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Colossians 2:12
12 Buried with [sunthapto] him [autos] in [en] baptism, [baptisma] wherein [en] [hos] also [kai] ye are risen with [sunegeiro] him through [dia] the faith [pistis] of the operation [energeia] of God, [theos] who [ho] hath raised [egeiro] him [autos] from [ek] the dead. [nekros] KJV-Interlinear
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. NASB
Continuing the description of our relationship with God, through Christ, we are identified with Christ in His death, through our baptism by faith.
Now, no specific baptism is mentioned here because it is not the type of baptism that is important, but the promise and power of God who executes the baptism.
Baptism is the transformation, beginning, launching of something new in our life. Something which we did not have before.
In life there are many forms of baptism such as full water emersion, sprinkling, surviving through some difficult ordeal, and so forth. All of these things are physical activities. None of them have the power of salvation.
However, baptism is a good teaching aid for describing the spiritual concept of salvation.
There is only one way to be saved and that is through faith in Christ. ‘For by grace are you saved, through faith.’
Baptism, and that means baptism from this world, is an illustration only, of the work of Christ on the Cross as he died to the living world, was buried, and then was raised up from the dead, back to life. Never to die again.
Baptism ties in all three aspects of sin, death, and resurrection. All three of which are the foundation of Christian belief.
We just finished a study of circumcision. That represented the cutting away of something useless, making way for something useful. Likewise, the context continues, with the explanation of baptism, in describing how in faith, we identify with the work of Christ, by believing in who He is and what He accomplished, for us.
And, in our believing that in faith, we are now saved from eternal separation from God and life, that we now possess a future in heaven, that we will one day be resurrected to live forever, and also as far as our current life goes, so that we can live a spiritual life, a functioning spiritual life, advancing to a level of completeness in our life, which God intends for us, and of which is not available anywhere else in this world.
And God even goes further to provide the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which occurred simultaneously with your original faith in Christ, even though you did not feel anything, nor can you. And, this indwelling is often times called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is Gods seal on the salvation contract He issues with every person who believes in Christ.
So, God raised His own Son from death, and likewise in salvation, God guarantees to us, that He can and will raise us up from death - spiritual death during our life, and physical death whenever it occurs for each one of us.
