperative to the text.

Paul repeatedly uses the phrase “in Him” or “with Him.” This expresses the union we share with Christ as the focal point of our identity.

THE TEMPLE AND OUR CIRCUMCISION

We could also continue the temple motif, which emphasizes being filled with Christ in the preceding text. One could say that circumcision tied the nation of Israel to the temple where their circumcision took place. Now, the circumcision of the heart that the New Testament speaks of is tied to the new temple that is being created in the hearts and lives of his children.

The physical temple and physical circumcision point towards the permanent spiritual temple that is taking place now in the hearts and lives of His believers.

1. He Circumcised Our Hearts

For Christians, having a circumcised heart refers to a spiritual transformation rather than a physical transformation that takes place at conversion.

A heart transplant completely changes the inner workings of a person. The old, diseased heart is removed, and a new heart is placed in the chest. It’s invasive, permanent, and life-giving.

Spiritual circumcision is heart surgery. God cuts away our sinful nature, not just trimming sin but removing its power over us. It’s done by God, not by human effort.

Old Testament Circumcision

Origin of Circumcision in the Old Testament

First instituted in Genesis 17: God commanded Abraham to circumcise every male as a sign of the covenant made between God and Abraham’s offspring. Genesis 17:10-11

Genesis 17:10–11 ESV

10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

It was to be performed on the eighth day after birth (Genesis 17:12), showing immediate and total incorporation into the covenant people of Israel.

Theological Significance

1). Sign of the Covenant: It was a visible physical marker to the surrounding pagan nations.

2). Symbol of Purity and Devotion: It symbolizes the removal of sin and impurity. Cutting away the flesh is the metaphor used for spiritual cleansing.

3). Requirement for Covenant Blessing: Any male who was not circumcised would be “cut off” from the covenant community.

Spiritual Circumcision in the Old Testament

Even in the Old Testament God pointed toward a deeper spiritual meaning. Deuteronomy 10:16

Deuteronomy 10:16 ESV

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Jeremiah 4:4 ESV

4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”

The external sign of the covenant was not enough. What God desires is a complete transformation of the heart. God desires an inward transformation that leads to obedience.

The Old Testament circumcision indicates how the covenant is to be ratified and fulfilled in the promise of the Messiah. Through the seed of Adam and the seed of the woman, the serpent will be crushed once and for all. Moses recognized the spiritual nature of circumcision and the circumcision of the heart that it ultimately represented (Deut 30:6).

NEW TESTAMENT FULFILLMENT

Paul picks up this theme and applies it to all believers, not just jews:

A person is a jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, not the letter - Romans 2:29.

“in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands… buy the circumcision of Christ.” Colossians 2:11.

How do we Experience the circumcision of the New Heart?

*We Grieve over our Fleshliness

11 b “Putting off the body of the flesh”

In the history of the church, we have all felt this tug or pull between the spirit and the flesh. Maybe, even at certain times, we question whether we are even truly saved at all.

Flesh in Scripture

The word for flesh in the Greek is Sarx. The literal meaning is the soft tissue that makes up the body of humans and animals.

However more often than not in the N.T. the word flesh references 3 things.

1). Human Nature/Weakness

This refers to the frail, mortal state of our human nature that is subject to decay, temptation, and death - the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

2). Sinful Nature

Often used by Paul to describe the fallen, sinful nature of humanity - our tendency to rebel against God (e.g., Romans 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

3). Lineage or Descent

Sometimes used in relation to human ancestry or physical descent (e.g.,Romans 9:3 “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.)

But here the ‘body of flesh’ does not mean our human body of flesh and blood, but what Paul calls ‘the flesh’, that permanent propensity for evil that continues within us after conversion/baptism. The Christian can never see the body of flesh and bones as anything but good. Because God created man and said that it was created good.

While I am in the body, the ‘flesh’ is in me, therefore we have an inevitable link between the two. The ‘flesh’ will be part of my experience until death.

Every true disciple of Christ grieves over his fleshliness. The law is spiritual but I am carnal laments Paul. For though he loved the law, even as a Christian he could never attain it.

The Danger at Hand

Paul knew full well that the young believers at Colossae would be longing for freedom from the flesh. He also knows how open this will make them from deceptions that may be offered to them.

The philosophies of this world would try to tell you that you can escape this body of flesh and experience purification here on earth. The new teachers may have well been offering what has often been called, “the new heart.”

Paul’s response is that they already possess the only purification they will ever need, and it is only found in Jesus Christ. This circumcision without hands has already been made available through Jesus Christ.

This purification is none other than the forgiveness of sins, the greatest blessing the world has ever known. The continued problem with many false teachings and traditions today is that Christ is not enough. His death for the sins of the world is not sufficient.

In this redemption Christians have all that they could possibly need to bring their purification in this life. The problem is that in this world of sin the flesh still needs to daily be mortified.

*We Mortify our Sins

“Be Killing Sin or it Be Killing You” (John Owens)

Mortification of Sin: Mortifying sin refers to the ongoing spirit-empowered process by which believers put to death sinful desires and behaviors in order to grow in holiness and conformity to Christ.

Romans 8:13 ESV

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Galatians 5:24 ESV

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

To Mortify Sin is to:

Actively fight against the desires of the sinful flesh. 

Deny sin its power and influence in your life. 

Cut off the roots of sinful habits by confronting the heart-level issue behind your sin. 

Rely on the Holy Spirit's power, not just will power, to gain victory. 

2. He Conquered Our Death

Jesus conquered the death that we deserved. He was the substitutionary atonement on the cross for your sins and my sins.

Being baptized into Christ means sharing the benefits of HIs death as well as His resurrection.

*You Were Buried

Burial has been the marker of finality here on this earth since the earliest of times. Whether the burial takes place in the ground, in a shrine, or in a mausoleum . People gather to what is referred to a persons final resting place.

However, you frame it, this is considered the marker that someone is no longer alive. The death that we experience here on this earth for the believer is only a temporary state.

Notice that Paul speaks of our burial as “having been buried,” a past reality for the believer.

The Apostle Paul, along with other New Testament writers, uses the phrase "fallen asleep" as a euphemism for death, particularly when referring to Christians. This phrase is not meant to be taken literally, but rather as a way to describe the temporary nature of death for believers, emphasizing the hope of resurrection and reunion with Christ. 

Most prolifically Paul uses this expression in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15

1 Thessalonians 4:13–15 ESV

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Christians are told that they are sharers in Christ’s burial. Therefore, they can claim that they have already died with Christ. Nothing can now separate the believer from the love of God in Christ.

There would be no gospel at all if the Christian were only freed from the flesh in Christ and not freed from the condemnation. Again Paul is expressing to the Church that all that can be theirs in life is already available. Sin remains, but separation from God has gone.

We know all to well that death is the enemy of all God’s creation because of the fall. Death is what separates a man from all that he knows and loves.

The Spiritual Zombie Apocalypse

Zombies are mythical undead creatures, typically depicted as reanimated corpses with a hunger for human flesh or brains. They are most famous today in horror movies and pop culture, but their origins go back centuries across several cultures. 

The word zombie actually originated from the Haitian Creole or West African languages. In Haitian vodou, a zombi is a dead person revived by a bokor or sorcerer to serve as a slave. These zombies were not mindless flesh-eaters but living-dead beings with no will of their own, but were enslaved to the sorcerer's will. 

Consider that the world today is in a sort of metaphorical zombie apocalypse, stemming from the fall in the Garden. Before we are buried and raised with Christ, we are dead people walking who are enslaved to the master of this world, which is Satan. 

The Bible clearly teaches that all people are either servants (or slaves) of sin/Satan or servants (or slaves) of God/righteousness - there is no neutral ground.

Romans 6:16–18 ESV

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

1 John 3:7–8 ESV

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

“The dead are now raised to new life in Christ.”

*You were raised

If you have been buried with Christ, then it is a given that you have been raised with Christ. The raising Paul is speaking of is due to our faith in the powerful working of God to bring life out of death. 

Paul is now expressing the greatest manifestation of God’s power that has ever been on display by raising the dead to life. Paul wants Christians here to drop to their knees in awe and wonder at the power of God. Notice that this is through faith that we are raised to new life. Not by some new revelation or teaching that would add to or take away from the resurrection of Christ.

It is the apostle Paul’s desire once again to drive home the point that in Christ, they have all that they need or can receive that is necessary for their death and resurrection. One day, that same power will raise the dead to life to that realm where there will be no more tears or tribulation to enjoy life beyond death. 

3. He Gave Us Freedom

“You were dead and now God has made you alive by cancelling the debt that was held against you by nailing it to the cross.

Illustration: A man is locked in a prison cell on death row. He’s guilty. But one day the guard unlocks the door and says, “You’re free. Someone else took your punishment.”

Point: We were spiritually imprisoned, awaiting judgment. But Jesus took our place. He didn’t just open the cell—He gave us a new life on the other side.

We live in a world and society of perceived autonomy and freedom. In fact, the first Americans left the tyranny and rule of England to experience freedom from Government oversight and rule, specifically over their religiouse freedom to worship how they saw fit.

Freedom from What and For What?

The problem biblically speaking with the idea of freedom and autonomy is that people are not really free as they think of freedom.

True freedom is not doing whatever we want - it’s the ability to live the way God designed us to live, without chains. Christ makes that possible for you and me through Christ ans His sacrifice on the cross.

The world desires Freedom from anyone telling them what to do or how to live their lives. The world see’s freedom as the ultimate expression of themselves.

However, scripture describes this kind of freedom as delusional and blinding. The great escape that the Bible speaks of is and escape from the delusion of this world into the light of Jesus Christ which offers true freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The freedom that we experience in Christ means that we no longer live under the weight, guilt, or fear of God’s wrath, Jesus bore the punishment we deserved, so we now stand forgiven, accepted, and loved.

*The Debt was Cancelled

The certificate of our indebtedness is to be understood in terms of a promisary note. It acknowledges that we are bound to keep God’s laws and satisfy His rightful demands.

The False Sense of Obligation over Freedom

Many people feel this sense vows, resolutions, and obligations.

It’s like the person who goes to a Billy Gram crusade or other evangelical event and feel a need to refresh or renew their obligations and commitments to God only to fall into righteous works based sense of freedom.

It’s like the rich young ruler in scripture who had spent his whole life attempting to find freedom through his many righteous acts of the law. However, what Jesus required of Him did not come through the appearance of righteousness, it came through self-sacrifice, it came through abandoning the things of the world to find fulfilment in Christ alone. It came by recognizing that He owed a debt He could not pay and Jesus paid the enormous debt that he owed.

The debt stands against us. It’s makes its legal, and inescapable demands.

But Christ cancelled our bond, the word translated is whipped out, whipped away.

Whether or not there was a wax surface on many ancient bonds, this cancellation implies the total obliteration of any mark, ‘jot or tittle’, that remains against us. The Bible preachers and writers use many metaphors to bring home to forgiven sinners that when God forgives, no stain on the soul remains.

*The Debt was Set Aside

“This He set aside, nailing it to the Cross.”

God has taken away the debt by nailing it to the cross. We find no where in history where we see a nail driven through a bond or certificate of release from a debt.

Illustration: Imagine a man who racks up a massive credit card bill—so large he could never repay it. One day he checks the account and sees it says, “PAID IN FULL.” Not because he earned it, but because someone else paid it on his behalf.

Point: Our sins created an unpayable debt, but Jesus nailed that record to the cross. It is paid in full, not partially, not on layaway—completely wiped clean.

Written accusation of the condemned.

We have a picture a nailed sign above criminals who were crucified with every offense or charge that they were being executed for. It might serve as a justification for his sin as well as a warning to all others.

In Jesus case the charges were meant to mock Him when he wrote Jesus King of the Jews. During crucifixion the one being crucified would be nailed to the cross to keep their body attached to the wooden beam until their life was extinguished.

The very final breath or gasp of air into Jesus lungs declared that “it is finished” (Tetelestai, John 19:30). Jesus had fully accomplished all that was required and necesessary to save sinners. We read in Isiah 53:5 that “He was pierced for our transgressions…” and Romans 9 explains that through His blood, believers are justified.

Tetelestai was a common term used in Jesus’ day, stamped on receipts to show a debt was paid in full. Jesus declared that the debt had been fully satisfied - no more sacrifices or works needed to earn Salvation.

*The Powers were Disarmed

At the cross when Jesus uttered the word’s “it is finished” He was also declaring that Satan’s power was now disarmed or defeated.

“He disarmed the ruler and authorities of this world putting them to open shame.”

Hebrews 2:14 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

To know God is to be fully aware of the evil forces that dwell in the heavenly places and seek to destroy our lives. However, at the same time we must be careful that we do not make too much of the strong man and his armory.

We know one who is infinitely stronger and more powerful. Through Christ this enemy and his minions have been rendered powerless and we have the greatest arsenal in the world has ever known at our disposal to do battle against his attacks.

Ultimately, Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave secured our eternal redemption, but it sealed his enemies’ fate of eternal condemnation (Rev 20:10–15).

*He Confirmed our Victory

The final aspect of our identity is our triumph status.

Too Many Christians Live as if They are Defeated

Many Christians plod through life as if Satan has won the victory. They live defeated lives instead of celebrating the victory that has been won and secured through Christ alone.

This goes back to the very first problem we diagnosed. We have a lack of understanding of our true identity which is in Christ.

1). We fail to fully understand that we are new creations in Christ and no longer live in fear or guilt.

2). We try to live the Christian life in our own strength. Instead of relying on the Holy Spirit, we try to live morally and spiritually upright lives by willpower alone. John 15:5 “Apart from Christ we can do nothing. (we need discipleship and community)

3). We live in unconfessed and unrepentant sin. I believe this gives the acusor a foothold in our life to throw our sinfulness back in our face.

Living a victorious Christian life does not mean that life is free from struggle. Remember in John 16:31 Jesus declared that in this world you would have tribulation but to take heart because He has overcome the world.

In the ancient Roman world, when a general conquered an enemy, he would parade through the streets of Rome, displaying the defeated king or generals in chains. This “triumphal procession” publicly shamed the enemy and exalted the victor.

Just as a conquering general paraded his victory, Jesus paraded His victory over Satan and demonic powers through the cross. What looked like weakness was actually divine triumph.

It was a public humiliation to confirm and certify their victory over their enemies. We have all been given the ability to overcome the world. 1 John 5:4

1 John 5:4 ESV

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, our walk with Christ must also overcome the temptation to find our identity in:

What we know, What we can do, and What we have

Our identity as believers is determined by:

Who we know, What he has done, and what He offers

God has now paraded Satan and his demons through the streets, as Jesus fell underneath the weight of the cross He carried to Calvary.

He alone has put Satan to open shame as he was spit on and mocked by those looking on as he suffered on the cross.

He is gearing up for the final battle where Satan will be defeated once and for all time.

Grace, Grace, God’s Grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.

Grace, Grace, God’s Grace, Grace that is Greater than all my sins.