Alive in Christ Jesus! Repost!

Colossians 2:13-14- And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. NKJV

I’ve been reading the New Testament, and I just finished the book of Colossians. While in it, I ran across some verses of scriptures that brought joy to my heart. They reminded me of our blessed relationship with Jesus. One of the first things Colossians reminded me of was that we are to be rooted in Christ. Since I wrote a blog on that a year ago, I have attached it to this post.

The book of Colossians is short and a quick read. But it is packed with truths about our Savior and who we are in Him. In the text for this post, Paul wrote that we have been made alive together with Him.

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

Colossians 2:13-14a NKJV

I want to argue a point that I believe is consistent with Paul’s view of our life in Christ and, therefore, God’s viewpoint. Because I jumped into the middle of the thought, I need to backtrack a little to keep it all in context. In verses 11 & 12, Paul wrote:

 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 

Colossians 2:11-12 NKJV

Paul stated that the Gentile believers had received circumcision when they received Jesus, but not the circumcision of the cutting away of the foreskin like the Jews. This circumcision was a spiritual circumcision that happens in the heart of every believer. And therefore, there was no need for anyone to be circumcised in order to be a part of the people of God. This verse is like a parallel to what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:11-13 NKJV

Here, Paul stresses that the Gentiles were a people who did not know God and, therefore, had no hope in the world because they were outside of the covenant of circumcision. But because of the blood of Jesus, the Gentiles, along with all Jewish believers, were made near to God. Or, as we say, they were saved!

Another point about circumcision is that for many Jews, physical circumcision was their badge of honor that they were the people of God, irrespective of how they lived their lives. However, many prophets understood that the circumcision of the covenant of God required a life that promoted God. Moses spoke of uncircumcised lips, the prophet Jeremiah wrote of an uncircumcised ear, and Ezekiel spoke of an uncircumcised heart, giving insight into the position that circumcision wasn’t just about the cutting away of the flesh.

Paul also wrote that we “put off the body of sin” when circumcised by Christ or born again. One commentator noted that Paul was suggesting that this putting off the body of sin” was a reference to that we no longer belong to our natural families, but are a part of the family of God. Another commentator wrote that “the putting off the body of sin” caused the individual to cut away the things in their life that prevents them from being submitted to God. The Greek word for “putting” suggests more of a putting away, like an old garment. Meaning, that this circumcision that happens in us is a putting away of the old man and his sinful nature, much like the second commentator I mentioned. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

Paul continues by stating that when we are baptized in the water, its spiritual significance shows that when we go under the water, we are buried with Him, and as we come out of the water, we are raised with Him through faith. I believe this is something all Christians can agree upon. Paul is laying the foundation for how we become alive in Christ Jesus.

Now, I return to the key verse,

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us

Colossians 2:11-12a NKJV

In this verse, Paul again distinguishes between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, as in Ephesians. The uncircumcised in the flesh are dead in their trespasses and sins. This is the picture of the life of the unsaved person. As Paul mentioned in Ephesians, this person is without hope because they are without God. They are sinners.

But to those who have been forgiven their trespasses, they have been made alive together with Him! New life has come to that individual because they are a new creation. Paul wrote these words in Romans:

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:10 NKJV

Jesus lives, and therefore, we live also. In Him! Sinners are separated from God, but we have access to Him through the blood of Jesus! We are alive because we are no longer sinners; if we are still sinners, we remain in our sins and are dead in them.

I am on this train of thought because it depresses me to think that Christians are satisfied with saying they are “sinners saved by grace”! I want to shout that you are either a sinner or saved by grace! Pick one! Either the blood of Jesus cleansed us of our sinful nature and made us new creations, or it didn’t! Paul stated:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

This is what I believe. I am alive in Christ Jesus because I have become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus knew no sin but took my sin so that I could be free from the bondage of sin. I wish I could shout it to the world. I wish I could help everyone see it. Because when we begin to see ourselves as God sees us, maybe it will take the struggle out of being alive in Him! Do I sin? Yes! But I don’t live a life of sin. I live my life surrendered to God. And when I sin, I have an advocate in Jesus. My beloved sisters and brothers, live your life in Him to the fullest because of all that He accomplished in you through the Blood of Jesus! Wonderful Jesus!