Colossians 2:6-15

Colossians series

I hope some of you have been enjoying our study of the book of Colossians as much as I have. Our goal for you is to experience a book of the Bible in a new way, hopefully realizing first that reading the Bible is not always all that difficult. second, learning how it applies to our everyday Christian life, third, realize that you can draw strength and encouragement from it and finally, maybe, appreciating the amazing reality of the existence of the Christian faith at all.

This letter was written by the Apostle Paul while in prison, we are not too sure where, probably around the year 60 AD, to a small group of new Christians in the city of Colossae. Remember, this small group had no buildings, no New Testament, no history at all! These Christian existed in the empire of Rome, in what is now Turkey, and this culture as influenced by the religions of Greece and Rome, as well as Judaism.

Today we are going to look at verses 6 through 15 in Chapter 2.

Up to this point, Paul has been very encouraging to these new Christians. He has told them how fruitful the Christian message has been and is, bearing fruit, as he says, in all the world. He has pointed to the incredible uniqueness of Jesus and has shared with them how God’s love is now being poured out in a new way among all the peoples of the earth. Now, in these verses, he begins to more directly address the issue at hand, their beginning to be influenced by false teachers and other philosophies and religions, and thus be led away from Christ.

So in verse 6 he begins.

6As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

Here we see the beginning, the middle and the end of the Christian life. The Christian life begins with “receiving” Jesus as the Christ and as the Lord. The word receive here means “to take to ones self”. This implies both an active and passive action on our part. We have to open up our selves to Christ. This of course is done in many ways. Most of us have seen a Billy Graham gathering where at the end he invites anyone who wants to receive Jesus as Lord to get out of their seat and come down and pray. The important point to understand here is that doing this is an act of the will, and act which the person can acknowledge doing. The method is not important. What is important is that a person, to be a Christian, can say, yes, I have received Christ Jesus as my Lord.

But this of course is not the end, but the beginning, so Paul writes: “continue to live your lives in him.” Literally this says, “continue to in him walk.” Once we have received Jesus as Lord, this affects how we live… how we walk. And it is a day by day experience, We all have met people who at one time were active Christians, but today are not living their faith. We hear here echoes of the words of Jesus when he said.. those who endure to the end will be saved.

We can live out our faith if we do what we read in verse 7.

Continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

I love the image of roots. Most of us have tried to dig out a plant or a tree and realized that the job was way bigger than we thought, as the roots were huge and deep!! The image of spiritual roots is a strong one in the Bible, We hear Psalm 1 with its image of the trees planted by the river. Strong roots are need if a tree is going to survive the winds and storms of life. So too does the Christian need strong roots, going down into the soil and water of the Spirit of Christ.

We could change the image to that of a building, built upon a strong foundation. We are to be rooted, and built up “in Him.” The foundation of our faith is Jesus. And if we do this, we will be established in the faith.

And he throws in at the end of this verse something I don’t want you to miss.. .the phrase.. “abounding in thanksgiving.’ More and more I believe that thanksgiving is a key to a healthy spiritual life. Thanksgiving flows from an understanding of what God has done for us. Many of us who are older have experience children growing up who take all that is given to them with little or now thanks to their parents. Often it is only as they grow older that they realize the blessings they have received. True thanksgiving to God means that we understand all that God has done for us in Jesus.

Now in verse 8 Paul addresses directly his concern for these new Christians.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.

We could translate “see to it” as “be on your guard”. The image here of being taken captive is very powerful. One of the scariest and most terrifying movies I have ever seen I saw when I was in college. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was a documentary on Nazi Germany, and it was scene upon scene of rallies and marches and speeches by Adolf Hitler. In an incredible way, this man “captured” the minds of many people. Down through the ages, charismatic people, like Jim Jones from San Francisco, or David Koresh as extreme examples. But there are more subtle examples of gurus and teachers who, in their teachings, lead people away from Jesus in their teachings. Paul calls these teachings “philosophy and empty deceit” which have their origins in human tradition or in the “elemental spirits of the universe.” Jesus addressed religion based upon human tradition in Mark chapter 7, and Paul will mention these later in the letter. We are not too sure what he means by teachings which have their origins in “the elemental spirits of the universe.” It was clearly some teaching which dealt with different “spirits” or “gods”.

But whatever these teachings were, their error lay in their taking the focus off of Christ and putting it elsewhere. This is the root of all error that happens in our faith. We put the emphasis upon our rituals, upon how we worship, upon spiritual practices and disciplines, upon interesting philosophies, and some even on the Bible. Christ is set aside, and something else becomes the focus. This is the error that Paul fears more than anything.

So he writes in verse 9

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

Verse 9 undermines any attempt to relegate Jesus to a lower position in the faith. He is not just one of many spirits, or one of many teachers, or one of many gods.. “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” He said this before in chapter 1 verse 19: “..For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Jesus is the “head”, or he is over, any ruler or authority, whether in heaven or in earth.

And Paul goes on, since all the fullness of God is in Christ, if you have received him, then his fullness dwells in you! The image for me is of a full cup of water pouring over into our cup and thus filling us up. It is the river of life spring up in us. It is the water from the well that we can drink and never be thirsty. The point is, if we have Christ, we do not need these other religions or philosophies to make us whole.

Now in the next few verses, it seems as if Paul is turning his attention to any in this new community who are being tempted to keep the Jewish laws. This of course was a major issue in this new community. What role does the law have now? Many were saying that all new followers of Jesus also had to keep the Jewish laws. The symbol, or sacrament of this obligation was circumcision. Abraham was given this act as a way to demonstrate who was, and who was not, in a covenant relationship to God. Lets read what Paul writes in verse 10 and following.

10 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross..

We could spend a whole lot of time on these verses but let me just make a few points. The gist of Paul’s argument here is that there is no need for a physical circumcision because they had experienced a spiritual one. This occurred in baptism, in which they died with Christ and then were raised to new life. Just as circumcision was the sign, or sacrament of the first covenant, so baptism is the sign, or sacrament of the new one. But as Paul clearly teaches here, it is not the ritual itself that gives the meaning, but what the ritual represents. Baptism represents death to an old, sinful life and resurrection to a new, resurrected life. The old life is expressed here as “the body of flesh.” and as being “dead in trespasses and sins” . The new life is expressed as being “raised with him” and “being made alive together with him”.

And then using a legal image, Paul says that all the just charges that are against us have been forgiven… erased and set aside. This image is, of course, rooted in the understanding of the Jewish law and also the sacrifices that deal with sin. The essence of this image is to teach these new Christians that it is not their religious deeds or piety or philosophies that matter, but rather the Christian faith is based upon what has been done for us in Christ. All the “record that stood against us.”.. is set aside, nailed to the cross.

Here again we see the core of the Christian message. It is remembered by us every week in what we call the Eucharist, or the Mass, or Holy Communion. In the body broken and the blood shed, we find forgiveness and new life. All the guilt and the shame and the evil of our lives is set aside and we are presented with hope – hope based not in ourselves, but in the love and power of God. Hope that is not based on our good religious or moral deeds, but in message of the gospel. Hope that frees us up from the tyranny of our weakness and sin and of the spirits and the power of evil and death.

The last verse this morning that we are going to consider is a great one. Verse 15:

15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it

Bishop Wright points out that the image Paul is giving us here is that of a Roman leader, or a Caesar, riding into Rome in a big parade – chariots and horses and all the color and pomp of Rome. Often the defeated enemy would be bound and walking in the parade so that they would be humiliated and mocked. This is what God has done to all the “rulers and authorities” of the universe. Just who these rulers and authorities are, we are not too sure, but the point is, to all the powers of the universe, visible or invisible, God has defeated those that are against him and has made a public spectacle of them.

Again, the focus of Paul, and of the early church, is upon the cross and resurrection of Jesus. This is the message that changed the world. As strange as it seemed them, and it still seems to us, there is life changing power in this message which offers hope and forgiveness and life. It is a message that is still working today, all around the world.

Next week we will be discussing Colossians 2:16 through 3:4.

Keep on reading and thinking, it will be positive experience for you, or you can get your money back! AMEN!