What Really Happens When You’re Baptized?

The book of Acts tells the story of how the church of Jesus Christ was established and began to spread, just as He promised in Matthew 16:18. If you read Acts carefully, you’ll notice how often baptism appears whenever someone responds in faith and repentance to the gospel. In fact, the words baptism and baptized appear twenty-two times in Acts.

A study of those passages would be valuable, but here I want to explore something else: how the apostle Paul describes what God himself does during baptism. When we are baptized, it is not our work—it is God’s.

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A Work of God, Not of Man

Baptism should never be confused with “works of the law.” The one being baptized is not accomplishing anything by their own effort; they are simply submitting to the command of Christ in Matthew 28:18–20. Paul makes this clear in Colossians 2, where he describes at least three mighty works of God at the moment of baptism: circumcision, resurrection, and forgiveness of debt.

9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority; 11and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, 12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, 14having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Colossians 2:9–15 NASB)

Circumcision Without Hands

Paul first compares baptism to circumcision. Under the Law of Moses, every male was to be circumcised at eight days old. Failure to do so brought severe consequences:

“But as for an uncircumcised male … that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” (Genesis 17:14 NASB)

Circumcision marked inclusion in God’s covenant people. In the same way, Paul says, baptism marks our inclusion in Christ. But now it is not a physical act performed by human hands—it is a spiritual circumcision performed by God Himself when we are buried with Christ in baptism. Through this, God brings us into all the promises of the new covenant.

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Raised with Christ

Baptism is also described as a resurrection. Paul says we were “buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith.” (Colossians 2:12 NAS) Going under the water pictures burial with Christ; rising from the water pictures being raised with Him to a new life. The old person we once were, along with our sins, remains buried. We rise as new creations, alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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Forgiven and Acquitted

Paul then shows how baptism is connected with forgiveness. Once dead in sin and useless to God, we are made alive and useful again:

“having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us … having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14 NAS)

The “certificate of debt” refers to the laws of God we have all broken—commandments against lying, stealing, coveting, and more. On our own, we stood guilty before God. But in Christ, our debt has been paid. At baptism, that acquittal becomes ours by faith, credited to us because of Jesus’s sacrifice.

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Victory Over the Accuser

Finally, Paul declares that Christ has disarmed the rulers and authorities—a reference to Satan and his demons. Scripture says they accuse believers before God day and night (Revelation 12:10). Their accusations once stood on solid ground, since we were guilty. But at the cross, Jesus stripped them of their legal argument. Through His triumph, our enemies are defeated, and their accusations silenced.

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Conclusion

When a penitent believer submits to Christ in water baptism, God is at work in unseen but powerful ways. He circumcises our hearts, raises us to new life, cancels our debt of sin, and silences our accusers.

Paul also explains it in Romans 6:1–7, where baptism is described as burial and resurrection. It is a moment rich with spiritual reality—an act of simple obedience in which God performs a miracle of grace.

May this truth strengthen your faith and deepen your gratitude for what God has done for you in Christ.

Photo by Josue Michel on Unsplash