‘In whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.'
In Christ all who are His are circumcised with a spiritual circumcision. They do not need to be circumcised physically, for they have experienced something far greater. Physical circumcision, and the shedding of blood it entailed, was but a picture, pointing ahead to that great ‘circumcision of Christ' when His blood was shed and He was cast off, not just a small part of Him, but His whole body on the cross, a sacrifice for sin. We too, once we have come to Him in confident trust that He will work within us, have died with Him, have put off the body of flesh, have been buried with Him, and have also been raised through faith in the working of God Who raised Him from the dead (Romans 6:4-11; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:1-10).
‘A circumcision not made with hands.' This spiritual circumcision was already referred to in the Old Testament. It is found in Exodus 6:12; Exodus 6:30 where reference is made to uncircumcised lips which are thus unclean and unworthy; in Deuteronomy 10:16 where it refers to the heart being ‘circumcised' resulting in humility and obedience (compare Jeremiah 4:4; Ezekiel 44:7; Ezekiel 44:9); in Deuteronomy 30:6 where it refers again to the circumcision of the heart which results in men loving God with their whole being; and in Jeremiah 6:10 where the uncircumcised heart is the one that does not listen to God (compare Jeremiah 31:33, where God will make His people hearers of His word by spiritual work within them). Thus this spiritual circumcision produces pure lips, responsive hearing, humility and obedience and a heart filled with love for God.
‘In the stripping right off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ.' This spiritual circumcision results from being united with Christ in His death. This results in our ‘stripping right off' the body of flesh, that is, our fleshly attitude and behaviour with its consequent rebellion against God, even as Christ through His sacrificial death put off His body which was bearing our sins (1 Peter 2:24). This ‘body of flesh' is elsewhere described as ‘the body of sin' which is done away in Christ's death (Romans 6:6); ‘this body of death' because its behaviour results in death (Romans 7:24), and ‘the body of our humiliation', referring to our sinful and unworthy condition (Philippians 3:21).
‘Through the circumcision of Christ.' Not a participation in His earthly circumcision but in His greater, more extreme, circumcision through the cross, which ratified the new covenant as circumcision had the old. By participation with Him in His cross we become members of the new covenant. Alternately, but less likely, it may mean ‘through the spiritual circumcision that Christ wrought in us'.
‘Having been buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you were raised with Him.' The primary baptism in mind here is the ‘spiritual baptism' described in 1 Corinthians 12:13, where he says ‘by One Spirit we were all baptised into one body --- and were all made to drink of one Spirit'. This is describing the result of the work of the Spirit on the heart, which then results, for the convert, in physical baptism in water which symbolises it. As the circumcision described is spiritual and not physical so is the primary idea of ‘baptism'. The ‘baptism (drenching) in Holy Spirit' refers to the coming work of the Spirit constantly described in the prophets in terms of drenching rain (see especially Isaiah 44:3-5), and that was what John the Baptiser's baptism symbolised. He spoke always in terms of such fruitfulness of nature and never in terms of washing.
(It is quite remarkable how many in the church have sidelined the clear background to early baptism in fruitful cornfields and fruitful trees resulting from the rain, the basis of John the Baptiser's teaching, and the drinking of water from springs fed by those rains which Jesus emphasised (John 4). See also John 7:37-38), where the fruitful rain and the drinking are in mind in context (it was at a rain ceremony). While His ‘born from above' (John 3:6) clearly has the rains in mind. Both ideas were based on the prophetic references to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in terms of such rain (Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:3-5). This failure was because much of the later church was so taken up with religious ceremony that it looked for pure religious ceremony in it. So they seized on Old Testament washings for its background, in spite of the fact that such washings were never directly connected with cleansing from sin (except when sprinkled with sacrificial ashes). They did not in themselves cleanse - ‘shall not be clean until the evening' is a constant refrain - and the New Testament never connects baptism with such ideas except to deny it - 1 Peter 3:21).
Paul may well have in mind here the idea of the water of baptism being like a grave into which a man goes to rise again, but it is not his own grave but the grave of Christ in which he is buried and it is His resurrection in which he partakes. And this too is agriculturally connected, for the corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies (John 12:24). So this follows the idea of a dead nature springing into new life with the re-commencement of the rains, and depicts what has already taken place in the convert's life, sealed by his baptism outwardly because he has already received the seal of the Spirit inwardly.
(It should be noted that baptism is never specifically described as washing, it is a symbol of new life in the Spirit. It is ‘the word' which is said to wash (Ephesians 5:26), and ritual washings were never said to ‘cleanse' directly. They were regularly accompanied by the phrase ‘and shall not be clean until the evening'. They were a mere preparation, a removing of physical defilement, for the waiting on a holy God for Him to cleanse).
The primary stress here therefore is on dying with Christ, being buried with Him and rising with Him in newness of life (Romans 6:4-9), having been watered (baptizo - ‘drenched') by the Spirit, being born anew, just as in hot countries the barren land springs into new life when the rains commence..
‘Through faith in the working of God Who raised Him from the dead.' This all comes about through the responsive faith of the one who is so transformed, a faith which trusts in the powerful working of God in resurrection power (compare Ephesians 2:1-10). It is faith that saves (Ephesians 2:8-9) and results in the receiving of the Spirit (Galatians 3:2). Baptism bears witness to that faith and thereby seals the blessing for those who truly believe.
‘The working of God.' The power of God revealed in the resurrection of Christ is made available to the believer through faith. This power is revealed to its fullest extent in Ephesians 1:19-23, where Christ is raised and enthroned ‘far above all', and through this resurrection Jesus is declared to the powerful Son of God (Romans 1:4) by the Holy Spirit, Who communicates that power to believers. Thus the believer is aware that the greatest power in the universe is exercised on his behalf to ensure his final salvation.