S157P3 – Life after death: a sign of covenant
Col. 2:11-14
In [Christ] 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. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
The Abrahamic covenant between God and Abraham and his offspring required male circumcision. The cutting of this flesh, which naturally included the shedding of blood, was the sign of inclusion in God’s people. Those men in the line of Abraham or of his household, even those who were not his relatives but perhaps only servants, could be part of this covenant only by enduring circumcision. Any who remained uncircumcised were considered to have broken this covenant. The circumcision itself was not the covenant but only a sign of it, but there is a key to this act being the sign. Once done, circumcision lasts on the body and cannot be undone.
God declared that the sign of circumcision on the body is an everlasting sign. [Gen. 17:13] Christ went through a spiritual circumcision when He shed his earthly body and was resurrected in spiritual victory. Those who have shared in the death and resurrection of Christ also have been circumcised spiritually. This circumcision is a sign of the new covenant we have through Jesus, which also is everlasting. Christ later appeared and displayed his shedding of this earthly flesh, the symbol of the new covenant. We do not yet show this physical sign, but we are part of the covenant nonetheless. If we think about it, the detachment we should have from this natural life and from our spiritual flesh are our visible signs of this spiritual circumcision.
The body of Christ was physically nailed to the cross. The separation of his earthly flesh and his spirit occurred there. We can nail our flesh there as well when we accept salvation and the remission of sins. The physical flesh of Christ had to die so that our spiritual flesh could be killed. If we are to live as those who have been circumcised, those who have shed this flesh, that means that we are to live in the Spirit. To live as though dying is gain, to live according to the Lord’s will, that is our sign of covenant. That is the evidence of our spiritual circumcision in Christ which creates an everlasting covenant. Father, help us to live in a way that shows the world clearly that we have shed the flesh which kills and have entered into covenant with You.