in Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, (12) buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (13) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, (14) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul to deny heretical attacks on the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ; in Christ believers have been made complete. Circumcision is made without hands in Christ – spiritual circumcision – here used figuratively of believers being set free from sinful nature through union with Christ. Spirit baptism is at the moment of faith and we are raised to a new life; old things have passed away. By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. The faithful are made alive in Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions; taking them away having nailed that debt to the cross. We were spiritually dead because all people are sinners by nature and choice. A rebirth is required and that comes from the outside, not ourselves. God deals with the sin nature and transgressions through forgiveness in Christ – no worldly philosophy, not legalism, nothing else. Do not give up rebirth, completeness, forgiveness, and victory in Christ for religiosity. Christ is God incarnate and has complete salvation in Him alone by grace alone through faith alone. Following of the law or any system of rules or traditions has no merit or value toward our salvation nor sanctification – legalism means tradition,, man made doctrine or rules which take the place of Scripture.
No stress is laid on the age of baptism – or on one place or another but only on our being renewed ny the power of the HolySpirit in the soul at the moment of belief. Basically those who affirm infant baptism do so because of views of continuity between the Old Testament and God’ new covenant people. Paul uses the language both circumcision and baptism to refer to spiritual realities that are true for all those who are in Christ Jesus. Repentance and faith are the covenant al obligation for those who receive the sacrament.
Paul recognized that a person might be physically circumcised but NOT have a proper relationship with Our Lord – one of the body but not of the heart. He is talking a spiritual reality when buried in baptism. C.S.Lewis was adamant that eternal life must be spread not by purely acts like belief, but also bodily acts like baptism and Holy Communion. He insisted that Christianity “is not merely the spreading of an idea ……..(because) God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature.”