Baptism Does Not Signify Circomcision

How Does Baptism Picture the New Covenant?
We know what the rainbow, circumcision, and the Passover meal symbolize. But how specifically does the sign of baptism dramatize entry into the new covenant? The answer is beautiful and simple.

First, Baptism dramatizes of the work of Jesus Christ which brings the new covenant. In baptism we go under the water, picturing his death and burial, and we come up from the water, picturing his resurrection.

But second, baptism also pictures our union with Christ in his death and resurrection. United with him in his death, our judgment falls on Jesus. United with him in his resurrection, his resurrection life is our new life. Paul puts this plainly, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Ro. 6:4, 5).

Finally, baptism pictures our union with God’s new people in Christ. The Spirit is the one who brings the new covenant blessings, and this includes the creation of a new regenerated community. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1Cor 12:13). Baptism is used here metaphorically. However, water baptism pictures this invisible reality. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:27, 28). In other words, we are not only baptized into Christ, but into his body.

*Colossians 2:11-14*
In him 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.

This is somewhat obscure to our ears, but here’s what it means. Jesus was cut (circumcised) in his flesh through his crucifixion so that we could be cut in our hearts through regeneration. Baptism does not replace circumcision. Baptism pictures its fulfillment.

Second, we enter the new covenant community by faith, and for that reason we do not trust in our baptism.
This is a common trap and a common misunderstanding that springs from hearts that at the same time love to boast in what we do partly because we can’t imagine a God who does it all for us. No, we do not trust in the sign; we trust in the One to whom baptism points.

Third, baptism pictures our union with Jesus in his sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection. For that reason, we don’t sprinkle or pour but plunge someone under the water.
That baptism, or immersion, is a violent image makes sense of how Jesus spoke of his own death: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mk. 10:38). By plunging someone under water, the sign of baptism pictures that to which baptism points: Christ’s death and our death with him.

Fourth, the new covenant brings full access to God through a new and better mediator, Jesus Christ. There are no priests or kings to mediate the presence of God to us, and for that reason we don’t emphasize the role of the baptizer in baptism.
The only time the matter of who baptizes gets any attention in the New Testament letters is when it’s a problem for the Corinthian church (1Cor. 1:13–17). The emphasis seems to lie elsewhere. What we read about is baptism into Christ and baptism into the body (Gal. 3:27; 1Cor. 12:13). For that reason, our focus is on the person’s confession and on the congregation.

With that summary, we have now explored the invisible realities to which baptism points. The most important point of doctrinal clarity I hope you gained from this is the nature of the new covenant as a regenerate community.

What’s in the Water?: Baptism as a Sign of the New Covenant — Heritage Bible Church

 

Huh. I generally cannot spell. If there was misspelling I didn't notice or go back and check.