Colossians 2:11-13 – Covenant baptism

Preface

Since the issue of believers-only vs. infants and believers’ baptism is a hotly debated topic and is not explicitly spelled out in Scripture but must be inferred, and this is our practice at CPC, it is important to explicitly address this topic from Scripture, especially when we are going through a series on the Covenants.

Today I would like to show from Scripture that children are not only part of the church, but just as in the commonwealth of Israel, children are members of God’s covenant. Since they are included within the covenant, they should receive the covenant sign of membership, which in the New Testament is baptism. To be clear, we do not believe that baptism regenerates a person, but rather it is a sign of membership into God’s covenant. So, I hope to answer the questions, “Should the sign of covenant membership be given to children?”

Introduction

Do you remember how God revealed a great plan to bless the entire world through the offspring of Abraham, which is ultimately Jesus? In his plan, he said to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” Then he told Abraham to give the covenant sign of circumcision to “both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money” and that if someone doesn’t get this sign, they “shall be cut off from their people…” because they have “broken my covenant.”

I would like to show you today, from Scripture, that the old covenant sign of circumcision pointed to Christ and was fulfilled in Christ. Now, under Christ, the new covenant sign of membership, baptism, replaces this sign and is thus to be given to children.

As with anything you hear preached from this pulpit, I would ask you to be like the Bereans, who listened intently and searched the Scriptures to determine if what was being preached aligned with God’s word.

Content

I need you to understand that the burden of Colossians 2:11-13 in its greater context is not baptism, but rather holding fast to Christ instead of the signs and types that pointed to him. But before we look at Colossians 2:11-13, I would like us to look at circumcision in the OT. Where we will see our first point, True circumcision is of the heart.

Genesis 17 shows us that circumcision is a sign of the covenant of God being Israel’s God and they his people. It is, however, a dual oath sign, promising either judgment or blessing. It was given to infants of those who were covenanted with Yahweh as a sign of their membership in the covenant and who were also heirs of God’s promises.

Romans 4:11-12 teaches us that circumcision is a sign as a seal of the righteousness that Abraham had by faith. Yet, this sign was also given to people like Esau, who were not God’s. Thus, circumcision was never a seal of true faith except for those who had faith. Instead, it was a sign of judgment for those who hated God. Those who did not join faith to their circumcision were cut off from God’s presence and blessing. This is the nature of the sign. By cutting off the foreskin, it represented the cutting off of the sinful flesh and a life of living in and for God.

The next significant reference to circumcision is in Deuteronomy 10:12-16. Here Moses tells God’s people that God chose them to love him with all their being and to keep his commandments. But he also said that in order to live like this, they must “Circumcise the foreskin of their heart, and no longer be stubborn.” In other words, outward circumcision wasn’t enough; they must have circumcised hearts.

Then later in chapter 30, Moses gives the covenant blessings and curses for following or not following God. Here he also says that their own strength and a mere outward sign of circumcision aren’t enough. They needed an inward reality that could only come from God performing the circumcision, but not of their flesh, but rather of their hearts. In verse 6, it says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” Life is promised not by the sign of circumcision, but by the inward reality of their faith in God through Christ, but notice how the promise of a new heart is to them and their offspring.

This is why Paul in Romans 2:28-3:8 explains that circumcision is not truly beneficial to make someone a true child of the covenant unless it happens in the heart. Mere circumcision of the flesh is only an outward sign of what must be inward reality. Circumcision joins a person to the covenant people of God, making them a member and allowing them to hear of the promises of salvation that God offers to those who have faith in Christ. He goes on to explain that the advantage of being circumcised was that they had access to the oracles of God as members of the covenant. In other words, they heard God’s redemption plan and were offered new life by faith. But unless it was joined by faith, it brought covenant beakers without faith under God’s judgment. For Paul, the giving of the covenant sign of circumcision to covenant breakers wasn’t a problem. God would bring them under judgment for their rebellion and lack of faith in Christ. They would glorify God in his judgment against them on the final day for their rejection of the free offer of salvation in Christ.

This is why we see within this sign of circumcision in Genesis 17:14 a double oath: a blessing and a curse. If someone had faith joined to their circumcision, then they would enter God’s blessings, yet if they refused the sign or refused to give it to their household, they would be cut off from God’s covenant. Yet, there is also another curse, a curse of judgment for those who do not join faith to their circumcision. They would be cut off from the presence and mercy of God, like the flesh that was cut off. The blood represented death, and those without faith would die in their sins, separated from Christ’s body. They would be destroyed and judged, condemned by the very sign they were given.

This is why Jeremiah 4:4 warned God’s covenant people that they would receive judgment if they did not have hearts that were circumcised; in other words, had true faith. And also, why Stephen called the circumcised Jews who were about to kill him for his faith in Christ, a stiff-necked people who were uncircumcised in heart and ears. They had no faith joined with the sign, so they were covenant breakers. They resisted the Holy Spirit who was speaking through the sign, pointing to the redemption offered in Christ.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke about the fulfillment of the promise of a circumcised heart in 31:33b, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” The fulfillment of the covenant sign of circumcision would be found in Christ’s redemption and the gift of the Spirit to those who had been blessed with faith. Christ would circumcise their hearts.

Now, in Colossians 2:11, we find our second point: true believers are Circumcised by Christ. The bottom line is this: the sign of circumcision is fulfilled in Christ alone. It pointed to him as the only one who could circumcise his people effectively. He, Jesus, Yahweh, as seen in Deut. 30:6, must do the circumcision, and it must be in the heart. The way this comes about is by giving his people faith in him.

Verses 11-12 make a connection between circumcision and baptism. Just as “circumcision” of the believer is equated with “the circumcision of Christ” (i.e. cutting off believers from their identity with the old man and their old, sinful self) (v. 11), so also, “baptism” signifies “having been buried with him” (i.e. believer’s identification with Christ’s death), and also representing Christians being “raised up with him” (v. 12).

The spiritual circumcision (without hands) does not simply identify us with Christ’s death but also includes resurrection life. The idea of life connects 11 and 13. The process of coming out from under the “circumcision of the flesh” (v. 13) is spiritual circumcision. Both spiritual circumcision and baptism refer to identification with Christ’s death and resurrection. This is why OT physical circumcision is no longer required, even though it was part of an everlasting covenant. As a type, it has been fulfilled in end-time spiritual circumcision and is no longer needed for entrance into the new covenant community. Instead, spiritual “circumcision made without hands” and “baptism” are ongoing realities that designate entrance into the covenant community.

Verses 11-12a show us that Christ circumcised us. He did it 1) without hands (by the Spirit); 2) by the removal of the body of flesh; 3) by the circumcision of Christ; 4) by being buried with Christ in baptism. How do we think of this? If being buried with Christ in baptism is the equivalent to spiritual circumcision, and spiritual circumcision is the fulfillment to which physical circumcision pointed, then being buried with Christ in baptism is equivalent to spiritual circumcision and should be seen as the typological fulfillment of OT circumcision…in Christ, we are truly circumcised. In other words, in Jesus, the covenant (Gen. 17:14) has not been broken, for we are truly circumcised.

And so, if physical baptism stands in the background behind being buried with Christ in baptism, then even the liturgy of baptism is seen to function equivalently to the OT physical rite of circumcision since being buried with Christ in baptism stands behind spiritual circumcision in this passage. So, both physical and spiritual circumcision are likely identified with physical baptism in this passage.

Circumcision (physical and spiritual) and its equivalent in baptism (physical and being buried with him in baptism) give yet another example of how Christ transforms one of Israel’s most explicit distinguishing marks to represent his person and work.

On to our third point, which is seen in 12-13, Baptized into Christ. Circumcision was a dual-oath sign, it included both death and life. Baptism is a dual-oath sign as well. In Colossians 2:12, baptism is signified as being identified both with Christ’s curse of death and with his resurrection to life. Being baptized into Christ includes both being buried with him and raising with him. In baptism, the descent into the water represented the curse of death, and the ascent from the water represented the resurrection to life.

Circumcision signified being set apart from a cursed state and being set apart to a blessed condition for a believing Israelite. But for the unbelieving Israelite, it signified that the person is not cut off from the curse but remains under the curse. The unbeliever was cut off from the living God.

Likewise, baptism for the true believer represents being separated from the old man by identification with Christ’s death and being set apart to the new man through his resurrection. In other words, they are cut off from the old life and set apart for new life. But for false Christians, pseudo believers, who fail to persevere though they have been baptized, they are outwardly identified with Christ’s death and resurrection. If they, however, are not buried with Christ, having faith in Christ, they do not overcome the curse of death through the resurrection of Christ since they don’t have the reality of the symbol of Christ’s vicarious death and resurrection that is seen in baptism. Thus, they are only partly spiritually identified with the baptismal curse sign of death, but not the spiritual sign of resurrection, so they remain under the condition of spiritual death. They remain in their sins and are condemned because they do not possess the full reality of the baptismal curse sign symbolizing Christ’s substitutionary death on their behalf. They spiritually experience death, which is the inward reality of the external curse sign of their baptism.

You can see this dual-oath sign for baptism in the NT in 1 Cor. 10:1-5. The Israelites were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the Red sea. They all ate and drank the same spiritual food from the spiritual Rock that was Christ, but for some, it was life, and for others, it was death. For those whom God was not pleased with, they were overthrown in the wilderness. These idolaters who loved food may have fed and drank from Christ, but it wasn’t joined with faith, so they ate and drank judgment. The waters of baptism may have washed over them, but they were ultimately washed away by the flood waters of judgment. Their circumcision was not joined with faith, so they were cut off from God’s presence and blessings though they even ate and drank of spiritual food. God allowed them to have the sign of the covenant, but they ultimately tasted the judgment part of that sign.

In 1 Pet. 3:20-21 we see that Noah and his family were brought safely through the waters, but those outside the ark were killed in the water. The same sign killed some and saved others. Baptism, as Peter says saves us, but not in some physical way, but as an appeal to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, baptism represents the reality of our death and resurrection with Christ. For those who receive the sign as pseudo-believers, they experience part of the sign, the judgment, that is, death. But for those who receive the sign in faith, it is part of their salvation in that it is an appeal to God that they are truly united to Christ in his death and resurrection. Their sins were poured upon Christ in his death, and they died in him, and their life has been raised with Christ and so are alive with him, living in his resurrection power and life.

Conclusion

I want to wrap this up by saying that baptism is the redemptive-historical and typological equivalent to circumcision. It is natural that the NT equivalent to circumcision, baptism, would also be applied to infants. We need to remember that even with “adult baptism” or “believer’s baptism,” baptism does not necessarily connote only salvation, but as a covenantal sign it conveys notions of both blessing and cursing. The reality is that it is only a person’s life of perseverance (held by Christ and holding on to him until the end) that determines which aspect of the water sign is realized in the baptized person.

We need to realize that, just as in the OT, the new covenant community is a mixed community of true believers and professing believers (what I call pseudo-Christians). This is why Jesus told his disciples to let God sort it out in the end. Therefore, baptizing our children does not violate a biblical-theological understanding of baptism but supports it.

Scripture teaches that we should baptize our children because they are part of God’s covenant; they, like the Israelites, receive God's oracles. They must decide themselves whether or not they will drink of the rock of Christ by faith or just drink of Christ for their own benefit.

The reality is that everyone who is a part of the church is responsible for joining any outward sign with an inward reality. Here is my question for you today: Are you drinking from Christ with faith, living out the reality of a circumcised heart? If so, then you will continue to taste of the gifts of the Spirit both now and forevermore with God. Or are you drinking from Christ without faith, receiving his benefits, but haven’t truly had your heart circumcised by Christ? If so, then you are tasting of the gifts of the Spirit without his presence, and so you are dead in your sins and will be washed away in the floodwaters of judgment forevermore without God.

One final note: If you trust in Christ in faith, having your heart circumcised by him, and you haven’t been baptized, you should obey Jesus’ command in Matthew 28 and be baptized, joining your faith with the physical sign of baptism. While it won’t save you, it in some sense does confer real benefits.