Blessed is He Who has part in the First Resurrection
Christians were spiritually circumcised when they were baptized. By identifying with Christ, they cut off all their fleshly sins and put them aside. When one is baptized, he identifies with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and just as God gave Jesus a new life, God gives the baptized new life also. He is forgiven of his sins. “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” This is the first resurrection.