Union with Christ

"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" (Colossians 2:11-12, ESV). 

Paul instructs Christians that, in Christ, Christians have been “…circumcised with a circumcision made without hands…” Until the appearance of the incarnate Christ, Jesus, circumcision had stood as the covenant marker, the identification badge, of God’s people. Yet, the Old Testament was clear that circumcision of male children was a physical sign of a spiritual reality (c.f. Deuteronomy 10:16, ‘circumcise the foreskin of your heart’), whereby God was calling a people unto himself. In other words, circumcision served as a reminder that God was at work establishing a community of people that would faithfully love, serve, and worship him, thereby living out the intended purpose of humanity.  With the coming of Christ, the sign of circumcision gave way to a new covenant marker, a new “circumcision”. No longer will the people of God be identified by the removal of flesh, but the removal of our old lives that stood in opposition to God.

Colossians 2:11b identifies the means of this new circumcision. God, the agent who performs the circumcision (indicated by the expression “…made without [human] hands…”), has marked believers as his possession “…by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ”. While commentators have disputed whether the circumcision of Christ is a metaphor for “the conquering of the power of sin that takes place when a person comes to Christ” (Moo, 200) or a metaphor of Christ’s crucifixion (O’Brien, 117), the second option preserves a pattern that is critical to the message preached by the apostles.

This pattern is the proclamation that Jesus Christ was crucified until dead, buried in a tomb, and raised by God from the dead. This three-point sermon—that Christ (1) died (2) was buried and (3) was raised from the dead—was the pounding heartbeat of the disciples’ basic gospel proclamation (see the matters of first importance in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; see also Romans 6:3-7 and Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2).

If the circumcision of Christ is taken to refer to his violent death then Colossians 2:11-12 is a clear articulation of this theological pattern. By means of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, Christians have been “circumcised”—marked as the people of God—by the power of God. Yet, it is not simply the remote activity of Jesus that marks us, but it is our participation in his death, burial, and resurrection. We are buried with Christ, but we are also raised with Christ (v. 12). Christians do not add in any way to Christ’s sacrifice, but they are united to the one who accomplishes it. It is no distant work of God that we experience, but an intimate one. If, in a real way, we died with Christ and were buried with him, our hope for new life was entirely dependent on the fulfillment of God’s plan to raise us up with Christ. Should the tomb have stayed shut, our hope for new life would have suffocated; but, since God raised Jesus Christ from the grave, we emerge from the grave with new resurrection life.

Our participation in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection is marked “in baptism” and “through faith in the powerful working of God”. Baptism, then, stands as an identity marker that we have, through faith, been united to Christ, in his death and burial, and resurrection. In Christ’s death, our old life is put to death, and we live a new life, the life of Christ in us (O’Brien, 118).

This, of course, has powerful implications. Christ’s death is not merely exemplary! It is real. Praise the Lord that this is so, for his real death resulted in real life, not just for Christ, but also for those in Christ. For us! Those who have been united to Christ’s saving work through faith now really live new lives. Lives that seek to live for God, rather than against him. Lives that seek God’s pleasure and glory, not our own.

So, when Paul says in Colossians 2:11 that in Christ Jesus we have been “circumcised with a circumcision made without [human] hands”, he is saying that Christians have been sealed as God’s people through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ’s work, we can claim none of the promises for God’s people; however, on account of his work—and our union with him—we can claim each promise as our own. 

Lucas, R. C. The Message of Colossians and Philemon. The Bible Speaks Today, InterVarsity Press, 1980. 

Moo, Douglas J. The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.

O'Brien, Peter T. Colossians, Philemon. Word Bible Commentary, Vol. 44. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1982.