Friday, March 28, 2008
Colossians 2:11-12 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
SIGNS OF THE RESURRECTION: BAPTISM
There were many signs that Jesus gave the apostles to prove His resurrection from the dead. Some of those signs were promises of His resurrection, others were signs given directly to Jesus' followers. But He has given us signs as well.
One of the signs Jesus has given us of His resurrection is baptism. Paul describes here how baptism is the New Testament equivalent of circumcision in the Old Testament. Circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with His people in the Old Testament as is baptism a sign of His covenant with us in the New Testament.
Baptism is a means of grace, a washing of regeneration, but it is also a sign for us of Christ's resurrection. Paul says we have been buried with Christ in Baptism "in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."
Our baptism is a wonderful sign of Christ's resurrection, as sin and death is buried, and we are raised to new life through God's work in us. In Romans Paul says: "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).
Through baptism God has made you alive together with Christ, having forgiven all your sins!
