Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Colossians 2:12

Colossians 2:12. Buried with him; a single past act is referred to, but as that act took place when they ‘were circumcised,' etc., ‘having been buried' is not a necessary emendation, and may lead to the false notion that baptism precedes ‘the putting away of the body of the flesh,' etc.

In baptism; comp. Romans 6:3-4. The fellowship with Christ finds its sign and seal in the rite of baptism, which, as then administered, had its external resemblance to the burial and resurrection of Christ. This resemblance is not exact, since fellowship in the death of Christ is the main thought, and the immersion does not of itself suggest this. The passage shows that immersion was the mode in the Apostle's mind; that he meant to represent it as the only mode is denied by most commentators. The agent in this burial is God, as the next clause indicates.

Wherein, etc. Some prefer to render ‘in whom (as in Colossians 2:11) ye were also raised together,' taking this clause as suggesting a further step. But it seems more natural to connect it closely with what precedes. The baptism signified and sealed a fellowship with the resurrection of Christ; comp. Romans 6:1-11.

Raised with him; ‘ not your material, but your spiritual resurrection is in the foreground: it is bound on, it is true, to His material resurrection, and brings with it in the background, yours; but in the spiritual, the material is included and taken for granted, as usual in Scripture' (Alford).

Through your faith (lit., ‘the faith') in the operation (inworking) of God, who (‘hath' is incorrect) raised him from the dead. God's working is here set forth as the object of the believing, not as its cause. In this connection it was natural to characterize God as one ‘who raised Him from the dead.' Only through faith in such a God as able and willing to raise us up spiritually can we partake in this new life.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Colossians 2:12

Old Testament

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