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The main theme of my Baptism in the Scheme of Redemption (published 1971) was the consistency between baptism for remission of sins and salvation by grace. I argued that baptism is an act of faith, not a work of law; that in baptism God is the active party and man merely submissive to the work of God; that the great thing which happens in baptism is something God does, not a human accomplishment. I thought my argument was strong then; but it can be stronger, I left out two important passages which I want to discuss in a second edition. One is Colossians 2:11, 12.
Get the context. Paul warns against any doctrine that is "not after Christ" (v. 8) and gives a twofold reason for the warning: (1) "For (hoti = because) in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, (2) and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power" (vv. 9f). (Perfect tense – you have been made full and thus stand full now.) From his fullness we are filled (cf. John 1:1, 16). If we are enslaved by means of a doctrine which is "not after Christ" we lose all that we have in Christ.
Paul then goes back to the point in time when the entrance into this relationship with Christ took place—"in whom ye were also circumcised" (v. 11). (The aorist tense refers to something that took place at some point in the past.) Paul is showing how the "you have been made full" (NASB mg) was accomplished.
The remainder of verse 11 defines this circumcision. Then comes the reference to baptism in verse 12. If the material explaining the circumcision is omitted for a moment, one can see the close relationship between the spiritual circumcision and baptism: "ye were circumcised…having been buried with him in baptism." Baptism is the means by which the circumcision was accomplished. (Baptism is not the circumcision itself, but the means of it—the tool by which it was accomplished.) Romans 6:6 removes any doubt that may linger about whether this is the right explanation of the relation between "ye were circumcised" and "having been buried with him in baptism." In baptism one dies to sin; the "old man (is) crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away." Thus it is in baptism that the circumcision, the removal of "the body of the flesh" (Colossians 2:11 or "the old man" (3:9) (alternate expressions for "the body of sin"), is accomplished.
Now observe that this spiritual circumcision is an act performed by God (or Christ)—"ye were circumcision." Man is passive; God does the work.
Observe, second, that baptism is the means by which God performs this work. In baptism man is simply submitting to a work which God performs upon him.
Thus the work accomplished in baptism is not something we do, but something done upon us ("ye were circumcised," v. 11), baptism simply being the means by which the work is done.
L. A. Mott, Jr. via Eastland News, Vol. 32, No. 13, March 26, 1979
