The book of Colossians was a letter (epistle) “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” (1v1). It was written to the saints in Colosse by the Apostle Paul, with the help of Timothy (1v1-2). It is most likely that it was dictated to Timothy by Paul, and then signed personally by Paul himself, (4v18) as were some other epistles from Paul. It was also intended to be shared with a wider audience, especially the church in Laodicea (4v16). Paul had never met the church in Colosse, (2v1), but had heard of their “faith in Christ Jesus” (1v4) from Epaphrus (1v7-8). Paul wanted to make sure that they walked “worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing”, fruitful in all good works, increased in their knowledge of God, and were “strengthened with all might” (1v10-11). Because of this, Paul managed to pack a lot of teaching regarding salvation, and our relationship to God, into this short letter.

While it would be possible to write many a long commentary on this letter, I will instead summarise what I see as the main points – please forgive me if you feel that I have missed something:

• We are redeemed through the blood of Jesus (1v14)

• The blood of Jesus is the price paid for the forgiveness for our sins (1v14)

• The blood of Jesus and His cross bring peace between the believer and God, and work a reconciliation in the relationship (1v20)

• Previously we had been alienated from and enemies of God, through thinking and doing evil things (1v21)

• Having ‘Christ in us’ – the Holy Spirit and anointing of Jesus – gives us our hope of glory and the life to come (1v27).

• The believers had received “Christ Jesus the Lord” (2v6).

• Believers are encouraged to keep walking as we started – “in Jesus” (2v6).

• We should be rooted and built up in Jesus, growing in faith (2v7)

• In Jesus we find the fullness of all that God is, living in a bodily form (2v9)

• We are completed in, by and through Jesus (2v10)

• Jesus is above all principalities and powers (2v10)

• We are partakers of the circumcision of Jesus, and our circumcision is not done with hands but in the spiritual realm (2v11).

• We are to kill the sins of the flesh in our bodies (2v11)

• We are ‘quickened’ – made alive again, reborn, resurrected – together with Jesus (2v13)

• All of our trespasses and sin have been forgiven (2v13)

• All of the ordinances that were previously against us have now been nailed to the cross of Jesus (2v14)

• Jesus has now triumphed over the kingdom of the devil on our behalf (2v15)

• The believer that is risen with Jesus – ie baptised (2v12) – should seek heavenly things (3v1-2)

• The believer is dead to the things of this world (3v3)

• The part of the believer that is alive is hidden and buried in God with and through the anointing of Christ (3v3)

• Jesus is our life (3v4)

• When Jesus appears, the life that we have currently hidden in God will make us appear in glory with Him (3v4)

• We are to keep our earthly bodies in check, and free from sin (3v5-9)

• We are to put on and become a new person, renewed through the knowledge of God to become the image of Jesus (3v10)

• The word of God is to live in us richly, leading us to the highest levels of wisdom (3v16)

• Whatever we do, whether in word – speaking, writing etc – or deed – all of our actions – everything is to be done in the name of Jesus (3v17)

• We are to be wary of anybody that would attempt to ‘spoil’ our salvation – methods that they are likely to use include vanity, deceit, and the traditions of men – saying ‘we have always done it this way’ (2v8)

The current verse on baptism is found within the wider context of all of this wonderful teaching on our salvation and new relationship with God. In the more immediate context, let us not forget that the sentence starts with “And ye are complete in him” (2v10). Clearly baptism is closely involved in making us complete in God – without being baptised correctly, we would not be a complete believer. The middle of the same sentence tells us of the circumcision that we have, which is spiritual rather than physical (2v11). We receive this due to being partakers in the spiritual of Jesus’ circumcision in the physical world. This process starts through the renouncing of all the sins that the flesh has committed (2v11) and continues on into the baptism. Once the sins have been renounced, repented of, and the sinful man put down, the current verse shows us that the next part of the process is burying our sins with Jesus in baptism. Through our faith in God’s promise and belief in His ability to perform it, we then receive the same power of resurrection that Jesus had.

Jesus is very intimately involved in our baptism – we are “buried with Him in baptism” (2v12). It seems highly unlikely that the Colossians were baptised in any name other than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially as Paul later in the same letter instructed them to “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (3v17) – he did not say ‘all except baptism’. Indeed, if baptism is the first thing that a believer does, surely their salvation should start as it means to continue – by doing all in the name of Jesus.

But what about using another formula or name to invoke during baptism? Parts of the church today for instance repeat the words ‘in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit’ or something similar. This practice has been around since about the third century after Jesus’ time, and was formalised at the church councils of the fourth century. Clearly it has been in use common use for a long time, but this only helps it achieve the status of ‘the traditions of men’. Let us remember that up to this current verse in the Bible we have not seen anybody baptised in any name other than the name of Jesus. Let us also remember the warning that we saw in this book – warning us against having our salvation “spoiled” by those using things such as Philosophy, vanity, vain deceit, science (“the rudiments of this world”), or “the tradition of men” (2v8). Clearly a look back to the actual practices found in the Bible is well overdue for large sections of Christianity.

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