2nd Chapter of
Colossians
Colossians 2:1-2
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for
those at
PAUL'S PURPOSE FOR WRITING
Paul will share his personal struggles with them because he wants them to be encouraged and to know how he loves them so. Paul's purpose in instructing them is for them to be united in love and thus understand fully and richly the mystery of God, who is Christ Himself.
Paul's purpose in his encouragement:
1- That they be encouraged in heart
2- That they be united (sumbibazo: knit together) in love
3- That they may have complete understanding
4- That they may know the mystery of God
5- That they may not be deceived (
6- That they may continue to live in Christ (
7- That they may not be taken captive in their minds (
Paul uses this word "mystery" various times, mostly as he writes to the Ephesians and Colossians. This is probably because the philosophers of Colosse were known to throw this word around when referring to the special knowledge and understanding they ascribed to themselves.
Colossians 2:3
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
In Jesus, who is the hope of the Gospel (as Paul mentioned in the first chapter), are hidden all the treasures of any knowledge worth knowing. He is the incarnation of all that is God, and all the wisdom that had been hidden throughout the ages. He is the One worth knowing and Paul declares himself an apostle to Jesus. So Paul declares to them what Jesus wants them to know!
Colossians 2:4
I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
Paul begins to get to the meat of the matter with the Colossians: some were being deluded by fine-sounding arguments. Some were filled with the knowledge of man and were trying to pervert God's knowledge in Christ. Some were being deceived and accepting this knowledge as if it were from God!
Paul is telling them that in Christ they already have all the wisdom and knowledge they need. If they feel they need to add to this via other sources, they are being deceived by man's ingenuity.
Be careful of those who may pull you aside and begin to involve you in arguments or teachings that are contrary to the doctrine you received from the Bible teachers and evangelists of the church (Romans 16:17). If a teaching tries to take you away or teach you things different from Jesus and His character, it is man-made and can cause division.
Colossians 2:5
For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Paul appeals to their emotions by saying how delighted he is when they are orderly (taxis) and firm in their faith. If they are accepting other wisdom that didn't come from the apostles (God's divine revelation) then they will be disorderly and their faith will wane from Christ. Even though Paul was absent from them in the body, he shared a spiritual work with them that identified their work as legitimate, having apostolic authority. In other words, their work could not have been of their own doing, for if it was, then it would not be fruit of the true Gospel.
taxis: regular arrangement; fixed succession of rank or character; official dignity; orderly.
This church had soldier-like discipline across the board!
Colossians 2:6
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
Since it is the true Gospel and knowledge of Jesus you have received, Paul comments, put this knowledge to work by living in Him, in other words, practice what you are learning! Have a relationship with Christ, not an association! He is Lord and you are to follow His teaching, not someone else's! Continue in what you know to be true from the Lord and not your own ideas.
Colossians 2:7
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
WALKING IN CHRIST IS A CURE FOR DECEPTION
Characteristics of a life that lives (walks) in Jesus Christ:
1- Rooted in Jesus - sink your roots in Him
2- Built up in Jesus - build on Him
3- Strengthened in the faith you are taught
4- Overflowing in thankfulness
One of the first indications that you have swayed into fine sounding arguments and away from the truth is lack of thankfulness towards those who first taught you the faith. You think you know better than them and that you have surpassed them in knowledge, just like a teenager may feel they know better and more than their parents. A deceitful spirit indeed!
THE MARKS OF A
1- Courageous (encouraged) hearts
2- Knit together in love
3- Resist seductive teaching
4- Walk in Christ's footsteps
5- Soldier-like discipline
6- Rooted and built up in the faith
7- Abounding and overflowing with gratitude
-- Richard Bagget,
Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Here lied the root of the problem in this local church. They were depending on human tradition, or wisdom (syncretism), and basic principles of the world, or intellectualism (gnosticism), to escape from worldly corruption. However, these hollow (empty, lacking in any substance) and deceptive (seemingly good on the outside) philosophies (human concoctions) will lead you to more corruption as opposed to holiness! Paul taught the Corinthians that their minds should always take captive any thought opposing Christ and make it obedient to Him (2Co 10:5)! This, however, cannot be done unless you are grounded and firm enough in your faith so that you are able to demolish any argument or pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And that, of course, means you have to know God's will and believe He is Supreme!
Do not be captured (enslaved, controlled) by what is:
a- Hollow - vain, empty; lacking in any spiritual substance. It may seem to have value in the flesh, on the physical realm, but it has no substance for eternity. (Ex. Beauty in Pr 31:30)
b- Deceptive - seemingly good, but useless in the reality of Christ. It may seem realm to you, and you may be able to palpate it with your senses and emotions, but it is useless for the ultimate spiritual reality. (Ex. Charm in Pr 31:30)
c- Dependent on human tradition - People say... People have been doing it... Traditions usually appease people's conscience, but have no value in the spiritual realm.
d- Dependent on the basic principles of this world - Dependent on fame, pleasure or fortune: Life's basic worries (Lu 8:14)
Anything or anyone that tries to root you anywhere else but in Christ is hollow, deceptive, dependent on human tradition and on the basic principles of this world.
See To It - Usually two Greek words are translated into "See To It" in the NIV: blepo - Take heed, beware, behold, see, look on to; and skopeo - to take aim, to consider, to mark. However, Heb 12:15 and 1Peter 5:2 combines skopeo with epi to form episkopeo (a derivative of episkopos), which means to oversee, to look diligently, to take the oversight. This is the word translated as "overseer" or "bishop".
Christ is the Center of the whole system of truth… A philosopher sees in Christian teaching certain things that fit in with his philosophy. He accepts Christ and calls himself a Christian. But in his thinking certain of his philosophic abstractions are central, and Christi himself personally is just a sort of shadow in the background. We know people like that: militant proponents of some pet theory or doctrine, but you would never suspect them of having much love or admiration for Christ personally.
-- Halley’s Bible Handbook
Colossians 2:9
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
Here is the proof that Paul believed Jesus Himself is God.
Many believe God is a Trinity, which is a word that is not in the Bible. In its strictest definition, the Trinity ascribes 3 different tasks or work to God, but that there is only one personality in the Godhead (Trinity). However, if there was only one person, why does the Greek imply a multitude of personalities in the use of the word theiotes (Rom 1:20) and theotes (Col 2:9), which means Godhead? The Hebrew word for God, Elohim, also implies multiple persons since it was a plural word, like our word for marriage. The word Godhead is attributed to those persons who are divine in their nature, with the power to create (Heb: bara). These persons are the only spiritual beings that are:
1- Omnipotent: All powerful
2- Omniscient: All knowing
3- Omnipresent: Everywhere
There is a word used in English to translate this concept: Deity, or Godhead, as opposed to Trinity.
Here again Paul uses "pleroma" to describe the fullness of God in Christ, as he did in Col 1:19. This tells us that all the qualities of the Godhead were embodied in Jesus.
Colossians 2:10
and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
How can we try to add anything to the divine, supreme teaching we have received, when it represents the fullness of God given to us in Christ?! He is over any power or authority! There is nothing else to know or figure out! There is nothing else to add to make you complete! If you truly believe you have a relationship with Majesty, how could you ever consider an alternative or an addition to the fullness you have in Christ? Therein lies the problem of syncretism!
Syncretism: Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous. (Dictionary.com)
This can lead to eclectism: making decisions on the basis of what seems best instead of following some single doctrine or style. Selecting or combining elements from a variety of sources. (Dictionary.com)
WHAT WE HAVE IN CHRIST
1- Fullness -
"pleroo" - to level up, to cram. So we are
elevated to Christ's stature (Eph 2:6). He lives in us now (
Colossians 2:11
In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, {11 Or <the flesh>} not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
2- Spiritual Health - Jesus, the Great Physician, has cut off the sinful nature from us. He circumcised us spiritually, so that we are free from sin's grasp. Not by our own efforts are we free or by our own discipline (circumcision not done by hands of men), but by Him removing this nature right from under us.
Colossians 2:12
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
This is how the spiritual circumcision took place: through obeying the Gospel. Our faith in the power of God raised us up with him when we were baptized. Baptism is not a senseless ritual, it is a test of our faith in God's power who raised Jesus from the dead. Same as Naaman's test of faith when he wanted to be healed (2Ki 5:10-14).
This passage also proves that in order for one to be saved, one must have faith in God's power. To do that, one must be able to reason and learn from the Word to come to trust and believe God's Word. Infants cannot do this, nor can other mentally incapable people who are not accountable to God like those who can come to believe and be baptized.
Colossians 2:13
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, {13 Or <your flesh>} God made you {13 Some manuscripts <us>} alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
3- Life - He made us alive! How? By forgiving us all our sin! Before the sin was removed from us we were dead.
What are the
essentials of being right with God?
This is how we are made right with God! Notice all God required of you was:
* - Faith - in His power
* - Obedience - to His Word
Colossians 2:14
having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
This is how we were made alive:
a- He canceled the law that condemned us by fulfilling it in Jesus
Colossians 2:15
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. {15 Or <them in him>}
b- He disarmed the powers and authorities by which men judge each other by making a public spectacle of them on the cross of mercy.
Jesus stripped the powers and authority of the belief in angels and all kinds of elemental spirits and demons by setting forth the total adequacy of the work of Christ. His theme is "Sin is forgiven, evil is conquered, and what more is necessary?!"
-- Richard Bagget,
GOD'S MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT!
1- Life is in Christ
2- Forgiveness is in Christ
3- Sins are blotted out in Christ
4- The law is removed in Christ
5- Evil powers are despoiled in Christ
-- Richard Bagget,
Colossians 2:16
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Here is the evidence that regulations were not to direct our followship in Jesus Christ. Dietary Laws and religious festival regulations were all canceled when Jesus died on the cross (vs 13-15). Therefore we cannot find justification in following these things. However, the spirit of the Sabbath lives in the dedication of our time and lives to remembering the Lord in whatever we do. To make sure we make time to stop the routine of the world and remember the Lord and glorify Him. See Mark 2:23-28.
Because our fullness is in Christ, we cannot let other things rule us or be judged by any other perspective that is not in Christ, whether they are things from the Law of the previous testament, as shown here in verse 16, or superstitious (spiritualized) notions that are purely invented philosophies and nave nothing to do with reality (verse 18).
Another problem that can result because of syncretism is legalism. The Colossian church was keeping days and seasons, perhaps in accordance with the Law of Moses, or maybe even pagan traditions as well. Is it wrong to observe days? The Colossians were not merely observing them, but judging one another by whether or not they kept these things as the law declared. Real religion is fellowship with Christ! Do not allow anyone to judge your freedom in Christ by anything outside of Christ's words!
The way to God does not depend on cultural, traditional or ritualistic endeavors, but is open to all through Jesus Christ. Some in the church may try to bind a certain ritual on you and make you feel guilty because you don’t do it or submit to it, but you cannot allow yourself to be judged by that person, especially if they are holding you to something that is not from the Scriptures or is not in effect any more.
Christian freedom comes not from restraining desires by rules and regulations, but from the death of evil desires and the stringing to life and good desires because Christ is in the Christian and the Christian is in Christ!
-- Richard Bagget,
Legalists, unlike the philosophers, are men with a more practical turn of mind. They don't bother much about things they cannot understand, but want to know what to do to be a Christian. He sees certain plain commandments, or what appear to him to be plain commandments, and he obeys them. And to him those commandments are central, and Christ Himself personally is just a sort of shadow in the background. We know people like that too. Who are Legalists? They are those who rest their salvation on themselves rather than on Christ. He, Christ, not a doctrine, not a commandment, is our Savior. Being a Christian is, essentially, Loving Christ, a Person, rather than believing this or that doctrine, or obeying this or that commandment. We believe doctrines and obey commandments solely as unto Christ!
--Halley's Bible Handbook
Colossians 2:17
These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
REALITY IS IN CHRIST, NOT IN CEREMONY
Although these things had a purpose at one time, they are not the reality of what we now have in Christ. The things that are shadows in the law, are all pointing to mysteries now revealed in Christ (Heb 9:9; 10:1).
What is a shadow has no substance and no real form. The purpose of what those things served is now past. There is no fulfillment or value in them anymore.
Colossians 2:18
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
Mysticism: A belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that is central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience. The doctrine of the Mystics, who professed a pure, sublime, and wholly disinterested devotion, and maintained that they had direct intercourse with the divine Spirit, and acquired a knowledge of God and of spiritual things unattainable by the natural intellect, and such as can not be analyzed or explained. (Dictionary.com)
Thus, mysticism is a religious experience that is based on feelings (subjective experience) as opposed to hard facts (objective experience):
1- Some who volunteer humility as a venue of spirituality may in fact be basing their religious experience on their feelings. Their fruit are shown in times of testing.
2- Angel worship, or elevating any other created being above God is also involved in the mystical experience (Heb 1:14).
3- Dwelling on the unknown or building on that which is unseen is a type of mysticism (De 29:29).
The Colossians were trying to reach God through worshipping and deferring to angels. Their goal: To become a spiritual aristocracy through contact with angels.
Paul describes how this unspiritual approach to man-made holiness abounds in false humility and the worship of created things rather than Jesus and an attitude of surrender and service evident by spiritual fruit. The fruit of the unspiritual is a lot of verbiage (Proverbs 10:19) concerning how special they are because of what they have experienced. The person is puffed up (proud), and all that puffs him up is idle notions about what he thinks is spiritual in his eyes. He will try to make you feel guilty because you are not as spiritual since you know not enough about what he knows, or because you have not experienced the same things he has. He will try to hold you to a certain standard in his eyes, like, you should be able to cry when you see a movie about Jesus, or, you need to go forward on Sundays and confess more, or, you should get rid of your TV and your computer to live like a real Christian. May be some of these things will help a person who has a conviction about how these things influence their life, but when you hold them as a standard for dependence on salvation and a closer relationship to God you become disqualified by your false humility and your unspiritual approach to sanctity.
Some were teaching that man is too unworthy to approach Christ directly: he needs mediation of angels. And they were proud of their humility. We do not know of any such teaching today, but we can see vestiges of this doctrine in the worship of Mary as an intermediary, and in the supplication and intercession of Catholic “saints” …
-- Halley’s Bible Handbook
Colossians 2:19
He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Whoever thinks he can become holier or thinks he is better because of his own doing as opposed to Christ, has completely lost connection, meaning, he is not part of the body. He does not recognize the body of the Lord Jesus and so has condemned himself (1Co 11:29).
Dwelling on feelings as opposed to faith breaks you loose from Christ. Satan will try to create a crutch for you based on your feelings, that you may associate your relationship with God, and therefore your religious experience with fleeting feelings. If your attitude in Christ and your fruit change as a reflection of your feelings, then you have bought into this lie.
Because so many have come to depend on their feelings to guide them spiritually, there are many rules, traditions and ceremonies that have been created for the purpose of soothing guilt laden consciences that testify to their failing religion.
These people think they are serving Christ, but they are serving themselves. They are disconnected. Essentially Paul is teaching here that the only way to have a true religious experience; the only way to truly serve God is being in the Body, the church. That is how we remain connected to the Head.
Here's an example: We are the salt of the Earth. In order to be effective, we need to be operating in a way we would be able to do our job - by making contact. Salt on food preserves. Salt in the shaker does nothing. Real salt cannot preserve or season a picture of food, or imaginary food. Thus, we need to stay connected to reality in Christ to be effective as the Salt of the Earth!
Colossians 2:20
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
Asceticism is yet another way people get disconnected from Jesus, or never connected at all!
Asceticism: The belief that you are spiritually purged by the harsh treatment of the body. Self punishment and depravation of pleasures by strict rules and regulations laced with ceremony were the principle ways of becoming more spiritual for the ascetic.
The doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. (Dictionary.com)
Ceremonialism: stressing careful attention to form and detail; implying strict attention to what is prescribed by custom or by ritual. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online)
The impact of their teaching was that Christ was not sufficient to save.
If you have already died, then your body doesn't need to be punished! You are alive in Jesus and paying attention to the cultivation of your soul, the inner man! Satan traps you by trying to get you to be distracted with your physical reality, which is temporary. This is what legalism, asceticism, ceremonialism and most other 'isms focus on and are built on.
WE ALREADY DIED TO OUR FLESH IN CHRIST!
Colossians 2:21, 22
"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
These teachings perish and change and are reinvented over again as people submit to them, because they never fulfill you spiritually. They proceed from the human fleshly mind. Be careful you are not deceived by these fine sounding arguments that make you dependent on human teachings or commands for the purpose of becoming “spiritual”. Why do so many who advocate a human teaching never try to share it with the spiritual leaders of the congregation? Remember that a mark of those who are deceived and try to poison others with their teaching is lack of thankfulness (Col 2:7). This is especially true in regards to the church leaders, which is a reflection of where their faith is at: not in Christ but in people. If you are approached by brethren in the church in regards to a strange teaching, a fine sounding argument or judgments against the brethren, be concerned! They want to use your ears as garbage pails and they do not consider you a spiritual person! If they did, they wouldn’t have probably approached you unless they had a legitimate concern and wanted to learn the truth about it.
Colossians 2:23
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
These kinds of rules and ceremonies are worthless in keeping you holy, since they are a crutch for your faith. They have nothing to do with the self-control that the Holy Spirit gives you.
3 things wrong with asceticism:
1- Its rules perish
2- It originates within men
3- It is worthless on controlling sin
Remember what brother Bagget said:
Christian freedom comes not from restraining desires by rules and regulations, but from the death of evil desires and the stringing to life and good desires because Christ is in the Christian and the Christian is in Christ!
-- Richard Bagget,
If you are trying to control something that should be dead, you are failing miserably! If you are trying to control it, then it is alive! You need to DIE! If it is dead it no longer lives and therefore it is over!
Why do so many submit to these things? Well, they are deceptive - they have an appearance of wisdom. That's where you get trapped!
How they appear to be wise:
1- Self-imposed worship (ethelothreskeia: (thelo)[subjective]impulse (threskeia) ceremonial observance, religion or worship): voluntary (arbitrary and unwarranted) piety, i.e. sanctimony: hypocritical holiness: --will worship - People who are always lighting a candle for everything, or have many statues or religious icons or pictures on themselves or in their car or around the house; those who are always doing the sign of the cross or carrying a cross and holding onto it every time they think they are in danger; those who are careful not to go under a ladder or not to break a glass or not to cross the path of a black cat because it is bad luck; those who are always reading the horoscope or carry a lucky penny or a rabbit's foot for good luck, etc. Also, there are those that treat the things of the church as superstitious, like the waters of baptism; the Bible itself as a book; or that think that by confessing their sin over and over that they will receive forgiveness without there being true repentance; and that if they eat the Lord’s Supper that they are holy just because they eat it.
2- False humility - Those who defer to their older brethren only, or to those they fear, but are abrasive and lord over those whom they think they can control. Inconsistent humility. The husband who disrespects his wife by mistreating her verbally, emotionally or physically, but in church or around other brethren treats her with respect. There are also those who make others feel guilty because they didn’t confess enough, or sing enough or cry enough or fast enough like they did.
3- Harsh (austere) treatment of the body - Seems like a good idea to punish the body, after all, it is sinful! (This is what the ascetics believe). The more you punish it the more you have a deeper relationship with God. Isn't that what Paul said (1Co 9:27)?
Human commands and regulations cannot change the hearts of people; they can only try to control the behavior of people. Even in our own society that is evident. Many activists sacrifice their lives to have laws changed, but these laws cannot change people. Jesus, the Ultimate Activist, changes us from within so that our outward behavior changes as a result of the change inside.