The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 95

and ennbolic, putting BWRY of the orgnnio the dead," eh. i. 19. Rising from the bap- life a,id domination of sin which mnde the tismal watel'B, the Christian convert deolnres body its ePnt nud its instrument. The geni- the faith of his heart in tlll\t supremo act of tin• "of Christ" is neither objecti'\"e ("under- God, which attests e.nd mnkes sure 111! th11t gone by Christ"), nor subjective (" WTought he has bestowed upon us in bis Son (oh. I. by Christ"), but stnnds in a more general 12-14: comp. Rom. i. 4; also l Pet. i. 21; relation - "belonging to Christ," "the Acts ii. 36; xiii. 33, 88, etc.). Baptism Christian circumcision." The occasion of symbolizes e.11 that circumcision did, e.nd this new birth in the Colossians was their more. It expresses more fully tho.n the bapti.sm- older sacrament our parting with the life of Ver. 12.-When ye were (literally,having sin; e.nd also that of which oircumoision been) buried with him in your baptism (ver. knew nothing-the union of the m11n with 20; eh. iii. 3; Rom. -vi. 1-11; Gal. iii. 26, the dying and risen Cllrist, which m11kes 27; Eph. iv. 5; v. 26; Titus iii. 5; l Pet. iii. him "dead unto sin, e.nd alive unto God." 21). Ba,rr1,rµos, the rarer form of the word, is How needless, then, even if it were legiti- preferred by Tregelles, Alford, Lightfoot (see mate, for e. Christian to return to this super- his note), being found in Codex B, with other seded rite I To heighten his readers' sense good authorities; it indicates the process of the reality and completeness of the change (" in your haptizing "). Bi!,,-,-1,rµa, the usual which as baptized (i.e. believing) Christians form of the word, is retained by Revisers, after they had undergone, he describes it now Tiscbendorf, Ellicott, Westcott e.nd Hort. more directly e.s matter of persona.I ex- Bapti.sm st.ands for the entire change of the perience. tnan which it symbolizes e.nd seals (Rom. vi. Ver. 13.-And you, being dead by reason 3-5; Gal. iii 27). The double aspect of of (or, in) your trespasses e.nd the unoiroum- this change was indicated by the twofold oilli.on of your flesh, he me.de you e.live movement ta1."ing place in immersion, the together with him, having forgiven 1lB all usn11l form of primitive baptism-first the our trespe.sses (Eph. ii. 1-5 ; i. 7; Rom. v. 1<a-rdou,r,s, the desoent of the baptized person 12-21; vi.23; vii. 9-13,24; viii.1,2,6, beneath the symbolic waters, figuring his 10; 1 Cor. xv. 56; John v. 24; vi. 51; death with Christ as e. separation from sin 1 John iii 14; Gen. ii. 17). (For the transi- 11nd the evil pa.at (ver. 20),-tbere for e. tion from "having raised" (ver. 12) to this moment he is buried, e.nd buxial is dee.tb verse, comp. Eph. i. 20-ii. 1 ; e.lso eh. i. made complete e.nd finol (Rom. vi 2-4); 20, 21.) Age.in the participle gives place to then the a.v&ou,r,s, the emerging from the the finite verb : a colon is e. sufficient stop baptismal wave, which ge.ve baptism the e.t the end of ver. 12. Death, in St. Paul's positive side of its significance. In which theology, is" e. collective expression for the (or, whom) also ye were raised with (him), entire judicial consequences of sin" (see through youx faith ill the working of God, Cremer's 'Lexicon,' on 6i!va,-oi e.nd 11,1<pos), who re.ised him from the dea.d ( eh. iii. 1 ; of which the primary spiritual element is i 18 ; Eph. ii. 6, B; Rom. vi. 4 ; iv. 24, 25; the sundering of the soul's fellowship with 1 Pet. i. 21). We refer the relative pronoun God, from which flow e.11 other evils con- to the immediately antecedent "baptism," tained. in it. Life, therefore, begins with althongh the previons •11 ,; refers to" Christ " justification (Rom. v. 18). "Trespasses " (ver. 11: comp. Eph, ii 6) and some good a.re particular e.cts of sin (!!:ph. i. 7; ii. 1, 5; interpretel'B follow the rendering" in whom." Rom. v. 15-20; xi. 11); "uncircumcision For the Christian's being raised with Christ of the flesh" is general sinful impurity of is not contrasted v.:ith hie circumcision (ver. n11tnre. The false teachers probably stig- 11)-that figure he.s been dismissed-but matized the uncircumcised state as unholy. with 7,i;; l,urial in baptism (ver. 12 a); The apostle adopts the expression, but refers so Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Revisers. it to the pre-Christian life of his renders " Having been buried" is replaced in the (see vers. 11, 12), when their Gentile uncir- nntithesis by the more assertive '' ye were cumcision was a true type of their moral raised " ( corn p. vera. 13, 14 ; eh. i 22, 26). condition (Rom. ii. 25; Eph. ii. 11). Theao "With " points to the "him" (Chr!,~t) of sinful e.cts e.nd this sinful condition were the previous clause (comp . ...Eph. u. 6; the cause of their former state of death Rom. vi. 6). Faith is the instrumental (Rom. v. 12). The Revisers rightly restore c11use of that which baptism sets forth the second empho.tic "you"-" you, uncir- (comp. Gal. iii. 26, 27), and has for its object cumcised Gentiles" (comp. eh. i. 21, 22, 27; (not its cause: so Bengel) "the working" Eph. i 13; ii. 11-18; Rom. xv. 9). It is (iv,p-y,lo.: see note, eh. i 29; also Eph. i. 20; God who "me.de you alive" as he "raised iii. 20) "of God." .And the special Divine him (Christ)," (ver. 12); the second a.et being work on which it rests is "the resuncction the consequence and counterpart of the first, or Cl>ri,L" (I-:.om. iv. 24, 25; x. 9; 1 Cor. xv. and faith the subjective link between them. Ul- -17): comp. note on "Firstborn out of Xczpi(o·1.a1, to ,how gmce, usCll of Divine fo1·- Oil, II, 1-23.] 'l'HE EPISTLE TO Tm~ COLOSSIANS. 89