Col 2:11 | KingComments | STEP | . It is really amazing that you have been made complete in Him. Now therefore it is understandable that the question arises: ‘How did I come in Him?’ Paul explains this in the verses we have before us now. You have become one with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection. By faith you must know that what happened to Him when He died and rose again has happened at the same moment with you too. The word “circumcision” refers to a practice of the people of Israel in the Old Testament. God placed this as the sign of the covenant He made with Abraham and his descendants ( ). What happened then does not happen here again literally, “made without hands”, but it has a spiritual meaning. This circumcision took place "in the removal of the body of the flesh" and indeed at the very moment when “the circumcision of Christ” took place. Circumcision means that something is cut off thoroughly. For the people of Israel that was the cutting away of the foreskin. Spiritually it means the body – a generic term for all that serves the sinful flesh to express itself – is totally cut off. This cutting away happened through the judgment the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross. Of course “the circumcision of Christ” has absolutely nothing to do with the literal circumcision that happened with Him on the eighth day after His birth ( ). That circumcision happened with hands indeed. But the spiritual significance of circumcision is the judgment of the flesh. In Christ God condemned sin in the flesh ( ). You are circumcised in Him. In the judgment that struck Him, you see the judgment that struck you. That He bore this judgment in your stead does not change the fact that it was executed on you. Only, when God judged you, you were in Him. . Your being one with Him does not stop with that. Death is followed by burial. Burial is the confirmation and the validation of death. Your burial in fact is the signature which certifies this statement. When you are baptized you publicly declare the truth that Christ bore the judgment for you. You show outwardly what happened in you inwardly. You draw the full consequences of your being one with Him by breaking all ties with the world at the very moment of your baptism. One cannot think of a more radical break with the world than being dead and buried. When you think of it, it will keep you from returning to the world and from its influences. Through your conversion and baptism, and through your death and burial, you no longer exist for the world. This marks the end of your old life and at the same time the beginning of a new life in a new world. You have entered into this new world “through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead”. The fact that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead is proof that the work is done perfectly. Everything is in order. Whether you feel it now or not the fact remains the same. The question now is not whether you feel it, but whether you believe it. As good as you see your own judgment in His judgment you may see your raising up in His raising up by God. Are you aware of how far reaching the consequences of your own connection with Christ are? . Well, you now know how you came to be in Him. But how does it look now with all the things that you were, with all the sins you have committed before this time? Can they be held against you again? There is a sufficient answer to this question. That answer silences everything that opposes your perfection in Christ. You fully agree that you were “dead in your transgressions”. Dead in this instance means the total absence of any movement toward God. There is also nothing in this death to which the benevolent desire of God could be directed. You were dead to God and thereby you were not concerned about God’s commandments, but you transgressed them. That was because you were dead in the uncircumcision of your flesh. You followed the affections of your sinful, unjudged flesh ( ). Into that state of death and the evil lifestyle and mindset that comes with it, God has brought life by connecting you to His Son. God found perfect satisfaction in His work. He proved that by raising the Lord Jesus from the dead. His resurrection and the fact that you have been made alive with Him is the assurance of the forgiveness of your sins. All sins are forgiven without exception. The life of the Son and your life in Him give no room for a single question that can be raised regarding any sin that you ever committed. If you are made alive with Him all your sins are forgiven. Possession of life proves that sin is put away because it is resurrection life. Sin cannot enter the area of resurrection. . At the end of Paul changes from ‘you’ to ‘us’. He now says something that is primarily purposed for the Jews. It does not mean that it is not written for you. You will see that you received freedom in addition to life and forgiveness. But to understand the power of his words, it is important to bear in mind whereof he speaks in the first place. The “certificate of debt” is an acknowledgment of debt whereby a person by his signature undertakes to satisfy its contents. That is exactly what Israel had done. When the Lord gave them the law, here called “decrees”, on Mount Sinai they declared: “All that the LORD has spoken we will do” ( ). Soon this declaration became their adversary. Very quickly it became clear that the conduct of their life was completely contrary to the statutes of which they had said they would keep them. The law was an unbearable yoke ( ). Their debt grew larger and larger, prohibitively large. Then Christ came. He paid the debt and took it out of the way. He canceled out the certificate of debt, He tore it up. One takes something out of the way which hinders his pathway or his work. This literally means to make something disappear completely so it doesn’t matter anymore. This is what happened on the cross. There you see that it did not happen by nailing something to the cross but by nailing Someone to the cross. The same word “nail” is found in the imprint of the nails which was visible in His hands after His resurrection ( ). It must be clear to every Jew who believes in Christ that the death of Christ made the very requirement of the law powerless. How easier it is for him to breath now! The threat that comes from the law is over. He is made alive with Christ and therefore he should know by experience what kind of life he has received in Him – the kind of life that can be received in no other way. What foolishness it would be to give it up by wanting to put oneself under the law again. If you are not a Jew you never were under the law. But it is applicable to you also. What a folly it would be if you subject yourself again to what has been taken out of the way by Christ, even if the intention behind it could be out of gratitude! . You are freed from the law because you are dead. You are saved from death because you have been made alive with Christ. And you are also saved from the power of satan and all his demons because the cross is the victory over the forces of evil. Life, liberty and victory are your portion in Christ. It was precisely by going into death that He disarmed the one who had the power of death ( ). He achieved victory before all eyes. The enemy is not only eliminated, he also is humiliated. There is not a single reason to give him any tribute. All honor belongs only to Him Who was crucified in weakness and overcame in this way. What is weaker and more humiliating than to hang on a cross? But thus He gained complete victory. The triumph is complete. Now read Colossians 2:11-15 again. Reflection: Count everything by which you are made one with Christ and what He has done for you. Thank Him for it.

‏ Colossians 2:11

In Him, With Him

Col 2:11. It is really amazing that you have been made complete in Him. Now therefore it is understandable that the question arises: ‘How did I come in Him?’ Paul explains this in the verses we have before us now. You have become one with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection. By faith you must know that what happened to Him when He died and rose again has happened at the same moment with you too.

The word “circumcision” refers to a practice of the people of Israel in the Old Testament. God placed this as the sign of the covenant He made with Abraham and his descendants (Gen 17:9-14 ; 23-27). What happened then does not happen here again literally, “made without hands”, but it has a spiritual meaning. This circumcision took place "in the removal of the body of the flesh" and indeed at the very moment when “the circumcision of Christ” took place.

Circumcision means that something is cut off thoroughly. For the people of Israel that was the cutting away of the foreskin. Spiritually it means the body – a generic term for all that serves the sinful flesh to express itself – is totally cut off. This cutting away happened through the judgment the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross.

Of course “the circumcision of Christ” has absolutely nothing to do with the literal circumcision that happened with Him on the eighth day after His birth (Lk 2:21). That circumcision happened with hands indeed. But the spiritual significance of circumcision is the judgment of the flesh. In Christ God condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3).

You are circumcised in Him. In the judgment that struck Him, you see the judgment that struck you. That He bore this judgment in your stead does not change the fact that it was executed on you. Only, when God judged you, you were in Him.

Col 2:12. Your being one with Him does not stop with that. Death is followed by burial. Burial is the confirmation and the validation of death. Your burial in fact is the signature which certifies this statement. When you are baptized you publicly declare the truth that Christ bore the judgment for you. You show outwardly what happened in you inwardly. You draw the full consequences of your being one with Him by breaking all ties with the world at the very moment of your baptism. One cannot think of a more radical break with the world than being dead and buried. When you think of it, it will keep you from returning to the world and from its influences.

Through your conversion and baptism, and through your death and burial, you no longer exist for the world. This marks the end of your old life and at the same time the beginning of a new life in a new world. You have entered into this new world “through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead”. The fact that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead is proof that the work is done perfectly.

Everything is in order. Whether you feel it now or not the fact remains the same. The question now is not whether you feel it, but whether you believe it. As good as you see your own judgment in His judgment you may see your raising up in His raising up by God. Are you aware of how far reaching the consequences of your own connection with Christ are?

Col 2:13. Well, you now know how you came to be in Him. But how does it look now with all the things that you were, with all the sins you have committed before this time? Can they be held against you again? There is a sufficient answer to this question. That answer silences everything that opposes your perfection in Christ.

You fully agree that you were “dead in your transgressions”. Dead in this instance means the total absence of any movement toward God. There is also nothing in this death to which the benevolent desire of God could be directed. You were dead to God and thereby you were not concerned about God’s commandments, but you transgressed them. That was because you were dead in the uncircumcision of your flesh. You followed the affections of your sinful, unjudged flesh (Rom 8:6-7).

Into that state of death and the evil lifestyle and mindset that comes with it, God has brought life by connecting you to His Son. God found perfect satisfaction in His work. He proved that by raising the Lord Jesus from the dead. His resurrection and the fact that you have been made alive with Him is the assurance of the forgiveness of your sins. All sins are forgiven without exception.

The life of the Son and your life in Him give no room for a single question that can be raised regarding any sin that you ever committed. If you are made alive with Him all your sins are forgiven. Possession of life proves that sin is put away because it is resurrection life. Sin cannot enter the area of resurrection.

Col 2:14. At the end of Col 2:13 Paul changes from ‘you’ to ‘us’. He now says something that is primarily purposed for the Jews. It does not mean that it is not written for you. You will see that you received freedom in addition to life and forgiveness. But to understand the power of his words, it is important to bear in mind whereof he speaks in the first place.

The “certificate of debt” is an acknowledgment of debt whereby a person by his signature undertakes to satisfy its contents. That is exactly what Israel had done. When the Lord gave them the law, here called “decrees”, on Mount Sinai they declared: “All that the LORD has spoken we will do” (Exo 19:8 ; Exo 24:3 ; 7). Soon this declaration became their adversary. Very quickly it became clear that the conduct of their life was completely contrary to the statutes of which they had said they would keep them. The law was an unbearable yoke (Acts 15:10). Their debt grew larger and larger, prohibitively large.

Then Christ came. He paid the debt and took it out of the way. He canceled out the certificate of debt, He tore it up. One takes something out of the way which hinders his pathway or his work. This literally means to make something disappear completely so it doesn’t matter anymore. This is what happened on the cross. There you see that it did not happen by nailing something to the cross but by nailing Someone to the cross. The same word “nail” is found in the imprint of the nails which was visible in His hands after His resurrection (Jn 20:25).

It must be clear to every Jew who believes in Christ that the death of Christ made the very requirement of the law powerless. How easier it is for him to breath now! The threat that comes from the law is over. He is made alive with Christ and therefore he should know by experience what kind of life he has received in Him – the kind of life that can be received in no other way.

What foolishness it would be to give it up by wanting to put oneself under the law again. If you are not a Jew you never were under the law. But it is applicable to you also. What a folly it would be if you subject yourself again to what has been taken out of the way by Christ, even if the intention behind it could be out of gratitude!

Col 2:15. You are freed from the law because you are dead. You are saved from death because you have been made alive with Christ. And you are also saved from the power of satan and all his demons because the cross is the victory over the forces of evil. Life, liberty and victory are your portion in Christ. It was precisely by going into death that He disarmed the one who had the power of death (Heb 2:14). He achieved victory before all eyes. The enemy is not only eliminated, he also is humiliated. There is not a single reason to give him any tribute.

All honor belongs only to Him Who was crucified in weakness and overcame in this way. What is weaker and more humiliating than to hang on a cross? But thus He gained complete victory. The triumph is complete.

Now read Colossians 2:11-15 again.

Reflection: Count everything by which you are made one with Christ and what He has done for you. Thank Him for it.