Colossians 2:12-14 may on the surface look similar to other passages where Paul speaks about baptism. An example of a similar passage is Rom. 6:4-6
By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. (Rom. 6:4-6, GNB)
Here, we find the associations "baptism --> buried (share in death) --> raised from death (raised to life as he was)". Paul also writes that in dying, our old self was put to death on the cross. Thus the similarity with Colossians 2:12-14. However, if we look closer at this selection from Colossians and place the verses within their immediate context, we will find that Paul is using similar concepts to express something new. If in this passage in Romans, Paul is explaining how sin can no longer be a part of the lives of Christians because they are already to dead to it through baptism, in Colossians, Paul will be declaring something different.
Below is a graphical presentation of Colossians 2:12-14. Note the parallels and the arrows that illustrate how particular parts of the selection are connected to surrounding verses. (Click on the image for a bigger view.)
After Paul points out to the Colossians that the mystery of the ages is "Christ IN you" he begins to explain the mystery in terms of "Christ WITH you". The Hebrew/Aramaic preposition b can mean both "in" and "with." Note the vertical movement in "buried --> raised" on the one hand and the horizontal movement from "dead --> brought to life". This is the language that Paul uses when referring to baptism and is found in his letters. Note also the phrase "with Him (= Christ)". Through baptism, the Christian joins Christ in death and is also raised with Him to new life. His union with Christ is such that the verbs used by Paul here are combinations of "with" and a main verb. Thus, "buried-WITH" suntaqenteV suntaphentes; raised-up-with, suneghrqhte. sunegerthete; brought-to-life-with; sunezwopoihsan, sunezuopoiesan . The Christisan's being is to-be-WITH-Christ: in dying and rising to life.
The Colossians were once "dead in their sins and in the uncircumcision of the flesh." Outside of Christ, they shared the fate of all those who were under sin: death. That they belonged to the uncircumcised compounded their situation under sin. But even while yet sinners, God brought them to life with Christ. Three verbs characterize His action of giving life, and all have a participial form: forgive carisamenoV (transgressions), obliterate ecaleiyaV (the written bill that militated against the sinner), nail proshlwsaV it to the cross.
In these three verses, Paul depicts in a vivid way through the use of participial forms of the verb God's action in uniting the Colossians with Christ who died and who rose to life. These passages seen within their immediate context say more: the Colossians, far from just being second-class citizens within the people of God -- something that they would have been if they were part of Israel under the Mosaic law -- are full members: they have been joined to Abraham through the circumcision of Christ. It is a circumcision that is not physical but spiritual; because spiritual, more real. (For the old dispensation was just a type, a shadow of what has happened in Christ). And it is by the victory of Christ on the cross that the elements and powers that once subjected men have been conquered and rendered powerless like captives in a war, led around in procession, naked and in shame.
In a sense, Paul is saying here that by their baptism, the Christians have been rendered free not only from the demands of the Mosaic Law1 but also from any command that pretends to be rooted in the requirements of the elements (cf. Col 2:15). And for this reason, he can write at the beginning of chapter 2:
Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him. Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving. See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority (Col. 2:6-10, GNB)
Thus, by baptism, the Christian too shares in the primacy of Christ already depicted in the hymn of 1:15-20 and actualized for him in a life united to Christ in the baptism.
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1The "cheirographon" is a handwritten note similar to an I. O. U. It is the metaphor for a debt that was to be paid, in this case, the debt of sin payable by death. The Law, as Paul explains it, makes us aware of our debts (cf. Rom. 7:7); it does not empower one to be freed from it (Rom. 7:14-24).
