Lecture 3 — Buried and raised with Christ

^2:11^ In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made with hands in despoiling of the body of the flesh: but in the circumcision of Christ. [n. 101]

^2:12^ Buried with him in baptism: in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God who has raised him up from the dead. [n. 106]

^2:13^ And you, when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, forgiving you all offences: [n. 109]

^2:14^ Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross. [n. 112]

^2:15^ And despoiling the principalities and powers, he has exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in himself. [n. 116]

101. Above, Paul warned the faithful against the deceptions of the worldly philosophers; here he instructs and warns them against those heretics who wanted to drag them into the observances of the law.

First, he instructs them to avoid such persons;

second, he rejects the false enticements they used, at let no man seduce (Col 2:18).

In regard to the first, he does two things:

first, he shows that the observances of the law were completed in Christ;

and second, he rejects these observances, showing that they are not bound to follow them, at let no man therefore judge (Col 2:16).

102. Among the observances of the law, the first was circumcision. By this, the Jews professed their observance of the old law, just as we profess our observance of the new law by baptism: I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law (Gal 5:3). So Paul says that the faithful have been circumcised with a certain spiritual circumcision, from which it follows that the other has ceased.

First, he shows what kind of circumcision they have received;

and second, how it was received, at buried with him.

Finally, he tells why they were circumcised in this way, at and you, when you were dead.

103. In regard to the first, we should note that there are two kinds of circumcision, bodily and spiritual. We have been circumcised by Christ with a spiritual circumcision, and not by the bodily kind. So first Paul eliminates such a bodily circumcision, and then explains about this spiritual circumcision.

Paul continues: in whom, that is, in Christ, also you are circumcised with circumcision not made with hands: for he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal (Rom 2:28).

104. In despoiling of the body of the flesh. This can be understood in two ways. In the first way Paul says that you are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in despoiling of the body of the flesh, that is, by putting off the corruption of the flesh: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable (1 Cor 15:50). He is saying in effect: you have been circumcised because you no longer have the vices of the flesh: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds (Col 3:9).

Another explanation would be: you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, which circumcision made with hands consists in a despoiling of the body of the flesh which is cut from it. And so in another version of this passage we find skin of the flesh, instead of body of flesh, that is, putting off a small part of the body which is flesh. The meaning is not that the body is one thing and the flesh another. Paul uses the word** flesh** to refer us back to the law, where it speaks of flesh: you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins (Gen 17:11). He uses this word also to show that it is a carnal observance.

105. But we are not circumcised in that way, but with the circumcision of Christ. For just as Christ accepted a likeness to sinful flesh, that is, flesh that could suffer, in order to free us from sin, so he also accepted the remedies contained in the law, so that he could free us from the observances of the law. Or, we could interpret the circumcision of Christ to mean the circumcision which Christ accomplishes in us, which is a spiritual circumcision: spiritual and not literal (Rom 2:29).

106. Second, he shows that we have received this circumcision in baptism, and so baptism is a spiritual circumcision.

And first, he shows that in baptism we have a symbol of Christ’s death;

second, that in baptism we receive a likeness to his resurrection, at in whom also you are risen.

107. So Paul says: buried with him in baptism, because in our baptism we find a likeness to Christ’s death, and it is this: just as Christ was put into the tomb, after having been put on the cross, so a person who is baptized is put under the water, and this is done three times, just as Christ was three days in the tomb. Again, you were buried with him in baptism, that is, your baptism was like the death of Christ, for as his death destroyed sin, so also does your baptism.

108. And just as Christ rose from the tomb, so we rise from our sins in the present, and from the corruption of the flesh in hope. This is accomplished by the faith of the operation of God, because it was by the power of God that Christ was raised: raise me up, that I may requite them (Ps 41:10). And by believing in this resurrection we come to share in it: he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies (Rom 8:11). But Christ also raised himself, because the action of the Father and of the Son is the same: I will awake the dawn (Ps 108:2).

109. Then when he says, and you, when you were dead, he shows the nature of this likeness.

First, he states the likeness;

and second, how we are freed from our sins, at blotting out the handwriting.

110. The text is not difficult. I said that you have been circumcised, because you have been buried, in baptism, with Christ. And he compared baptism to the burial and death of Christ. Yet one could say that it would be more to the point to say that Paul first shows that baptism is a circumcision. And second, he shows why it is a circumcision, that is, because sin is superfluous and the foreskin is superfluous. And so to remove sin and to remove the foreskin are the same. Now sin is removed in baptism. Therefore, baptism is the same as a circumcision. And so Paul says, and you, when you were dead in your sins, that is, because of your sins: the death of sinners is the worst (Ps 34:21), and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that is, in your carnal concupiscence, which is related to original sin, as though they were chained with a debt of evil actions and of mortal sin.

111. Christ did this: he has quickened together with him: God, when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Eph 2:1). He made you alive by removing every sin from you, forgiving and remitting all your faults.

Thus, to be circumcised is the same as to be made alive, for the same baptism removes the death of sin and circumcises us by cutting off original sin.

112. But how has God forgiven us? I answer that a person incurs two things by sinning, that is, a debt of guilt, and slavery to the Devil. And so he explains how sins are forgiven:

first, our being freed from slavery to the devil;

and second, he mentions the removing of the debt of guilt, at and despoiling.

113. He says, blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us. This bond or written decree can be understood in two ways. In one way it is the old law: by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two (Eph 2:15). This is its meaning when he is here speaking in reference to the Jews, as if to say: and you he made alive. Again, a written bond is a warranty usually employed in contracts. And whoever violates God’s bond is subject to a debt of punishment. This violation is retained in the person’s memory, which it disturbs and stains; it is retained in God’s memory, who is to judge such matters; and in the memory of the devils, who will torment them. Now the memory of this violation is called a bond. And it is Christ who has forgiven all by blotting out the handwriting, that is, the memory of the transgression, that was against us. The bond, in both its meanings, was against us: the law, because it gave mankind a knowledge of sin, but did not help, and the memory of our transgressions, for which we deserved to be punished.

The term decree is used because its violation is not forgiven in such a way as to bring it about that there was never any sin. Rather, such sin is not remembered by God as something to be punished; it is not remembered by the devils as something to accuse us of; and we do not remember our sins as reasons for sorrow: blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (Ps 32:1).

114. Another interpretation of this passage would be that Paul is here speaking in general, to all, not just about the Jews. And then we can say that a command was given to the first man: you may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die (Gen 2:16). But man violated this law, and the memory of this violation became a bond which stood against us. And Christ canceled this.

115. How did Christ cancel this bond? On the cross, for and he has taken the same out of the way. It was the custom for a bond to be torn up once a person had fulfilled all his obligations. Now man was in sin and Christ paid for this by his suffering: what I did not steal must I now restore? (Ps 69:4). And therefore, at the moment of Christ’s death this bond was canceled and destroyed. And so he says, and he has taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross, by which he took away our sin by making satisfaction to God.

116. Then when he says, and despoiling, he shows how Christ freed us from the slavery of sin. For if a creditor holds a man captive on account of a debt that he owes, it is not enough merely to pay the debt; the person himself must also be freed. This is what Christ did. So Paul says, and despoiling the principalities and powers. This despoiling can refer to those saints who had died before Christ’s passion; in this sense, Christ freed them from the lower world by despoiling the devil: as for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit (Zech 9:11); even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued (Isa 49:25). But if we understand this as referring to the living, then he despoiled them from the devils: but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil (Luke 11:22); now shall the ruler of this world be cast out (John 12:31).

Thus he says,** despoiling the principalities and powers**, that is, the devils themselves: against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph 6:12).

He has exposed them, that is, the saints, as one who had authority in heaven, over the dead and the living, in the kingdom of his glory or of his grace. Or we could say he has exposed them, that is, he drove out the principalities from mankind, awake, and put on strength, O arm of the Lord (Isa 51:9).

In an open show, so it could be known that they were expelled. For at one time the world did serve idols, but not now. Or we could say in an open show, that is, before the multitude of angels, because Christ descended into the lower world of the saints and ascended into heaven. Triumphing over them in himself, that is, in his own power. By the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself (Phil 3:21).

117. Another version of this passage reads: he put off his flesh, and exemplified the principalities and powers, triumphing confidently. He put off his flesh, that is, his mortality. Flesh and blood, that is, the mortality of bodily corruption, cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50); Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him (Rom 6:9); even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer (2 Cor 5:16). He exemplified, he gave us an example of how the principalities and powers are to be overcome. The meaning of the rest stays the same.