An excerpt from chapter 12 of Ken Golden’s Presbytopia: What It Means to Be Presbyterian, “Baptism: The Gracious Entrance”[1]
Besides purification, Christian baptism also serves as a sacrament of initiation—inclusion in the covenant and admission into the visible church. The Lord expressed this to Abraham through the giving of its Old Testament counterpart, circumcision: ‘This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you’ (Ge 17:10–11). Circumcision became the sign and seal of entering into God’s covenant community, with God separating His people from the world and calling them to a life of holiness. Here, the outward sign corresponded to the inward reality of regeneration called the ‘circumcision of the heart’ (Dt 30:6; Jer 4:4; Ro 2:28–29). The sign, however, emphasized curse as well as blessing. Just as the foreskin was being cut off so also would the recipient be fully cut off if he does not keep the rules of the covenant (see Ex 4:25). Therefore, the reality of circumcision was two-fold. It signified and sealed new life or an untimely death.
The circumcised community, however, was intended to be a ‘light to the Gentiles’ (Isa 49:6). They failed in this mission. Rather than evidencing the light, they chased after the darkness. Even though their flesh was circumcised, their hearts were uncircumcised (Jer 9:25). By the first century A.D., circumcision had become associated with cultural Judaism. Christ, however, accomplished what Israel failed to do; His light brought the uncircumcised Gentiles into the house of God (Eph 2:11–22). Consequently, there is no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile (Gal 3:28), for both the physically circumcised and uncircumcised are justified by faith in Jesus Christ (Ro 3:30).
His accomplishment also fulfilled the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision. Paul wrote, ‘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’ (Col 2:11). In this text, the apostle was describing a different circumcision than the cutting ritual of the Old Testament. First, it involved the union of Christ with His people (‘in him’). He undertook the work of redemption as their federal head, and they were included in Him. Second, this circumcision was performed ‘without hands’. Here, Mark 14:58 contributes to our understanding: ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands’. The gospel writer was contrasting a man-made physical structure (‘this temple made with hands’) with one that God Himself constructed, namely Christ’s resurrected body (‘another not made with hands’). In a similar way, the physical circumcision done by man is contrasted with the circumcision that was done by God Himself. This circumcision, however, was not the sealing of new life, but an untimely death! It was the ultimate ‘putting off the body of the flesh’ – the full cutting off of Christ on the cross in the place of His covenant-breaking people (Col 1:22).
What does this have to do with baptism? Paul continued from verse 11: ‘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’ (Col 2:12). In this passage, circumcision (‘in him you were circumcised’) corresponds to baptism (‘having been buried with him in baptism’). The former points forward and the latter backward to the cross (‘the circumcision of Christ’). This is supported elsewhere, when Jesus lamented, ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!’ (Lk 12:50).
Since Christians live on the other side of the cross, there is no longer any need for circumcision. Baptism has replaced the old sacrament as the sign and seal of covenant inclusion. This is why Jesus commanded His disciples, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28:19). God’s name is being written upon them in water as a mark of ownership. Like circumcision of old, baptism involves an outward sign coupled to the inward reality of inclusion among God’s people (1Co 12:13).