Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Colossians: Chapter 2].
Eph 2:11), possibly first in Mr 14:58 where both words occur
concerning the temple. In 2Co 5:1 the reference is to the
resurrection body. The feminine form of this compound adjective
is the same as the masculine. {In the putting off} (\en t•i
apekdusei\). As if an old garment (the fleshly body). From
\apekduomai\ (Col 2:15, possibly also coined by Paul) and
occurring nowhere else so far as known. The word is made in a
perfectly normal way by the perfective use of the two Greek
prepositions (\apo, ek\), "a resource available for and generally
used by any real thinker writing Greek" (Moulton and Milligan,
_Vocabulary_). Paul had as much right to mint a Greek compound as
any one and surely no one ever had more ideas to express and more
power in doing it. {Of Christ} (\tou Christou\). Specifying
genitive, the kind of circumcision that belongs to Christ, that
of the heart.
2:12 {Having been buried with him in baptism} (\suntaphentes
aut•i en t•i baptismati\). Second aorist passive participle of
\sunthapt•\, old word, in N.T. only here and Ro 6:4, followed
by associative instrumental case (\aut•i\). Thayer's Lexicon
says: "For all who in the rite of baptism are plunged under the
water, thereby declare that they put faith in the expiatory death
of Christ for the pardon of their past sins." Yes, and for all
future sins also. This word gives Paul's vivid picture of baptism
as a symbolic burial with Christ and resurrection also to newness
of life in him as Paul shows by the addition "wherein ye were
also raised with him" (\en h•i kai sun•gerth•te\). "In which
baptism" (\baptismati\, he means). First aorist passive
indicative of \sunegeir•\, late and rare verb (Plutarch for
waking up together), in LXX, in N.T. only in Col 2:12; 3:1; Eph
2:6. In the symbol of baptism the resurrection to new life in
Christ is pictured with an allusion to Christ's own resurrection
and to our final resurrection. Paul does not mean to say that the
new life in Christ is caused or created by the act of baptism.
That is grossly to misunderstand him. The Gnostics and the
Judaizers were sacramentalists, but not so Paul the champion of
spiritual Christianity. He has just given the spiritual
interpretation to circumcision which itself followed Abraham's
faith (Ro 4:10-12). Cf. Ga 3:27. Baptism gives a picture of
the change already wrought in the heart "through faith" (\dia t•s
piste•s\). {In the working of God} (\t•s energeias tou theou\).
Objective genitive after \piste•s\. See 1:29 for \energeia\.
God had power to raise Christ from the dead (\tou egeirantos\,
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