Colossians – Week 4
October 3 – Colossians
Colossians 2:4-7, I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Paul is concerned about the Colossians being led astray by false doctrine. The reason he has written what he has is because he wants to confirm in them the faith that was first taught to them. It is rather amazing how quickly contrary teachings popped up in these churches after they were planted. As it was then so it is today, the enemy is having a heyday in using attractive false teaching that sounds so good to deceive so many.
Paul says that his lack of presence does not keep him from wanting to know about them. In fact, he says he is present with them in spirit. As we think about those whom we love and our desire to be with them, yet even when we are away, we feel as though we are with them in our thoughts and emotions.
Such a desire to be with them reveals Paul’s love for them. He is the happiest to hear how disciplined they are in remaining true to the gospel and how solid their faith is in Christ. Paul had such a pure passion for the spread of the gospel and for its integrity to be maintained.
He then encourages and admonishes them to stay true to Jesus just as they first received Him. He tells them to continue to live their lives in Him. Being a true disciple-maker is not simply saying the “sinner’s prayer” and then pretending all is good. We must make the decision to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, but then we must make the decision daily, even several times a day, to pick up our cross in loving obedience and follow after Jesus.
This very letter was Paul’s attempt to help them be further rooted, built up, and strengthened in the faith just as they had previously been taught. It was a reminder of what they had been taught so they could continue what they had begun.
As this letter has now become Scripture, the importance of knowing and abiding by such divinely-inspired teaching is absolutely necessary if we are going to be faithful and fruitful in our discipleship. We need a regular dose of God’s Word in our diet so that we can stand strong in our faith in the midst of false teaching and the many other temptations of the enemy.
As Paul often does in all of his letters, he challenges them to be filled with a thankful heart. Having such a grateful heart is medicine to the soul. It keeps our minds in the right place so that we can appreciate the truth of God even when it challenges our lifestyle and beliefs.
Memory Verse: Colossians 2:9-10, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Question(s) to Consider: What is your practice with Scripture to keep you from being deceived and to keep you standing strong in the faith?
October 4 – Colossians
Colossians 2:8-10, See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Paul comes back to his warning for his readers to be on guard so they will not be deceived and captured by erroneous teaching. It is a hollow philosophy. It appears to be significant but, inside, it is empty. There is no substance. It has no benefit. Instead, it is extremely harmful for anyone who would choose to follow it.
Such teaching is based upon human tradition. In other words, it is man-made through the influence of the dark spiritual underworld where the father of lies, Satan himself, roams and rules. The reason Satan promotes false teaching in opposition to Jesus is so that destruction will come to them. Satan actively seeks to destroy people of faith. Everyone who claims the name of Jesus as Savior and Lord has a target on their back inviting the Evil One to take a shot.
True gospel teaching has Christ at the center. There is no other name under heaven by which we are saved. In contrast, Satan promotes the false idea of universal salvation. Everyone will be saved regardless. No response is needed. Love wins. It sounds nice, but who wants Hitler, Putin, or any other unrepentant Satanic possessed being bunking with them in heaven? That is where such false teaching eventually ends up.
Paul goes on to repeat himself from chapter one. All the fullness of the Deity lives in Christ in bodily form. Christ is the Son of God. He is not just another prophet. He is not just a good man whom we want to emulate. He is God. He is one of three persons of the Trinity.
This is why Christ is described as the head over every power and authority. By definition, there is no one greater than God. Any theology or philosophy that would reduce Jesus to be less than God is a hollow and deceptive philosophy. As God, along with the other two persons of the Godhead, He sovereignly rules above and over all. There is no greater power and authority known to humankind. This is why one day every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ alone is Lord.
It is through Him alone that we are brought to fullness of life. Life at its best is found in Jesus. That does not mean it will be easy, but it will be filled with meaning and purpose. The peace, hope, and love of Jesus will carry us through all things and bring us into our eternal home. No other hollow teaching can provide such wonderful assurance.
Memory Verse: Colossians 2:9-10, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Question(s) to Consider: What are the hollow and deceptive philosophies being taught today? How are you protecting yourself against them?
October 5 – Colossians
Colossians 2:11-15, In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Paul’s mention of circumcision was likely prompted by opponents who claimed that Gentile Christians lacked this crucial marker that would identify them as God’s people. The circumcision not done by hands refers to what God had done. Literal circumcision was a minor operation, but it had major significance for Jews as the sign of obedience to God’s covenant and that they were the people of God.
“The circumcision of Christ” is a metaphor for what Christ underwent in his crucifixion when his physical body was violently stripped off in his death. This interpretation explains Paul’s progression from circumcision to burial to resurrection. If the circumcision of Christ refers to Christ’s death, then the sequence summarizes the essential affirmations of Christianity: Christ died, was buried, and was raised. Believers identify with what Christ has done and accept its message through faith and baptism. So, our union is with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.
Being united to Christ guarantees that all the accusations against us have been wiped clean and promises freedom from the death-dealing powers whom Christ has defeated. The emphasis is on what God has done in Christ on our behalf so that the lack of physical circumcision has been rectified by a spiritual circumcision.
The metaphor of nailing it to the cross may refer to the practice of placing the charge against the criminal on the cross. Christ stood in our place, taking our sin and our guilt. In return, we take away his righteousness.
Paul also reveals what was going on behind the scenes as Christ disarmed the dark spiritual powers. Oddly, Jesus’ captors dragged him through the city, stripped him naked, held him up to contempt, and nailed the charges against him on the cross; but all along God was doing it to them. God’s cosmic victory was made visible through His voracious love found at the cross and confirmed in the power that raised Him from the dead. (Interpretative help came from the NIV Application Commentary)
Memory Verse: Colossians 2:9-10, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Question(s) to Consider: What image in this passage helps you appreciate the power and beauty of Christ’s work on your behalf?
October 6 – Colossians
Colossians 2:16-19, 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. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have 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.
Paul warns the Colossian believers about false believers who have appointed themselves to pass judgment on true believers and decide who qualifies to share in God’s eternal glory. However, only Christ will be their judge, and He alone is their Savior.
Paul specifically condemns those who use eating and drinking and the observance of feast days as the basis on which to judge others. Such persons are outside the faith and do not have the mind of Christ. The implication is clear that Christ fulfills all Jewish practices and are not needed to determine anyone’s place with God. They were only a shadow of the things to come and be fulfilled in Christ. So, Paul is basically asking, “Why play in the shadows of such ceremonial traditions when you have the light of Jesus?”
The spiritual atmosphere of magic pervaded the lives of many in the ancient world and may have continued to exert its effects on the Colossian believers even after their conversion. They conjured the angels to protect them from the evil powers that they believed could injure them. They may have called on angels to be successful or bring retribution on others.
These people also have exaggerated visions, and the result of these experiences, whatever they were, is that they made the worshiper’s “unspiritual mind” proud. For Paul, the mind of the flesh is something set over against God and lacks any true spiritual reality.
Paul ends this section with his common “head and body’ imagery. Christ, the head supplies nourishment to the whole body and enables it to grow. But such growth depends on a close bond with Christ. The persons he has described have not held to Christ, his teachings, and the body of believers and have cut themselves off from the very source of life.
Paul reminded his readers of Christ’s supremacy over all things and that their total dependency should be on Him. They will not find life in earthly traditions or the worship of anything other than Christ. Such practices only fill people with pride for what they have accomplished rather than being humbly dependent upon what Christ has done for them. (Interpretative help came from the NIV Application Commentary)
Memory Verse: Colossians 2:9-10, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Question(s) to Consider: Can you name examples of where believers are wrongly judged by outsiders? What acts of false worship must we be careful to guard against?
October 7 – Colossians
Colossians 2:20-23, Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 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.
Paul summarizes the main point from yesterday. By dying with Christ, believers have moved out of the control of the dark evil of the spiritual world. As Christ triumphed over these unseen rulers and powers, so did the Colossians when they died with Him.
Since Christians have been released from these powers, why would they consider giving them new life by submitting to such human-contrived rules that belong to the unspiritual world and devalue the work of Christ.
The sampling of the man-made laws (“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”) are Jewish food laws that add to the issues previously mentioned (circumcision, New Moons, Sabbath.) Paul says such man-made laws have no value and will die out.
What the false teachers offer only has to do with temporary things, and their rules end up binding them more to this present evil age. Christ offers what is far superior because it is eternal and delivers us from the powers of darkness.
Religious practices that include self-imposed worship, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body are activities that make the practitioners greater than Christ. However, their man-made worship accomplishes nothing and has no eternal value. All of this far surpassed by the bright light of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the victory He has won for us.
Christians do not need to treat their bodies with severity. Such asceticism is a futile attempt to defeat the sinful nature and is no match for the cross and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Beholding visions is no match for the heavenly ascension of Christ, who now sits at God’s right hand. Forgiveness, reconciliation, a transformed life, and the defeat of dark evil powers are victories that only Christ can give and keep on giving through His Spirit.
(Interpretative help came from the NIV Application Commentary)
We may not deal with the same specific temptations of self-worship as they did, but any time we think that our acts of goodness save us or we hope to get into heaven based on what we have done, we have fallen into the same trap as these false practitioners of the faith.
Memory Verse: Colossians 2:9-10, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Question(s) to Consider: What man-made efforts are commonly thought helpful to get us into heaven? Why is this such a dangerous practice?