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, 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. 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.
Colossians 2:11–13
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:1-4
If Noah had any doubts, I imagine that they quickly faded away as the rain finally began to fall. Genesis 6 tells us that within a few very long generations after Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden’s Garden, “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). This grieved the LORD, so He decided to destroy humanity. He would wash the earth clean from the wickedness that dwelt upon it. He would pour water down from heaven and open up the deeps from within the earth. Through the flood, God would undo His creation, returning the earth to a watery state of being formless and void.
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). God’s grace came to Noah, and He commanded Noah to build an ark. Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, and a portion of every animal species upon the earth would float safely upon the waters until the LORD returned the waters back to their places within the earth and sky. Indeed, by the time that the earth had dried and Noah could step back onto the ground, he was stepping onto a remade earth. Perhaps the purge had worked. Evil had been washed away. Noah and his family could begin to reclaim the Garden.
Yet, however clean and new the earth looked, sin’s curse was still firmly within it and within every human heart. “Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent” (Genesis 9:20-21). Despite his faithfulness to God, Noah could not bring rest from sin’s curse, for he was just as infected as anyone else. A greater Noah was needed, one whose obedience to God would not merely bring his family safely through physical waters but would bring many sons safely through the righteous wrath of God and into glory with Him. A greater flood was also needed. One that would not merely wash away the outside and give and appearance of a new creation, but one that would cleanse the human heart and be the start of God’s work in making all things new. Of course, Jesus is that greater Noah, and every time one of His disciples is baptized in the Triune Name, we testify that the great flood is here, washing across all nations until the day that every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord.
UNTO THE PARTY BAPTIZED
As evangelical Protestants we’ve been very careful to avoid the error of thinking that baptism somehow saves a person. But in our desire to safeguard against that particular misunderstanding, we’ve inadvertently fallen into another misunderstanding. Nowadays many evangelicals treat baptism as though it were an optional part of the Christian life, treating it like a baby announcement we sent to family and friends, sharing the good news that we have become a Christian.[1]
Last week, we dove straight into that tension, facing how baptism can be significant enough for Peter to say that it saves you, while also noting why Peter was not saying that baptism is the washing away of sin itself. Indeed, I think that Sproul gives a great distinction by saying:
I asserted that baptism is not necessary for salvation. However, if you were to ask me, “Is baptism necessary for the Christian?” I would say, “Absolutely.” It is not necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience, because Christ, with no ambiguity, commanded that all those who belong to Him, who are part of the new covenant family, and who receive the benefits of His salvation are to be baptized in the Trinitarian formula.
That is a fitting way of maintaining the importance of baptism, while also avoiding the error of baptismal regeneration. Ultimately, baptism is an ordinance given to us by our Lord as a sign of our salvation in Him. All signs are necessarily pointing to something beyond themselves. For instance, the point a welcome sign into a city is not to become fixated upon the sign itself but to let travelers know what city they are entering. Similarly, baptism is a visual and tangible sign of our redemption in Christ. Therefore, to properly understand baptism, we must look through it to what it signifies. That is our aim here and next week, to consider the inward and outward testimony of baptism respectively. While there is a significant corporate element to baptism, for Christ has saved us not become lone wolf Christians but to belong to His body, the most immediate significance of baptism is to the person being baptized. Therefore, that is rightly what the 1689 Confession focuses on:
Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.
As we noted last week, Christian baptism is a far greater baptism than the baptism of John. John’s baptism was rooted in the anticipation of Christ’s coming, but our baptism is now rooted in the resurrection of Christ, that is to say, His accomplished work of redemption and triumph over the grave. However, they are alike in purpose and mode. Both were practiced through immersion, and both were external signs of internal repentance. That is why Peter called baptism “an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). As such, baptism is most fundamentally a visible sign to the person who is making their appeal of repentance and faith, that is, the person being baptized.
In its first footnote, the 1689 cites three texts of Scripture that will wonderfully present to us what baptism signifies to the person being baptized: Colossians 2:11-12 and Romans 6:1-5.
CIRCUMCISED: COLOSSIANS 2:11-12
First, let us go to Colossians 2, and while we will focus upon verses 11-12, let us read verses 8-15 that we might glimpse their broader context:
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 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, 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. 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, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
In these verses, the Apostle Paul is urging the Colossians to cling steadfastly to their salvation in Jesus Christ rather than being taken captive by any number of the world’s philosophies and deceits. In reminding them of their salvation, Paul tells them that Christ has circumcised them but “with a circumcision made without hands.”
In the Old Testament, circumcision was the sign of belonging to the people of God, of being the children of Abraham. Abraham himself was commanded to be circumcised two chapters after we are told that the patriarch was justified through faith: “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Yet in Deuteronomy 30:6, we find the LORD bringing a deeper meaning to circumcision:
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.
What is a circumcision of the heart mean? It is the promise of the new covenant that Christ would mediate. During the physical act of circumcision, a piece of the flesh is cut off, leaving the recipient permanently changed and marked. Thus, it is a proper metaphor for what God would do through Christ:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Ezekiel 36:25–27
God would take the salvation of His people into His own hands, cutting away their sinful desires and implanting within them a new desire to walk in obedience to Him. That is what Paul means by “the circumcision of Christ” in verse 11. Christ has put off our body of flesh; He has removed our heart of stone and given us a heart of flesh.
Verse 12 then describes baptism as the sign of our circumcision in Christ: “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.” Again, notice carefully that Paul not corresponding baptism to the physical practice of circumcision but to the inner circumcision of the heart. Just as circumcision was used as a picture of Israel’s need to have their sinful flesh removed, Paul now says that baptism is our sign of Christ doing just that. Indeed, baptism is a much more immersive sign because rather than signifying the removal of a piece of flesh it signifies the death and resurrection of the baptized with Christ. To understand the wonders of that imagery more clearly, we will turn to our next text.
However, before moving on, it is worth noting two grand words in verse 12 that are easy to overlook: through faith. John Piper has said that these two words did more to keep him a credobaptist than any other. Baptism is a marvelous sign of our burial and resurrection with Christ through our faith in Him. Again, this indicates that baptism is fundamentally tied to the faith, belief, confession, and repentance of the person being baptized, rather than of their parents.
DEAD: ROMANS 6:1-4
What does it mean that baptism is a picture of our burial with Christ? Let us seek to answer that question through Romans 6:1-4:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
In Romans 5, Paul labored to explain the great grace given to us through our salvation in Christ. He then begins chapter 6 by answering beforehand what could become a misunderstanding of the gospel. By asking hypothetically, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?,” he cutting off ahead of time the thought that further sin will only further exalt Christ’s glorious grace in saving us. If His mercy is indeed more than all of our sin, then the greater our sin is the greater His mercy will be displayed.
Paul emphatically says, “No!” “By no means!” This is a visceral reaction from Paul indicating a revulsion at the very thought of it. But he then moves on to explain how the thought of a Christian gladly continuing on in sin is unthinkable. Our baptism is, as the 1689 said, a sign of fellowship with Christ in His death and resurrection. For us, being baptized into death with Christ is a picture of our death to sin. John Murray explains:
All for whom Christ died also died in Christ. All who died in Christ rose again with Christ. This rising again with Christ is a rising to newness of life after the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. To die with Christ is, therefore, to die to sin and to rise with him to the life of new obedience, to live not to ourselves but to him who died for us and rose again. The inference is inevitable that those for whom Christ died are those and those only who die to sin and live to righteousness.[2]
Of course, it is the Holy Spirit who actually does put to death our old selves and raise us to life in Christ, but water baptism is a physical sign of that spiritual work. And it is a fitting sign. One of the catechism questions that I ask my girls is: how much does sin affect you? The answer: every part of me. That is, of course, what we mean by the doctrine of total depravity rather than utter depravity. By God’s grace, no one is a sinful as they could be. Nevertheless, every part of us (body, mind, heart, soul) is corrupted and distorted by the curse of sin. The full body immersion of the believer is testament that every inch of us dies with Christ and is raised to newness of life in Him.
As all those who have been baptized will be able to affirm, this does not mean the removal of sin and the desire for sin entirely from the believer. That will only happen upon our physical death or the return of Christ, whichever happens first. Indeed, in chapter 7, Paul will notably lament his own war against his own sin. However, all those who are in Christ have died to their sin. Their slavery to sin has been broken. Although a Christian will continue to wrestle against sin all of his or her life, it will be just that, a wrestling. Upon conversion, the Holy Spirit puts in believers the desire to reject sin and walk in obedience to God. This is the law written upon the heart of all who belong to the new covenant. Or as Jeremiah 32:40 says, “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” That is the good news of the new covenant in Christ. Because does not turn away from doing good to us, He gives us His Spirit through the atonement of Christ and becomes the very one who causes us to not turn away from Him.
Indeed, we have died with Christ in order to “walk in newness of life.” What does that newness of life look like? Verses 11-14 of the same chapter give us great answer:
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
We walk in the newness of life by rejecting sin and obeying God. Yet notice particularly verse 14. Although we will still war against sin, sin will have no dominion over those who are in Christ. Why? Because we are under grace rather than the law. The grace of Christ is not a freedom from obeying God and a liberty to sin; instead, it is a liberty from sin and a freedom to obey God. Living under the law inevitably strengthens sins control over us by heaping condemnation upon us. The grace of our forgiveness in Christ does away with our rightful condemnation once for all, freeing us to actually want to obey and to delight in obeying Him. Indeed, those who have died with Christ can do no less.
Consider Paul’s words in the remainder of Romans 6:
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 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. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
vv. 15-23
We are slaves to whatever we submit ourselves to in obedience. Despite what the world continues to declare, obeying only your own wants and desires is not the path to freedom. Obeying yourself inevitably means that you will be obeying your own sin, and death is the outcome. Our glad submission to Christ means that we are slaves to Him, but it also means life and true freedom.
That is the testimony of baptism to each person baptized. Your heart of stone has been removed through the true circumcision of Christ, you have been buried with Christ to all of our sin, and since sin no longer has dominion over you, you were raised to new life in Christ to walk in joyful obedience to Him. Or perhaps we could simply say that the imagery of baptism is a visible proclamation of Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
After raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead, Jesus charged her family to give us something to eat (Mark 5:43). The dead, after all, have no desire or need for food, but the living require continual sustenance. Similarly, those who have been buried and raised to new life in Christ will have a newly awakened hunger for true food and drink. They will hunger for Jesus Himself who is the true manna come down from heaven and the living water that satisfies the deepest thirst of our souls. And just as baptism is a real-world picture of our death and resurrection in Christ, the Lord’s Supper is a sign of our continual desire for and satisfaction in Christ. Again, this is why the two ordinances ought to be properly placed and not severed from one another. Can the dead eat? Of course not. Thus, the sign of our being raised to life ought to come before the sign of our living in Christ. Conversely, for the living to have no desire for food and drink is, at best, an indication of illness in the heart or body or both. Thus, those who are baptized ought to desire the Lord’s Supper, and something is amiss if they do not.
Therefore, as we come to our King’s Table, let us rejoice that our Lord gave Himself for us, redeeming us from our slavery to sin and death at the price of His own undeserved death. He was drowned under the wrath of God, so that we could be remade in His likeness. As we eat this bread and drink this cup, let us taste and see the goodness of our King who has given us life everlasting in Himself.
[1] Todd Wilson, Galatians: Gospel-rooted Living, 128.
[2] Cited in Geoffrey Wilson, New Testament Commentaries Vol 1, 69.
B. C. Newton 