Colossians 2:11–12 — and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 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.
When we were considering the Lord's Supper, we saw that it is directly related to the Passover meal of the Old Covenant, but is a better memorial.
In a similar way, we want to see that there is also a link between circumcision under the Old Covenant and baptism under the New, but is also a superior sign. We will unpack each of the following items in more detail later in regard to baptism, but note the following as we compare baptism and circumcision:
1) Both are seals of ownership. Circumcision marked the children of God under the Old Covenant but baptism does that under the new. In each case, the sign is applied to an individual at the time they are born into the respective Covenant. In both cases, and in truth, the recipients of the sign are God's special possession.
2) Both are external signs that point to an internal truth related to the heart. Circumcision served to remind God's Old Covenant people that they had something in their hearts (sin) that needed to be cut away if they were to be made acceptable to the Lord. Although the people were told to circumcise their own hearts, obeying the Law of God from the heart, this was not something they were ever able to do. It was not because there was anything wrong with the Law, Paul tells us in Romans 8:3-4 . Rather, the Law had the effect of exposing and provoking the sin in their hearts. The Law was good, but it is a mark of the sinfulness of sin that it takes something as good as the Law of God and uses it to provoke more sin and put people to death. Circumcision therefore pointed to something that had to be done to the hearts of the people, but which they were unable to do for themselves. It had the effect of pointing them forward to the One Who would come, Jesus Christ, Who would be able to circumcise the hearts of all His people through His life, death and resurrection. Some (though it was only a remnant) of the people of Israel saw Christ pointed out to them in all the signs and shadows of the Old Testament, including circumcision, trusted in the Messiah to come, and were saved.
Baptism is a sign of the fact that in Christ Jesus, God has provided the means by which the heart may be circumcised; cleansed from sin and made new. He has done for their hearts what sinners could never do for themselves. This makes baptism a better sign, as it deals with something that has been accomplished already, rather than flagging up a need that God had yet to meet through Christ's shed blood.
3) Circumcision and baptism, then, are signs. Both point to a need of the heart, one pointing forward to when that would be met in Christ and the other pointing back to the fact that the need was indeed fully met in Him. We will explore this more later but note in passing that the one sign was bloody, but following the shedding of Christ's blood, baptism is a bloodless sign. In the same way, Passover was bloody but the Lord's Supper is bloodless. Baptism, speaking of a completed work through the once for all shedding of Christ's blood, is superior to the sign that sheds blood in anticipation of His perfect sacrifice.
There are clearly parallels, then, between baptism and circumcision, but baptism is a better sign, just as the Lord's Supper is superior to the Passover meal.
If you have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, what is pictured in baptism is for you a reality: you truly are the Lord's, your heart has been cleansed from sin through the shed blood of Christ, all through the amazing and infinite love of God! For all those who haven't believed, the sign of baptism points to the need of your heart, and calls you to place your whole hope of heaven on Jesus, for your adoption into the family of God and for the complete cleansing from sin that only He can provide.
