The New You

The New You
Colossians 2:9–14

Colossians 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (NASB 2020)

Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Only the God who is love could humble Himself to become one of His creatures. In doing this, God demonstrated His love for us. (John 3:16 & Romans 5:8) The monumental work required for Him to reconcile us to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19) was undertaken by Jesus, we are told, for the joy set before Him. (Hebrews 12:2) That joy is relationship with you! (John 17:24)

Colossians 2:10 “and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority” (NASB 2020)

The fullness of God lives in Jesus Christ, and you have been made complete in Him. Let that sink in. Later in this very letter, Paul goes on to say that your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) To say that you are secure in Christ is a gross understatement. Indeed in 1 Corinthians 6:17 we are told that “the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (NASB 2020)

2 Peter 1:3 makes our completeness in Christ clear when it tells us, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” (NASB 2020)

Colossians 2:11 “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body <soma> of the flesh <sarx> by the circumcision of Christ”

Circumcision as I’m confident you recall, was instituted by God with Abraham as recorded in Genesis 17:10 and following. It was a sign or symbol that the Hebrew people belonged to God. They were His people.

So, we read that we who are in Christ have also been circumcised, but this circumcision is not the removal of any of our physical body parts. While the text says “body” and the Greek is soma, which refers to our physicality, in this passage it is referring to something else. This circumcision is the removal of the soma (the body or substance) of the sarx.  Sarx is best understood as the worldly mindset, the worldly way of responding to what life throws at us, self-sufficient living rather than dependence on Christ.

Our physical body is not in view here. This circumcision is the removal of something far more profound. Scripture tells us that it is not something done with hands. It is spiritual, and it is far more than a simple sign or symbol.  What this verse is saying is that our old self, our old nature, that earthiness that we inherited from Adam, has been removed from us.

Here is the way the Spirit put it in Deuteronomy 30:6 “Moreover, the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.” (NASB 2020)

We are not what we were, saints. While before the work of Jesus was completed our hearts were, as we read in Jeremiah 17:9 “more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” (NASB 2020) this heart surgery Jesus has performed has corrected that. Ezekiel 36:26 (and 11:19) lays it out clearly. It says, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (NASB 2020)

Galatians 5:24 puts it succinctly, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus [have] crucified the flesh <sarx> with its passions and desires.” (NASB 2020)

It is this reconstruction, this deep and profound spiritual change, that is in view in 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (NASB 2020)

This surgery was accomplished the moment we chose to believe God. At that instant we were placed into Christ, and He by His Spirit into us.

Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Baptism means immersed. I want to point out here that this “burying in baptism” is not about water. We were buried with Him; we were baptized into Him. Immersed in Him. Romans 6:3–6 tells us, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; (NASB 2020)

We were immersed into death. The death of our old self. The death of the body of the flesh, the soma of the sarx. It is spiritual circumcision, surgery of the heart. The result was that we were made compatible with God and qualified to inherit eternal life. We were united with Christ in His death, the death He died to sin once for all. In the same way we were united with Him in His resurrection. Romans 8:11 tells us that the Spirit who lives in us is the same Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. There is nothing second-rate about who you are in Christ, saint.

The last two verses in our study from Colossians 2 carry the profound changes and their effects forward.

Colossians 2:13 “And when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”

Colossians 2:14 “having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (NASB 2020)

Before we ever moved toward Him, Father instituted and set in motion His plan to rescue us from the mess we had made of things. While we were still His enemies as demonstrated by our ungodly attitudes and actions, Father was at work in Jesus making it possible for us to become compatible with Him and to be made acceptable to Him.

2 Corinthians 5:18 puts it this way, “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ” (NASB 2020)

Likewise, Romans 5:8–10 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (NASB 2020)

God made us alive with our Lord Jesus Christ and that happened because He had forgiven ALL our trespasses. Do you see it there in Colossians 2 verse 13? It says, “having forgiven.” Forgiveness had already taken place by the time we were created anew and raised to new Life. Forgiveness came through the death of Jesus on the cross. His blood took away the sins of the world—every last one of them—once for all. Then, because we had been forgiven, it was possible for us to be restored to spiritual relationship with the Source of Life. When the Lord Jesus Christ arose from that grave taking us with Him, we were justified, made pure, given the very righteousness of God.

We who had been in rebellion and unfaithful to Him, our wonderful Lord Jesus made pure as driven snow. He made us into His spotless virgin bride.

That, my friends, is the new you.