Friday

Related Verses
Col. 2:11-14
11 In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,
12 Buried together with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, though dead in your offenses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our offenses;
14 Wiping out the handwriting in ordinances, which was against us, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.

Rom. 2:29
29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.

Rom. 6:4
4 We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.

Rom. 8:11
11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

Eph. 2:1, 5, 15
1 And you, though dead in your offenses and sins,
5 Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
15 Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace,

Related Reading
In Colossians 2:11 through 15 we find more elements. Verse 11 says, “In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.” The soil also includes the circumcision of Christ, which denotes cutting and killing…Verse 12, which says that we were buried together with Christ in baptism, indicates that the soil also contains the element of burial…After burial we are raised up. In verse 12 Paul speaks of God, who raised Christ from the dead. This expression indicates that in Christ as the soil there is an element that causes us to be raised up. According to verse 13, we also are made alive. There is an element in the soil that gives us life, enlivens us. In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul speaks of the life-giving Spirit. In Colossians 2:13 he uses the same Greek term for life-giving, only in the past tense. As the soil, Christ has made us alive; He has given us life. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 454-455) 

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In Colossians 2:14 and 15…we have more elements that are found in Christ as the soil. The wiping out of the handwriting in ordinances is an element in the soil. The same is true of the stripping off of the rulers and the authorities, the making of a display of them openly, and the triumphing over them in the cross…Praise Him that He is such a rich soil! We have been rooted in this soil. Day by day our roots need to sink deeper into Christ as the unique soil. 

On the negative side, however, as 2:11-15 indicates, we have the flesh, the ordinances, and the rulers and authorities. Young and old, male and female, cultured and uncultured—we all are troubled by these three categories of negative things. We all have the flesh, we all have some type of ordinances, and we all are subject to the evil authorities in the atmosphere. Sin, worldliness, and offenses have their source in these negative things. Praise the Lord that in Christ as the soil we have the element of circumcision, which puts the flesh to death! In Christ as the soil, there is killing power…In the soil of the good land in which we are rooted is the “salt” of circumcision. This element does not cause anything to grow, but it is effective in killing germs. It cuts the flesh and kills it. 

After the killing, we have burial. In Christ as the soil, there is an element that causes us to be buried. Furthermore, there is another element that raises us up…In Christ as the soil, we are put to death, buried, raised up, and given life. The killing and the burial take the negative things away from us, whereas being raised takes us away from the negative things. Then the element in the soil that gives life makes us living. Therefore, in Christ as the soil, there are elements that kill us, bury us, raise us up, and make us living. 

According to 2:14, the handwriting in ordinances, which was against us and contrary to us, has been wiped out. It has been nailed to the cross. In the soil there is also the element of the wiping out of the ordinances. 

We all have certain kinds of ordinances concerning the way we conduct our daily life. These ordinances may not be in writing, but they are inscribed in our mentality. Perhaps you have never realized this, but ordinances hinder your growth in life. In order for you to grow properly, they need to be wiped out, nailed to the cross. I can testify that as I absorb nourishment from Christ as the soil, my ordinances are wiped out. Today we do not need ordinances. We simply need to assimilate the riches from the soil that we may grow and be built up. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 455, 457-458) 

Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 52—53