And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power, COL 2:10

To understand the mind of the Spirit in our text one must keep it in context. The preceding verses warn us to, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

The following verses teach us that salvation is clearly two-fold. To be complete in Christ we need to come to the fountain for cleansing as well as to the cross for pardon, ZEC 13:1; COL 1:20.

This principle of a two-fold salvation is so beautifully set forth in COL 2:11-12. On the one side of this principle, v.11 points us to the "...putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." To put off the body of sin the old man of sin must be crucified, "...that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin," ROM 6:6.

This body of sin has a heart and mind filled with wicked desires- -hands and feet that are swift to execute these wicked desires-- eyes of sinful lusts and a tongue that is a world of iniquity. The members of this body of sin must be mortified, no longer yielding them as servants to sin, "...for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness," ROM 6:19.

On the other side of this principle, v.12 points us to the payment of the penalty of our sin by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."

Christ's circumcision was His pledge to fulfill the divine law by perfect obedience, "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law," GAL 5:3. Now Christ's perfect obedience is imparted to His Church, "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ," COL 2:11.

Christ's baptism was His pledge to voluntarily step into, and emerge Himself under the wrath of The Father, to pay the penalty of sin. Christ's baptism was also His pledge that He would come up out of the grave as the victor over sin, death and the grave.

Christ's resurrection is the New Testament pledge that the Father's wrath against the sins of His people has been appeased, and that He has accepted Christ's perfect obedience as the satisfaction of the law, ROM 5:19; PHI 2:8-11.

Oh, beloved, it is beyond words to express the blessedness of being complete in Christ, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise," EPH 1:13.

There is such a blessed consolation in Christ, "...after that ye believed..." to then receive the seal of the Holy Spirit.