We’ve looked at the diagnosis. Abomination, condemnation, alienation. Dead to God, guilty before Him, darkness itself. The doctor has diagnosed accurately and precisely our predicament and our problem. Now I want to take a look at what took place to you when you believed the Gospel — the physician’s work, the Spirit’s work wrought in you. The scalpel, the incision, what’s cut away and what’s changed. A very real operation, although you don’t feel it, much like physically when they put you under anesthesia. You don’t feel it. Although you might feel it once you wake up. And it has an outcome — not just immediate effects, but the promise of future effects too.
If God didn’t put this in His Word, there’d be no real importance to it. He chose to put it there because it’s important. And here’s why it matters: if you don’t know what was done to you, not by you, then your assurance will often collapse into performance. You’ll think you performed something, and therefore your new-creature-ness is dependent on you. Self-effort and religion never understand this operation. It’s always what I do, where I go, what I give — Jesus thrown in the mix as just a help to what I ultimately do. That completely negates the work of the Spirit. It negates the convicting work of the Spirit, the role of the ambassador and the Gospel being shared, and the ministry of the Spirit in the circumcision made without hands, the sealing, the regeneration no man can perform on himself, and certainly not some other man with holy water or a prescription. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Understand what was actually done to you, and your assurance gets more settled, not less.
We’ll take this in four parts: the diagnosis, applied in the moment the gospel is heard; the operation itself, and what it cuts and gives; and the result — the new identification that comes out the other side.
The Diagnosis, Applied
Every operation starts with the diagnosis. Before the scalpel is lifted, that’s where we begin. And a good doctor doesn’t operate blind, and neither does God. Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:7-8 that it’s expedient for Him to go away, because if He doesn’t, the Comforter won’t come — but if He departs, He’ll send Him. And when the Spirit comes, “he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Of sin, verse 9, because they believe not on Him. Of righteousness, verse 10, because He goes to the Father and they see Him no more — He’s their righteousness, and now the Spirit reproves them concerning where righteousness actually is. Of judgment, verse 11, because the prince of this world is judged. Three things the Spirit reproves the whole world of — not just Israel — and this reproving is illumination. It’s enlightening.
Remember, darkness is the cloak for the unbeliever’s excuse to keep sinning. The light of the Gospel comes in, penetrates the darkness, and doesn’t just address the darkness — it goes right to the issue. That’s why I love the Gospel. It cuts straight to the point. It doesn’t deal with the slogans people use to cover up their sin. It just says, that thing is sin, and you’re a sinner, and you’re guilty before God.
2 Corinthians 4:6 says it plainly: “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The same God who spoke light into Genesis speaks light into a darkened heart. You don’t see it take place, but it happens. And what does that light do first? It reproves the heart of sin. It reproves of righteousness — you can’t bring your own. And of judgment, because the prince of this world has already been judged.
This is part of the Spirit’s diagnosing ministry, and the darkness doesn’t want it made manifest. It’s done some good work keeping itself hid, filling a life with slogans and sayings to make it all right. And when the light of the Gospel comes blazing forth into that, there’s often offense, often a reaction of the flesh — but that’s part of the diagnosing ministry too. Because the conscience, once seared, gets scraped by the scalpel of the Gospel, and it cuts. That’s what the Word of God does. It’s sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the spiritual level. To the unbeliever it’s applying pressure. But it’s just light. Conviction is a good thing.
The Operation
This brings us to Colossians 2, where Paul is dealing with a church being duped and spoiled by philosophy and vain deceit, chasing something they’ve already been given in Christ. Verse 10: “Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power, 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: 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. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”
You want to subject yourself to an outward circumcision with hands, when you’ve already received the one made without hands. You want to engage in some outward washing of baptism, when you’ve already received the baptism of the Spirit into Christ. You want to engage in your own operation, when you’ve already participated in the operation of God.
There’s an acronym some use to help hold the pieces together — CRIBS: circumcision, regeneration, indwelling, baptism, and sealing. I don’t think these transpire in that particular order, but it’s a way to help remember what took place.
Circumcision without hands is spiritual surgery, cutting away the sins of the flesh. This is what happens in the mind of the one who believes: not just hearing the diagnosis as if it’s some kind of true thing out there, but believing it’s true of me. I have a body of sin. Sin dwells in me. I have sinned. I have the flesh. That’s fundamentally understood regarding my sin and the debt and penalty of it. The Spirit circumcises the heart, and now everyone who needs to be on the same page is on the same page.
Baptism here is not water — it’s the reality water baptism was always pointing to. It’s union with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:3-4: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Baptism encompasses the total and complete identification with Christ in His work — His death, burial, and resurrection.
Regeneration is the issue of death to life, and then reigning in that life. Titus 3:5 calls it “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The Greek word is palingenesia — new genesis, new life. This answers directly what we already saw about being dead to God, alive to sin. Now, through the Gospel and the Spirit’s work, we’ve been identified as dead to sin and alive unto God. We’ve been quickened. We’ve been regenerated. And this life is eternal, not temporary. It’s fixed in Jesus Christ.
Indwelling is the Spirit now taking up residence. Romans 8:9: “But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Not a visit. A residence.
Sealing is the guarantee. 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13-14, and 4:30 all use the language — sealed with the Spirit of promise, the earnest of our inheritance, sealed unto the day of redemption. He sutures us up, and that can never be changed. These are eternal sutures. You can never be opened up again. You don’t need to. The procedure was so precisely done, so accurate, that the only thing left waiting is for this same inner man, already made new, to put on a body that matches it — which hasn’t happened yet, but must happen, because of the work already done within.
So the Spirit isn’t merely the physician who diagnoses. He’s the surgeon who performs the exact procedure needed. His incision and His technique are impeccable. He’s a master. And the work is finished. He closes it all up. He seals it, not to be reopened — not even by us.
The Result: A New Creature
2 Corinthians 5:17 lands the whole thing in one sentence: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” And 1 Corinthians 1:30 shows exactly what answers what: “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Righteousness — that’s your justification. Sanctification — that’s your sanctification, plainly. And redemption — that’s your glorification, the redemption of the body still to come. Instead of condemned in Adam, you are justified in Christ. Instead of abomination in Adam, you are sanctified in Christ. Instead of alienation in Adam, you are glorified in Christ. Your identity is total and complete, and He has the exact remedy for everywhere we needed salvation.
What This Means for You
These things transpire when the seed of the Gospel reaches the fertile soil of the believing heart — when the patient, having heard the grave diagnosis, willingly subjects himself to the hand of the operator, to the hand of the Physician. Many cuts, but one operation. Life given. A new resident received. A permanent seal set. An old identity buried and a new one raised. If you’ve never believed this Gospel, that’s the whole of it — not performing the surgery yourself, not bringing your own tools, just believing what’s true and letting Him do what only He can do. He’s already diagnosed exactly what’s wrong. He already knows exactly what needs to be cut away and exactly what needs to be given. The only question is whether you’ll let Him operate.
If you’re already in Christ, this is worth returning to whenever your assurance starts drifting toward performance. You didn’t do this to yourself. You couldn’t have. The circumcision, the baptism, the regeneration, the indwelling, the sealing — every one of them was done to you, by a Physician whose technique is impeccable and whose work, once finished, He closes up and doesn’t reopen. What’s left isn’t more surgery. It’s living like the operation actually happened — because it did, whether you feel the incision or not.
— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher
This is the fifth article in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: what it means to be justified, sanctified, and glorified in Christ — more teaching like this at beholding-christ.com.