Seeds for 2/23/2023 - Colossians 2:11b-12a

Scripture: “In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Observation: Today we’re continuing to look at these two sentences by Paul that speak to Christian baptism. (An aside—with baptism, as with everything, it’s important to remember Sherlock Holmes’ famous line to Dr. John Watson, “You see, but you do not observe.” We often bring with us the meanings we’ve already attached to the sacrament of baptism, which can prevent us from seeing new dimensions within the scriptures.)

First, baptism is described here as overthrowing an illegitimate monarch: “Your whole self ruled by the flesh…” Since the analogy of circumcision points to the aspect of covenant, we’re invited to perceive something important about life: We are who our covenants tell us we are. If we’ve made a covenant with ourselves that we are in charge, then our whole self is “ruled by the flesh.” Recognizing our God-given agency and exercising appropriate authority is a good thing, done under His lordship. That’s what we were created for, after all. But one of our problems is exercising agency under no authority greater than ourselves. Baptism—being “circumcised by Christ”—means coming under His authority, within His covenant. Baptism shows that salvation is about the false ruler being “put off” and the true King now sitting on the throne.

Second, baptism is about death. Getting off the throne of our life feels a little like dying until we realize that surrender to the true God and King is the path to true life. To hint at my perspective on tomorrow’s text, resurrection is easy for God. Getting us to die to ourselves is the hard part. But He has led the way. We do not die alone. We die to ourselves with the One who died for us. That’s key to salvation, and it’s a huge part of what baptism is about.

Application: In what areas of your life do you struggle to “die to self” and relinquish control to Christ? How can you keep His covenant at the heart of who you are?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your faithfulness. Lead me to deeper death to self, that I may experience the increasing joy of life in you. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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