Buried and raised, Dead and alive

Colossians 2:11-15

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 2

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

12 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.

13 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,

14 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.

15 When He had adisarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Verse 11

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: Saints Alive—And Alert (Colossians 2:4–15)

Remember that the false teaching that threatened the Colossian church was made up of several elements: Oriental mysticism, astrology, philosophy, and Jewish legalism. It is the latter element that Paul dealt with in this section of his letter. Apparently, the false teachers insisted that their converts submit to circumcision and obey the Old Testament Law.

Gnostic legalism was not quite the same as the brand of legalism practiced by the Judaizers whom Paul refuted in his Epistle to the Galatians. The Jewish teachers that Paul attacked in Galatians insisted that circumcision and obedience to the Law were necessary for salvation.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: Saints Alive—And Alert (Colossians 2:4–15)

Gnostic legalism said that the Jewish Law would help the believers become more spiritual. If they were circumcised, and if they watched their diets and observed the holy days, then they would become part of the “spiritual elite” in the church. Unfortunately, we have people with similar ideas in our churches today.

Jesus Christ alone is sufficient for our every spiritual need, for all of God’s fullness is in Him. We are identified with Jesus Christ because He is the Head of the body (Col. 1:18) and we are the members of the body (1 Cor. 12:12–13). Paul explained our fourfold identification with Jesus Christ that makes it not only unnecessary, but sinful for us to get involved in any kind of legalism.

For in Christ they had been circumcised. This spiritual “circumcision” was done by Christ, not by man. It was in fact a crucifixion or putting off of the body, a circumcision of the heart

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:11–12

Their sinful nature (lit., “the body of the flesh”; cf., lit., “the mind of the flesh,” Col. 2:18) was decisively put off by Christ’s death and resurrection. What people were in Adam—sinful, fallen, and corrupt—was destroyed by Christ. Now “in Christ” a believer is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). And having a new Head a believer has a new authority for his life—not the Law of Moses but the life of Christ.

CIRCUMCISION

Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with the Jewish people (Gen. 17:9–14). Though it was a physical operation, it had a spiritual significance. The trouble was that the Jewish people depended on the physical and not the spiritual. A mere physical operation could never convey spiritual grace (Rom. 2:25–29). Often in the Old Testament, God warned His people to turn from their sins and experience a spiritual circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4; 6:10; Ezek. 44:7). People make the same mistake today when they depend on some religious ritual to save them—such as baptism or the Lord’s Supper.

BACK TO VERSE 11,

Made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by circumcision of Christ.

The words putting off, cutting away, removal are from the noun apekdysei (“total breaking away from”), which occurs only here in the New Testament. This putting off of the old life occurs at the moment of salvation, when a believer is buried with Christ in baptism by the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13) and is raised with Him to new life. This co-burial and co-resurrection is pictured in baptism. In water baptism, immersion portrays burial with Christ, and coming out of the water depicts the resurrection by the power of God to “live a new life” (Rom. 6:4).

When Jesus Christ died and rose again, He won a complete and final victory over sin.

He not only died for our sins (salvation), but He “died unto sin”

What the Law could not do, Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

The old nature (“the body of the sins of the flesh”) was put off, cutting away, stripping off so that we need no longer be enslaved to its desires.

The old sinful nature is not eradicated, for we can still sin

(1 John 1:5–2:6).

But the power has been broken as we yield to Christ and walk in the power of the Spirit.

God has called and has sent the Holy Spirit into our lives.

John 14:16, Jesus speaking says, “And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever. Vs 17, “The Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him nor knows Him. But you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you.”

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and ask Him to come into your heart, the Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell inside you. The Holy Spirit is your teacher, your comforter, your helper to guide you in all things and He is also our reminder. The Holy Spirit helps us discern the word of God and helps us recall to memory the scriptures from the Bible so

we as believers can testify to unbelievers about Jesus.

We are God’s voice, but it is the Holy Spirit who will convict hearts.

Jesus’ dying on the cross allowed a way of reconciliation to God so when you ask Jesus to come into your heart, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside you and you become sons and daughters of the most high God sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit as one of God’s own throughout eternity to rule and reign with Jesus Christ.

BAPTISM

Verse 12

So here Paul is using the illustration of baptism.

Keep in mind that in the New Testament, the word baptize has both a literal and a figurative meaning. The literal meaning is “to dip, to immerse.” The figurative meaning is “to be identified with.”

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:11–12

In water baptism, immersion portrays burial with Christ, and coming out of the water depicts the resurrection by the power of God to “live a new life” (Rom. 6:4).

Romans 6:4 NASB95

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: Saints Alive—And Alert (Colossians 2:4–15)

Water baptism by immersion is a picture of this spiritual experience. When a person is saved, he is immediately baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–13) and identified with the Head, Jesus Christ. This identification means that whatever happened to Christ also happened to us. When He died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried. When He arose again, we arose with Him—and we left the graveclothes of the old life behind (Col. 3:1–14).

All of this took place “through the faith of the operation of God” (Col. 2:12). It was the power of God that changed us, not the power of water.

The Spirit of God identified us with Jesus Christ, and we were buried with Him, raised with Him, and made alive with Him!

(The Greek verbs are very expressive:

co-buried, co-raised, and co-made alive.)

Because God raised His Son from the dead, we have eternal life.

The practical application is clear:

since we are identified with Christ, and He is the fullness of God, what more do we need?

We have experienced the energy of God through faith in Christ, so why turn to the deadness of the Law?

God has forgiven us all our trespasses (Col. 2:13b)

so that we have a perfect standing before Him.

DEAD

Verse 13

So, being dead in your sins, the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

In Ephesians, chapter two, it is the correlating verse here, "And you, having been made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins; for in times past you walked according to the course of this world" ( Ephesians 2:1 , Ephesians 2:2 ).

“Death” in the Bible is not to be understood as annihilation, but as separation.

Isaiah said, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God” (Isa. 59:2).

If death were annihilation, then the second death would be eternal annihilation, but the Bible declares that the lost will be consciously separated from God, as was the rich man in hell (Luke 16),

as will be the beast and false prophet who will be “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10).

Indeed, they were cast “alive” into the lake of fire at the beginning of the 1,000-year reign of Christ (Rev. 19:20), and they were still alive at the end of the 1,000 years (20:10).

So, the second “death” is eternal conscious separation from Christ.

Furthermore, believers die physically, but their souls survive death and are consciously in the presence of God. Paul said, “absent from the body and ... present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).

And he went on to say, “having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23).

Likewise, spiritual death is also separation from God, not annihilation.

Adam and Eve, for example, died spiritually the moment they ate the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6; cf. Rom. 5:12),

yet they were still alive and could hear God’s voice speaking to them (Gen. 3:10).

So, whereas the image of God in fallen man is effaced, it is not erased.

It is marred, but not destroyed.

Thus, unsaved persons can hear, understand the Gospel, and believe it to be regenerated or made alive in a spiritual sense (Eph. 2:8–9; Titus 3:5–7).

So, the thing I love there, though, having forgiven you all trespasses. Your whole past has been blotted out through your faith in Jesus Christ. Every trespass, every sin has been blotted out as a result of your faith in Him.

Not only that, the law which these people were trying to push upon the Colossians, this very...the ordinances of the law, the observances of the Sabbath days, the dietary laws, the types of meat that you can eat, and the various traditions of the Jews as far as the dietary laws, he said that Jesus...

Verse 14

“having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus not only took our sins to the cross

(1 Peter 2:24),

but He also took the Law to the cross and nailed it there, forever out of the way.

The Law was certainly against us, because it was impossible for us to meet its holy demands.

Even though God never gave the Ten Commandments to the Gentiles, the righteous demands of the Law—God’s holy standards—were “written in their hearts”

When He shed His blood for sinners, Jesus Christ canceled the huge debt that was against sinners because of their disobedience to God’s holy Law.

In Bible days, financial records were often kept on parchment, and the writing could be washed off.

This is the picture Paul painted.

How could the holy God be just in canceling a debt? In this way His Son paid the full debt when He died on the cross. If a judge sets a man free who is guilty of a crime, the judge cheapens the law and leaves the injured party without restitution. God paid sin’s debt when He gave His Son on the cross, and He upheld the holiness of His own Law.

But Jesus Christ did even more than cancel the debt: He took the Law that condemned us and set it aside so that we are no longer under its dominion. We are “delivered from the Law” (Rom. 7:6). We “are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). This does not mean that we are lawless, because the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us as we walk in the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:4). Our relationship with Jesus Christ enables us to obey God out of love, not out of slavish fear.

So, Christ is the end of the law to those that believe. The law could never make you righteous. The law could only condemn you. It was contrary to you. It was condemning you. Now, Jesus has blotted out these handwritings of ordinances which were against us. Thus, I am not under law. I am not under a righteousness that is affected by rules and regulations. My righteousness has nothing to do with my actions. My righteousness has to do with my faith. Now, my faith will produce actions. And if I say I have faith and yet my works are not in correspondence with it, then I am making a false boast of faith. But the works always must follow and be the result of faith. And that means that I do not depend upon my works as a righteous basis in my standing before God.

I am righteous because God has imputed righteousness to my account because I am believing and trusting in Jesus Christ completely. Now, because I am believing and trusting in Jesus Christ, I do want to know Him. And so, I do read the word. Because I do trust in Him and love Him, I do communicate with Him and want to keep in constant communication and in constant fellowship with Him.

Victory

Verse 15

Colossians 2:15 NASB95

15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Victorious in Him (v. 15). Jesus not only dealt with sin and the Law on the cross, but He also dealt with Satan. Speaking about His crucifixion, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The death of Christ on the cross looked like a great victory for Satan, but it turned out to be a great defeat from which Satan cannot recover.

So, the cross of Jesus Christ is the place where victory over Satan was complete.

Satan,

bringing Jesus to the cross, raising up the people against Him, but it was at the cross where Jesus defeated him.

For the law had a claim on us because we had violated the law and thus, we had to die. Satan had a claim on us because we had served Satan, and the wages of serving Satan is death, but Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law. He redeemed us from the power of Satan. He purchased us. Where? At the cross. There He paid the price, because He died in our place. And so, He spoiled the principalities and powers. He triumphed over them there in the cross. The cross is the open display of the victory of Jesus.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: Saints Alive—And Alert (Colossians 2:4–15)

You and I share in His victory over the devil. We need not worry about the elemental forces that govern the planets and try to influence men’s lives. The satanic armies of principalities and powers are defeated and disgraced! As we claim the victory of Christ, use the equipment He has provided for us (Eph. 6:10ff), and trust Him, we are free from the influence of the devil.

What a wonderful position and provision we have in Christ! Are we living up to it by faith?

Conclusion

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

(Eph 6:10–11).

What a wonderful position and provision we have in Christ! Are we living up to it by faith?