Colosenses 2:12

Buried with him in baptism... — It is very interesting to compare this passage with Romanos 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with Him in baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” In the former clause both are identical.

In the latter clause this Epistle is stronger. What in the earlier Epistle is the “likeness of His Resurrection” is here the participation of it, “Ye are risen with Him.” Similarly, instead of the simple allusion to “Christ’s being raised from the dead,” we have here “through faith in the operation of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Here, as in the more detailed passage of the Ephesian Epistle (Colosenses 1:19; Colosenses 2:5), the “operation,” the energy of “the mighty power of God,” is conceived as actually working both in the Head and in the Body, so that wo through it partake of the resurrection, the ascension, and the glorified majesty of Christ. The comparison shows an instructive development in this Epistle of the consequences of the unity with Christ.

This passage is also notable for the obvious contrast of baptism, as a spiritual reality, with circumcision as a symbolic form. Each is the entrance into a covenant with God; but the one into a covenant of “the letter,” and the other into a covenant of “the spirit.” (See the contrast between the covenants drawn out in 2 Corintios 3:6; Hebreos 8:6; Hebreos 9:28.

) In the earlier Epistles circumcision is contrasted with spiritual regeneration (Gálatas 6:15), as shown by various signs, such as “faith working by love” (Romanos 4:9; Gálatas 5:6), or “keeping the commandments of God” (1 Corintios 7:19).

Aquí este contraste sigue siendo tan fuerte como siempre; pero siendo considerado (como siempre) el bautismo como el medio de tal regeneración espiritual, se destaca enfáticamente como "la circuncisión del Espíritu". Como bautizados en Cristo, “somos la circuncisión, que adoramos a Dios en el Espíritu” ( Filipenses 3:3 ).