Most everyone is aware
that in Old Testament times beginning with Abraham God required that the males
among whom he was in covenant relationship with be circumcised or else be cut
off (excluded) from among his people. We
first read about this commandment when God made a covenant with Abraham in Gen.
17 (read especially verses 10 through 14).
It was a fleshly circumcision (v. 11), it was to "be a sign of the
covenant between me and you" (v. 11 NKJV), it was to be done on the eighth
day after birth (v. 12), and for any male that was not circumcised "that
person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." (v.
14 NKJV)
Those who were not
fleshly descendants of Abraham were not totally excluded from having a
spiritual relationship with God among the Jews.
They could become what we call proselytes as shown by Exodus 12:48,
"And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the
Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it;
and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat
it." (NKJV) To be uncircumcised was
to be unclean and unholy.
Circumcision was to be a
sign of a relationship, of a covenant that was being kept, not of one being
disregarded. It was meant not to be just
an outward act but an act that tied the heart of man to the heart of God. True an 8 day old child knows nothing of any
of this but as he grew up and was taught it was to have meaning to him,
importance. Even so, it did not work out
that way. God says in Jer. 9:26, "All
the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart." (NKJV) Fleshly circumcision did not set them apart
to God as it should have for their heart was not into a relationship with God
where they would allow God to rule over them.
Paul says of the Jews of
his own day that they sought "to establish their own righteousness"
(Rom. 10:3 NKJV) and did not submit to the righteousness of God. Of Israel of old he says they pursued the law
of righteousness but did not attain it because they sought it by works rather
than by faith (Rom. 9:31-32). The
circumcised of the Old Testament were to "walk in the steps of the faith
which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised." (Rom. 4:12
NKJV) This the majority of them did not
do. There is an important lesson in this
that needs a little explanation.
One must obey God. Disobedience is sin and will condemn a
man. The question is not whether or not
a man ought to obey for he must. Many see
an emphasis on obedience as being the same as trying to obtain heaven by
works. That is a misguided view of the
matter. The real key to the matter is
within the heart of man with the question being "why am I
obeying?" Is it because I think I
can keep the commandments of God so well that he will almost owe me heaven
(salvation by works) or is it because God gave me a command, I have faith in
him to know that he knows best, I love him, and thus my heart is such that I am
driven to obey? It becomes a matter of
the heart. Never let yourself be misled
by one belittling obedience to a command.
In reality, such a person is encouraging rebellion against God and has a
heart that is not right with God.
This brings us up to the
era of Christianity. When Christ died on
the cross, was buried, resurrected, returned to heaven, and then sent the Holy
Spirit to the apostles on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 an old era ended (the
Law of Moses) and a new era began (the era of Christianity). The Jews continued to circumcise their male
children but it was no longer required in the law of God. "Circumcision is nothing and
uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what
matters." (1 Cor. 7:19 NKJV)
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails
anything, but faith working through love." (Gal. 5:6 NKJV) "For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."
(Gal. 6:15 NKJV)
However, while
circumcision of the flesh no longer matters there is a circumcision that does
matter and always has--the circumcision of the heart. "Circumcision is that of the heart, in
the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from
God." (Rom. 2:29 NKJV) "For we
are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh." (Phil. 3:3 NKJV) The "we" in this passage are
Christians. Yes, circumcision matters--circumcision
of the heart, not circumcision of the flesh.
The heart must be right in God's sight.
In Col. 2:9-13 Paul talks
about spiritual circumcision when he says:
"For in him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in him, who is the
head of all principality and power. In
him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through
faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses." (NKJV)
Forgiveness of sins is
found in Christ. Salvation is in Christ
Jesus (2 Tim. 2:10). The phrase "in
him" is used 3 times in the passage just quoted. According to Paul elsewhere we are
"baptized into Christ Jesus" placing us "in him." (Rom. 6:3
NKJV--see also Gal. 3:27) It is in Christ
where forgiveness takes place but we enter into Christ by the process of
"putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of
Christ." (Col. 2:11 NKJV) Paul in
Rom. 6:3-8 (see especially verses 5 and 6) teaches that in baptism our old man
dies "that the body of sin might be done away with" (Rom. 6:6
NKJV). We have here parallel passages
teaching the same thing both passages having been written by the same man
inspired by the Spirit of God. One could
really summarize all of verse 11 by simply saying, "In him, you were
forgiven."
The phrase "with
him" is also used 3 times in this passage of Col. 2:9-13. We were "buried with him in
baptism" (compare with Rom. 6:4), we were "raised with him"
(compare with Rom. 6:4-5), and we were made "alive together with him"
(compare with Rom. 6:4--the last phrase).
Also, take a close look at Rom. 6:8-11 on being made alive to God and
compare it to Col. 2:13.
The last phrase of our
passage (Col. 2:9-13) confirms the connection of this spiritual circumcision
with baptism. Paul says, "having
forgiven you all trespasses" (Col. 2:13) which ties in perfectly with
Peter's command to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost when they were told to
repent and be baptized "for the remission of sins." (Acts 2:38 NKJV) We have forgiveness in both passages for when
sins are remitted they are done so by God's forgiveness of them.
To develop this line of
thought further we have Peter's statement in 1 Peter 3:21 where he says,
"There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of
the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God),
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (NKJV) Baptism is "the answer of a good
conscience toward God" thus a matter of the heart. Let us take a look at some examples showing
this.
On the Day of Pentecost
when Peter required those who believed to repent and be baptized for the
remission of sins (Acts 2:38) if you were a believer could you have turned your
back and walked away and said “I am a believer and I can have a good conscience
(a good heart) even if I defy Peter’s Holy Spirit inspired command?” Could you have done that and been truthful?
When Paul was directed
by Ananias to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins (Acts 22:16) could
Paul have walked away from it disregarding the command and said “my conscience
(my heart) is clean?” How about the
Philippian jailer (Acts 16) who could have said "see here it is already
past midnight, let's just put this thing off (baptism--Acts 16:33) to a more
convenient time when we are not all so worn out?" Yes, circumcision is a matter of the heart--what
kind of heart? I think the answer is
clear enough when you give it a little thought about what happened versus what
could have happened. The good heart
acted, obeyed the command, and was baptized.
In fleshly circumcision, a part of the physical body was cut off and cast away. In spiritual circumcision (the circumcision
of Christ) the old sinful man (sinful in heart, mind, and actions) is cast off
and replaced by a new man of the spirit.
Christ does this but he uses means to do it. By his word faith is created, the heart is
changed, and then in baptism the old man is put away and one arises from the
water to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5), a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
This is not water
salvation but salvation by faith for Paul says in Col. 2:12, one of our
principle verses, "you also were raised with him through faith in the
working of God," (NKJV) raised, that is, after being "buried with him
in baptism." (Col. 2:12 NKJV) There
is no such thing as a scriptural baptism that is not first preceded by
faith. Without faith in what God, not
man, has said about baptism and faith in what God has said he will do for us as
a result of faithfully obeying him in baptism, without that faith baptism amounts
to nothing. If you do not believe what
God said about baptism, speaking through Peter by means of the Holy Spirit in
Acts 2:38, why waste your time with it?
There is no point.
Quickly, I want to run
through three or four other passages found later in the book of Colossians
confirming what has been said. In Col.
2:20 we have this, "Therefore, if you died with Christ" (NKJV) why do
you subject yourselves to various things--things Paul then lists. How and when do we die with Christ? Paul, the writer of the book of Colossians,
says in Rom. 6:3-8 that it was in baptism.
Combine that with what Paul says here in Col. 2:20 and in Col. 2:12 and
you come to the conclusion, inevitably, that the Colossians were a baptized
group of believers. So, so what you
might say?
Here is the what--what
if you did not die with Christ in baptism?
Well, if you didn't then don't worry about what Paul has to say (Col.
2:20) for he is talking only to those who have died with Christ. Thus for those who claim to be Christians
without baptism, the circumcision performed by Christ, parts of the Bible do
not pertain to you for you never died with Christ. You die with Christ in baptism. You were not baptized.
Another similar passage
is Col. 3:1 where the text says, "If then you were raised with Christ,
seek those things which are above." (NKJV)
Well, if you were never buried with Christ in baptism you were not
raised with him (you have to be buried before you can be raised) thus you need
not concern yourself with seeking things above for this passage relates to only
a certain class of people--those who were raised with Christ.
Col. 3:3 is another like
passage. It says, "For you
died." (NKJV) This is not for you
if you never died with Christ in baptism.
“We were buried with him by baptism into death.” (Rom. 6:4 NKJV) I do not know of any passage in the Bible
anywhere that teaches one can die to sin or die with Christ other than in
baptism.
The last Colossian
passage I will use is Col. 3:9-10, "Do not lie to one another, since you
have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is
renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him."
(NKJV) We have already given the
passages that show us where the old man with his deeds was put off and the new
man put on (read Rom. 6:3-8 again and Col. 2:11-13).
Sometimes people grow
upset with the idea that God uses means to accomplish his ends. When a text says God does a thing they seem
to have the idea he must act alone--that he is not allowed to use means to
accomplish ends. If we applied that to
life as we live it daily we would readily see how ridiculous that kind of
thinking is. Am I not allowed to build a
house using hammers, saws, tape measures, squares, and even engage other men to
help me do it? God punished Judah but
the reality is he used the Babylonians to do it (read Ezekiel). What does this have to do with our topic?
Just this much--men seem
to be determined that God cannot use baptism as a means to an end he has
chosen, the end being the salvation of man.
He can use other tools if he so desires but just not this one. Why not this one? Because they see it as being something a man
must perform and salvation is a work of God, not man. Let me ask a question. Who and what cleansed Naaman of leprosy in 2
Kings 5? He was told by Elisha to go dip
in the Jordan 7 times. Naaman had
something to do. When he did it he was
cleansed.
Now let us think about
that just a little. Who really cleansed
Naaman of leprosy, was it the water, or was it God? Was Naaman saved by works or by faith? Had Naaman never heard of Elisha and had just
gone down on his own to the Jordan and dipped in it 7 times with no idea of
being cleansed but just dipping as in bathing would the water have cleansed
him? We all know the answer. God cleansed him but on a condition. What was that condition? Faith!
Do you Naaman believe me enough (Elisha was speaking to Naaman as God's
spokesperson) to go do this? If you do
you will be cleansed. If not you will
remain a leper.
As you recall Naaman
refused at first. He wanted God to heal
him merely by having Elisha speak the word--let it all depend on God, put no
burden on me. Only when time had
elapsed, others spoke to him reasoning with him, and he humbled himself and
gathered enough faith to obey was he cleansed.
However, one must always remember it is not the process that saves but
God. God could have cleansed Naaman
any way he wanted to or not cleansed him at all.
It was God's call, God's decision.
But, once God has made up his mind as to how he wants to go about
achieving an end man has no choice in the matter but either comply or
rebel. Naaman had that choice and came
close to going back home the way he came--as a leper. His change of heart leading to compliance
saved him.
It is no different with
baptism. It takes a change of heart to
get a man into the baptismal waters.
Jesus uses means to cleanse us and puts us to the test. It is not only a test of obedience but also
one of faith. The man without faith will
never submit to a baptism that is acceptable to God. He may be baptized to please his family, or
to join some manmade denomination, or for some other reason but until he
believes the scriptures and what they say about baptism and acts out of faith
in those scriptures in obedience he will never be circumcised with the
circumcision of Christ. Christ
ultimately cleanses us regardless of the conditions he imposes upon us for
doing so--faith, repentance, confession, and baptism being the conditions. A man who has complied with those conditions
out of faith in the word of God is a man who has experienced the circumcision
of Christ. He is a man with a
circumcised heart.
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