There is nothing you can do to cause you to be saved, not one thing, it is total grace. Not one performance, not one sin-free day, not one commandment or act of purity or sacrificial giving, nothing. Get rid of the whole notion.
The Apostle begins to reveal what the problem was with the Colossian Church. They were being threatened with the devaluing of who Christ is and what He has done.
In our next couple of verses Paul writes, “In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the fleshwas put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2: 11-12)
Circumcision is so important to the Jew. In fact it is the rite of passage. It is easy to imagine Jewish teachers imposing this requirement on a fledgling Church of new believers.
In short Paul is saying, “You were once spiritually dead but now you have been made alive by Christ who has performed a circumcision without hands on your hearts which were sinful. That has happened through the passage of your faith in Him and it is expressed through baptism to the world.”
Baptism hasn’t replaced circumcision. It is not the outward sign of belonging to God nor is the Lord’s Supper or witnessing or church attendance etc. These are never enough. There is always more things that are needed. Don’t be friends with Pharisees because you will lose the one thing that is of all importance, grace.
Moses called for people to circumcise their hearts. Jeremiah called for people to circumcise their hearts before the Lord. Paul would later say that circumcision is one done by the Spirit (Romans 2).
I have found the cut of my heart continually happen throughout my life and so have you. Sometimes the pain of circumstances are used to make the cut and sometimes it is the pain of conviction.
It will mark a new day, a new journey, a new direction, this is a moment of change, you will never be the same again and all that sounds wonderfully exciting, but it begins with a cut. It hurts.
I don’t have to do one thing to prove to anyone what Christ has done for me or who I am in Him. He has my heart and He continues to circumcise it.
Missions Paul 