" 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."
Colossians 2:9-15
In his second 'picture' of redemption, the apostle uses Baptism as a metaphor for the burial and resurrection of Christ (v 12). Once again, and it is worth emphasising, Paul is pointing to the objective work of Christ as he speaks of burial and resurrection. He is not speaking primarily about our baptism or our faith. Paul is rather speaking of Christ's faith on our behalf, stressing the objective nature of what God has accomplished in Christ for us. Paul is not speaking about baptism as such. He is using the picture of baptism as an analogy of what occurred in the death and resurrection of Christ. Just as in baptism there is a burying of a person in the water, as they die to the old life of sin, so in Christ the body of flesh was destroyed once and for all at his death. Christ was buried. The old man was crucified and buried with him, done to death, destroyed. And, just as in baptism a person rises from the water to newness of life, so in Christ there was a resurrection and He was raised a new redeemed, glorified, sin free, death-free man, the first fruits of a brand new humanity. Paul, then, is speaking once again, not of baptism nor of our faith but of Calvary and the empty tomb. It was at Calvary, in the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross, as He died in our place, that we were circumcised and our body of flesh was stripped away. It was in the garden tomb, sealed by the stone, that our old man was buried in baptism and raised to the newness of glorified humanity on the third day by the power of God. This is why, in v 13, Paul can say, emphasising the objective nature of what Christ has done for us, that all of this happened in Christ while we were still sinners. It took place while mankind was alienated from God. This is the wonder of God's grace and mercy in the face of the awful hopelessness of man's predicament.