The Believer’s Five-fold Identification with Christ
Colossians 2:10-15
By Jay Wegter
A grade school boy gave his first ever oral report, it was about acorns. He gave a wonderful description of their shiny amber seed and the rough little cap. He explained how they can be found in the forest in Autumn, and how squirrels save them up for the winter, and how they can be used in making crafts. He told about native Americans making acorn flour and bread. As he finished, he looked up at his teacher with pride. But, then she said, Larry, you have shared many important things about acorns, but you left out the most important thing; acorns are where oak trees come from. Little Larry’s problem was not unlike the Colossians, they knew many things about the Savior, but had passed over the most important; the believer is alive in Him, complete in Him.
The world is waging a kind of spiritual identity theft. It bids us to take our core identity to created things, (human approval, ‘score cards’), rather than to Christ. Therefore, the believer is to be fluent in the gospel realities of union with Christ, and continually be on watch that the world does not lead us into a trap in which we depend that is a false source of identity. We are going to keep this in mind this morning as we explore our five-fold identification with Christ Jesus found in Colossians 2:10-15.
One of the false identity elements threatening the Colossian church was Gnostic legalism. It said that the Jewish Law would help the believers become more spiritual. If they were circumcised, and if they watched their diets and observed the holy days, then they would become part of the “spiritual elite” in the church. Paul made it clear that the Christian is not subject in any way to the O.T. ceremonial legal system, nor can it do him any good spiritually. Jesus Christ alone is sufficient for our every spiritual need, for all of God’s fullness is in Him. We are identified with Jesus Christ because He is the Head of the body (Col 1:18) and we are the members of the body (1 Cor 12:12–13).
In our text, Paul explained our fivefold identification with Jesus Christ that makes it unnecessary and sinful to look outside of Christ for grace and true spirituality.
Fivefold Identification with Christ: 1) Complete in Him (in Christ we have everything pertaining to life and godliness, we are partakers of the divine nature, 2 Pet 1:3-4). 2) A new heart in Him (a new heart, circumcision; a severing from the former dominion of our flesh). 3) Alive in Him (His death was my death to sin, His rising is my resurrection to newness of life, alive to God). 4) Free from the condemnation of the Law in Him (free from the certificate of debt which called for my condemnation).
- Victorious over demonic enemies in Him (Christ has disarmed the rulers and authorities, having taken away the evil one’s chief weapon, death, Heb 2:14-15).
I. Complete in Him
- And—“in Him (by virtue of union with Him) filled full”—you have all that you need. Believers have been given fullness/completeness in Christ. Their fullness of life comes from Christ’s fullness. They have everything pertaining to life and godliness through Christ (2 Pet 1:3-4). “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (Jn 1:16). They share in the body of Him who is the Head (Col 1:18) over every power (archēs, “ruler”) and authority (exousias, “ruling power”). Therefore you Colossians need no supplementary sources of grace. Christ is “the Head of all rule and authority .” “. . . which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places , far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Eph 1:20-21).ⁱ Implying that they did not need, as the Judaizers taught, the outward rite of circumcision, since they had already the inward spiritual reality of it.
II. A new Heart in Him (circumcised in Him)
- “You were (once for all) circumcised (spiritually, at your conversion, with a circumcision made without hands; as opposed to “the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.” “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God” (Rom 2:28-29).
in putting off—as an old garment, “. . . lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in
the likeness of God has been created in
righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph 4:22-24).
the body of the sins of the flesh—that is, “the body,” of which the prominent feature is fleshiness (‘deeds of the body’, Rom 8:13, where “flesh” and “the body” correspond). by—This spiritual circumcision is realized by, union with Christ. “A circumcision made without hands,” brought about by your union with Christ. External surgery versus internal (heart); only part of the body versus the whole ‘body of my sins’; done by hands, versus done by Christ without hands; no spiritual help in conquering sin, versus able to overcome sin.
When Jesus Christ died and rose again, He won a complete and final victory over sin. He not only died for our sins (salvation), but He “died unto sin” (sanctification; Rom 6:10ff). “What the Law could not do” (Rom 8:3), Jesus Christ accomplished for us. The old nature (“the body of sins of the flesh”) was put off—rendered inoperative— we need no longer be enslaved to its desires. The old sinful nature is not eradicated, for we can still sin (1 Jn 1:5–2:6). But the power has been broken and we experience strength against sin as we yield to Christ and walk in the power of the Spirit.
III. Alive in Him
- “Having been buried with Him in your baptism.
” Water baptism symbolically corresponds to the burial of the old carnal life. The words putting off (total breaking away from) the old life occurs at the moment of salvation, when a believer is buried with Christ in baptism by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13) and is raised with Him to new life. This co-burial and co-resurrection is pictured in baptism (Rom 6:4). The word baptize has both a literal and a figurative meaning. The literal, to immerse, the figurative meaning is “to be identified with.” For example, the Jewish nation was “baptized unto Moses” when it went through the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:1–2). There was no water involved in this baptism, they went over on dry land. In this experience, the nation was identified with Moses. Paul used the word baptism in a figurative sense in Col 2:12.
are risen—“were raised
with Him
.” through the faith—by means of your faith
in the operation of God (“the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith,” Phil 3:9). Faith in God’s mighty operation in raising again Jesus, is saving faith (Rom 4:24; 10:9); and it is wrought in the soul by His same “mighty working” whereby He “raised Jesus from the dead.” “. . . what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead”
(Eph 1:19-20a). When a person is saved, he is immediately placed by the Spirit into the body of
Christ (1 Cor 12:12–13) and identified with the Head, Jesus Christ. This identification means that whatever happened to Christ also happened to us. When He died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried. When He arose again, we arose with Him (Col 3:1–14). It was the power of God that changed us. The Spirit of God identified us with Jesus Christ, and we were buried with Him, raised with Him, and made alive with Him! (the Greek verbs are very expressive: co-buried, co-raised, and co-made alive; and in, Rom 6:6; Gal 2:20, co-crucified.)
- you, being dead—formerly (Eph 2:1-2). Before a person is liberated to this new life in Christ, he is dead in his sins and in his sinful nature. But now God made you alive with Christ (Eph 2:1–6). The same “power” (“energy” in Col 1:29) that raised Christ from the dead (2:12) resurrects believing sinners to spiritual life (v. 13). Dead in sins, “trespasses,” literally, failings and departures from God’s ways; actual transgressions. In the uncircumcision of your flesh—having only an old fleshly nature, which now by spiritual circumcision, you have put off.
Apart from Holy Scripture, we might conclude that many folks around us are dead in sin, but we would not diagnose ourselves in that way. Yet, when we look in the mirror of God’s Word we find that in our natural state tended to run from the light. We were offended by the strictness of God’s commands. And, our condition of unforgiveness caused us to live at arm’s length from God—we did not want to risk condemnation, and we did not desire that God should pry into our motives and desires. We excused sin: it’s just being human, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes.
This problem of being born dead in sin, dead to the things of God goes back to the Garden. In which man apostatized from his Creator and his created purpose. For God created the cosmos of nothing to be a stage upon which He might extend His glory by sharing and revealing Himself to people and angels. But, after the fall into sin, humans, by reason of their spiritual deadness in sin had no sympathy or sentiment towards God’s purposes of glory. (My ‘Pelagian’ Muslim friend, no original sin.)
And, even though we were formed in the image and likeness of God in order to enjoy a love relationship with Him, our response to His holiness and righteousness was enmity, hostility (Col 1:21). This thorough ‘spiritual deadness’ is why only the miracle of new life by the Spirit of God can bring life and realignment to our Creator. Through the miracle of redemption, former ‘enemies’ of God are re-built around Christ so as to be complete in Him. God’s desires become our desires, His passion our passion —His purposes our purposes. he made alive—God “made alive together with Him.” Just as Christ’s resurrection proved that He was delivered from the sin laid on Him (Rom 4:25), so our spiritual quickening (spiritual ‘resurrection’) proves that we have been forgiven our sins. forgiven you—all trespasses—“all our trespasses.”
The practical application is clear: since we are identified with Christ, and He is the fullness of God, what more do we need? We have experienced the life-giving working of God through faith in Christ, so why turn to the deadness of the Law? God has forgiven us all our trespasses (Col 2:13) so that we have a perfect standing before Him.
IV. Free from the condemnation of the Law in Him
- Blotting out (cancelled)—“Having wiped out,” same time as “having forgiven you” (2:13); hereby having cancelled the law’s indictment against you. The law was a compulsory, accusing code. In the sight of God’s Law, people stood condemned (Rom 3:19), it worked against them and opposed them. This written code, the Law, was like a handwritten “certificate of debt.” Since people cannot keep the Law, it is like a bill of indebtedness. So people, unable to pay the debt, are criminals in the sight of heaven. But, for believers, Jesus took away this criminal charge, this certificate of debt by His death. In Christ the Law is fulfilled (Rom 8:2). It was nailed to the cross with Him, showing He paid the debt. He wiped the slate clean.ⁱⁱ Christ, by bearing the curse of the broken law, has redeemed us from its curse (Gal 3:13). It can only produce outward works, not inward obedience of the will, which in the believer flows from the Holy Spirit. “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God” (Gal 2:19). This new life came when God forgave us all our sins, for He canceled our debt to the Law.
How could the holy God be just in canceling a debt? His Son paid the full debt for all who would ever believe when He died on the cross. If a judge sets a man free who is guilty of a crime, the judge cheapens the law, and leaves the injured party without restitution. But, God paid sin’s debt when He gave His Son on the cross, and He upheld the holiness of His own Law.
V. Victorious over demonic enemies in Him
- “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (Jn 12:31). Through His cross, Jesus had three great victories over the powers of darkness: First, He “disarmed the powers and authorities,” stripping Satan and his army of whatever weapons they held (Heb 2:14-15). Second, Jesus “made a public spectacle” of the enemy, exposing Satan’s deceit and vileness. In Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, He vindicated God and vanquished the devil (wicked usurper). His third victory aspect is found in the word triumph. Whenever a Roman general won a great victory on foreign soil, he took many captives and much spoil, and gained new territory, he was honored by an official parade. Paul alludes to this practice in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” Jesus Christ won a complete victory, and returned to glory in a great triumphal procession. “. . .when He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men” (Eph 4:8). In this conquest, He disgraced and defeated Satan.ⁱⁱⁱ For, in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God subjected all principalities to Jesus, declaring them to be powerless as to His work and His people (Eph 1:21).
Thus, Paul’s argument against those joining Jewish observances to Christianity Jewish observances is this: whatever part angels may have had under the law, God has now put that legal dispensation away. He made a show of them openly—at His ascension (Eph 4:8). Demons, like other angels, were in heaven up to Christ’s ascension, and influenced earth from their heavenly abodes. As heaven was not yet opened to man before Christ’s ascension (Jn 3:13), so it was not yet shut against demons (Job 1:6; 2:1). But, at the ascension Satan and his demons were “judged” and “cast out” by Christ’s obedience unto death (Jn 12:31; 16:11; Heb 2:14; Rev 12:5–10), and the Son of man was raised to the throne of God; thus His resurrection and ascension are a public solemn triumph over the principalities and powers of death (JFB).ⁱᵛ
Why does Paul, when describing the results of redemption keep saying, ‘in Christ’. And why in describing Christ’s work of substitution for us does Paul keep saying, ‘with Christ’? First of all, he wants us to know that the sphere, the realm, the region in which your salvation took place was in Christ and His work on our behalf. This is huge, because all the false religions in the world (including the sub-Christian cults and Romanism) make the devotee’s repentance, heart, earnestness, and faithfulness into the place, or location where redemption takes place. In other words, the penitent is trusting that his prayers, religious duties, alms, and moral exertion will incline God’s heart to save him. No matter what label is put on this (even a Christian label), it is still the error of works righteousness, salvation by works (merit receptacle; object of trust?).
Therefore, when Paul repeatedly states, ‘in Him’, ‘in Christ’, ‘with Him’, ‘with Christ’, he wants it to be clear to us that what God is looking at when He saves a sinner is the all-sufficient, finished work of our Savior on behalf of His people.
Nothing humbles like the cross of Christ. The reason why is that it proclaims that man deserves to die. Human sin is so serious, it is a kind of cul-de-sac with damnation at the end. There is no way out of this dead-end unless God does something incredible. For, the cross proclaims that man cannot be perfected in himself. A terrible death must occur if man is to be made new. The old man just cannot be renovated. Execution and resurrection in the Person of a perfect Substitute is the only cure for man’s depraved condition.
“On the cross Christ drew the forces of evil out of the darkness to Himself; He sucked them out of the caverns of the pit and made them turn all their weapons upon Him. What a disarming this was! Christ then proceeded to crush the serpent’s head by rising alive and triumphant from the dead” (Geoff Thomas, The Holy Spirit).
“A long golden chain was forged in Christ’s body as He hung in the flame of God’s rectitude on Golgotha. God has joined each of His people to one end of the chain, and the other end to His heart” (Ibid.).
In contrast to instinctive religion, the cross differs from all other methods of changing man. The cross does not attempt to harness natural inclinations. The cross works against natural inclinations. For the cross considers nothing accomplished until the living God has displaced every idol and the soul is disrobed of every badge of loyalty to other masters—the power of the cross secures this change. Of course this is another reason why unsaved men hate the cross; for the cross is utterly clear concerning God’s ownership of us (Gardner Spring, The Attraction of the Cross, p. 305).
How you view your character (whether objectively or not) is revealed in how you treat the cross. The cross is the test of character. Christ is appointed for the rise and fall of many (Luke 2:34). To reject the cross is to be an enemy of God (Phil 3:18-19). Friends of the cross are those who love God’s character, hate their sin, and who therefore serve God. The godly renounce every other confidence but the cross of Christ. Their sole dependence is upon Christ who is able to save them to the uttermost (Heb 7:25-26). Thus, the cross is the test which reveals a person’s source of trust for salvation (Ibid, pp. 205, 209, 306).
Endnotes: i Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 376). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. ii Geisler, N. L. (1985). Colossians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 677–678). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. iii Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 126–128). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. iv Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, pp. 376 –378). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.