Baptism and circumcision are both signs and a seals of the covenant. They both mark entrance into the covenant and, as Paul's comments reveal in Col 2:11-12, they both signify the necessity of radical purification through death. Baptism has superseded circumcision because circumcision was a partial cutting away of the flesh that looked forward to the complete, divinely applied circumcision in Christ. By facing death for us, Jesus "put off the body of the flesh" and we are buried with Him in baptism. Baptism looks back to the complete work of Christ on the cross and represents our union with in death, burial and resurrection.