Colossians 2:11-15 - the pinnacle

Colossians 2:11-15    In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (NIV).

   Though also a Roman citizen, Paul was Jewish.  Paul was even a Pharisee.  Jewish writing style at that time was quite “oriental,” differing from the Greek style.  Oriental writing had two distinctions: First, it was more indirect in style, and the author often employed metaphors.  Second, it often was more of a flowing monologue, with the main point often stored away in the middle.  Paul hits the central message here in the middle of this letter to the Christians at Colossae, which he built up to with leading statements such as in Colossians 1:20.  Jesus Christ is risen!  Christians in Colossae knew Christ was resurrected from the dead.  Yet just as we Christians can celebrate Easter in a sense every day, we Christians are always blessed when we hear the truth in love that though Jesus was crucified on the cross, He is risen!
   And this pinnacle message emphasizes we who have faith in Jesus have been forgiven of our sins, and we are risen with Christ.  It is a done deal.  He starts by saying the Christians at Colossae have had their nature circumcised.  (On the line of having our hearts circumcised as stated in Romans 2:29.)  Circumcision involves having a hood of skin, which covers a male sexual organ, cut off.  A requirement from God within the Abrahamic covenant, it is also a standard medical procedure in many hospitals in the west for male babies.  Once that piece of skin is cut off, it is a goner.  Giving a metaphor for a spiritual occurrence, Paul is saying believers in Jesus have had their hearts circumcised; the shield that blocked Love from entering is removed.  There is no going back; a follower of Jesus has been changed, because Jesus Christ forgave him or her of sins and changed his or her nature.  We believers in Jesus are forever forgiven!
   My heart was changed by Jesus 26 years ago.  Now I still sin, yet for 26 years, I have only become better and better!  On the surface the change may not be immediately evident.  I still like to watch Virginia Tech football games, I still hit to snooze button on my alarm, and I sometimes I am sad I never got married and do not have a woman to hold and care for.  Yet ever since I gave my heart to Jesus, I am not the same person I was for the first twenty-two years of my life.  Virginia Tech football games are not the determiner of my mood, I hit the snooze button fewer times on a Sunday than any other day of the week, a day where I use to sleep in, and sin in my life is a shadow of what it was before I was saved by Jesus.  Jesus changed my heart 26 years ago, and He has kept improving me since.  It all started with my sins being forgiven.
   If you give your heart to Jesus, your sin, all of it, will be forgiven.  Brace yourself that you will still have good days and bad days.  You will still have sin to struggle with. You will even have problems specifically because you are a Christian.  And your body will still know demise and then death in this fallen world.  Yet you will have a life in your heart which will only increase.
   Jesus Christ died on that cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the sacrificial atonement, taking the penalty of spiritual death in the place of us people who did and do wrong.  If you believe in Jesus, you are alive in your heart for good!!!
Hunter Irvine