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. (Colossians 2:12)
Compare Eph. 1:19, 20. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead works a transformation in the believer.
Faith of the operation of God.
That is, faith in the operation of God.
Buried with him.
Death precedes burial. Christ laid down His life before He was buried in Joseph’s new tomb. Before the Christian can be buried with Christ, he must have surrendered his life. All the ambitions of his heart and the stirrings and longings of his fleshly passions must be yielded up to his Master. As far as he is concerned, his old nature must die. Baptism is the sign of this self-renunciation, of the death of the old man and of his burial in the watery grave. Compare on Rom. 6:3, 4.
Ye are risen.
Baptism not only signifies the separation through death of the sinful nature and the burial of that nature, it also signifies the birth of a new creature in Christ Jesus (see on Rom. 6:4).