Colossians 2:16-3:4

I want to jump right into our verses for today in the letter of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians. Remember, this is a letter to a group of people who know nothing about the Christian faith but the message of the gospel and stories about Jesus. All of this Christian stuff is brand new. They are a very fragile group and Paul is, through this letter, guiding them in this new way of life. The issue at hand is that this new group of Christians is being influenced by a combination of Jewish and some sort of spiritual beliefs that are in danger of taking them away from the Christian path.

So lets look at our verses for today… Colossians 2:16 through chapter 3:4.

Colossians 2:16-3:4 ( NRSV ) 16Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.

The first thing I noticed in this verse is the concept of being led astray by a person…. “do not let anyone….” This is the third time Paul has referenced being let astray by someone else. In verse 4 he writes: “I am saying this so that no one may deceive you.’.. In verse 8 he writes: “See to it that no one takes you captive..”.. and hear he writes: “do not let anyone condemn you.” It is often very easy to be led by strong and charismatic people. Here we see the truth that each of us needs to be cautious in following other men or women.

We could translate the phrase: “do not let anyone condemn you.” as do not let anyone test your piety by whether what you eat or drink or what holy days or Sabbaths you keep. Here we are entering into one of the most powerful and radical truths of the Christian way – our freedom in Christ. In Galatians 5:1 Paul writes “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” Some years ago, as I was studying the New Testament, this incredible revelation of Christian freedom began to unfold in my simple mind. We don’t have the time today to address this fully, but Paul is addressing here, as he does in several of his letters, the difference between outward obedience to religious rituals and inward, Spirit motivated religion.

Paul’s initial struggle was with the Mosaic law, and it is this that he is most likely addressing here, though we aren’t 100% sure. The early Christians were first all Jews, and many of them believed that they still needed to keep the Jewish law, which dealt with food, and festivals and the Sabbath. But Paul is saying here that these new Christians are not bound by keeping the law. This is because of what we read in the next verse, verse 17.

These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Again, this one verse alone opens up a whole series of theological issues and questions. The image Paul uses here for the law and rituals of the old covenant is that of a shadow. This must have been a common image in the early church for it is used again in the book of Hebrews. Imagine in your mind for a moment a shadow. You have the sun shining on, lets say, your body, and your body casts a shadow. While the shadow is a reflection of your body, it is not the real thing, yet the shadow exists because of the existence of your body. The gist of the argument here is that all of the Old covenant laws and rituals are a shadow of Christ. When we look back at the sacrifices and the celebrations of the law, they all reflect Christ. I believe that after the cross, and with help from the teachings of Jesus, the early leaders and teachers of the Christian faith began to see how all of their Jewish faith was a preparation for the work of Jesus. The Passover lamb, the ritual sacrifices for sin, the day of atonement, and on and on…. now all made sense in the light of the cross. In a sense it is like a puzzle with many pieces. The individual pieces don’t make sense until they are all put together, and then one can see the whole picture. Jesus is the puzzle put together.

Paul is arguing here, since they now have the substance of Christ, why would they go back and concentrate their faith on the shadow, let alone have these shadows judge them on the sincerity of their faith!

While we can’t address it here, I need to point out that this line of thinking is offensive to Jewish people today, and it raises the question of the place of the Jewish faith in relation to the Christian faith. Sincere Jewish believers today do not see their law as a “shadow”. To them, it is given by God and is to be honored and kept. This is why Jewish Bible scholars do not like the Apostle Paul at all, and call him the ‘anti-nomian” or anti-law, Paul. Whatever we come to believe, I think we need to see that these early Christian believers saw the Christian faith as the fulfillment of their Jewish faith. Jesus, as Paul argues, is the fulfillment of the law. But lets move on and read verses 18 thru 23.

18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 21“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”? 22All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.

Now for the fourth time Paul warns against being led astray by a person… “Do not let anyone disqualify you…” This could be translated: “Do not let anyone rob you of your reward… or let no man beguile you of your reward.” Here is a not so positive description of the false leader. They are “puffed up” and are following a human way of thinking.. or literally they are following the “mind of their flesh.” They entice others by their visions, their disciplined, or ascetic way of life through physical self abasement, along with talking about exciting mystical beings or angels. We don’t know exactly what some of these teachers were teaching but we can get a sense of them through this description.

I remember the late 1960’s… which says something about my age… and our fascination with the guru types from India. Their disciplined lives and their esoteric teaching all seemed so attractive. We also got caught up in what I would call.. The religion of what we could not eat. (raw food, etc.) This whole passage speaks to our situation during that time. It all had an appearance of wisdom… it all looked very pious… and seemed to be so humble…. As we disciplined the body…. But it did not do much for our inner, spiritual lives. We were often filled with pride and judgment of others, as we concentrated on our outward forms of religion. Religious people can be the worst people to be around in the world, no? When we hold to outward forms or religion.. what we eat, how we worship, when we worship, all the RIGHT way.. we can be totally intolerant of others. This is not to say we cannot have our faith and our beliefs, but unless it flows from an “inward” conversion that comes from an encounter with a crucified and risen Jesus, we too will be judgmental and intolerant.

So in this passage, Paul again directs them back to Christ, for he is the head of all Christians, and it is from him, flowing from Him, that all strength and health, along with humility and brokenness, come. . Since they have “died” to the “shadows”, or the “elemental spirits of the universe”, why do they go back and be ruled by them, Paul asks? They are free, and they have a new life, and this life is to be governed by a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.

So after warning them of the false way of faith, in Chapter 3 he tells them how to live the Christian life. In verses 12 thru 17, which you will read next week, we read some of the most beautiful verses in the Bible. When you wonder what the will of God is for your life, all you need do is read these verses and you will know. But before we get to them, Paul gives us the foundation, or the basic principle, or guiding principle for living all of the Christian life. Here is the key to living the Christian life. Without this as our guiding principle, we are only playing at our faith.. So lets read it.

1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

The Christian has had radical heart, or priority, surgery. Before this surgery, the most important things in life were: comfort, pleasure, health, success, personal happiness, wealth, security, maybe power, excitement, material things, and more. Not bad things at all. But now a new heart has entered their lives and these are now seen in a different light. The Christian begins to understand that these cannot be the goal of one’s life. These are all “things on the earth.” But the Christian comes to realize that there are “things above.” Jesus calls these treasures in heaven, or maybe the Kingdom of God. So while comfort and health and pleasure and success and happiness and money are all good things, they begin to take second place to a higher purpose, a higher reality. The Christians begins to sacrifice wealth for the sake of the kingdom, supporting the body of Christ and giving to the poor; they might set aside some personal success for the sake of honesty and justice in their workplace; they might give up some pleasures by going to help others in another part of the world. Many have given of their very lives, like the Drs and workers recently in Afghanistan.

In truth, in every area of life, the goal, or priority of living is changed. There is the realization, as Paul writes in another place, that this life is passing away.

2 Corinthians 4:18 ( NRSV ) 18because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Think for a moment about everything that you now see and touch in this life. In a few years, you will lose them all. They are temporary. Your house, your car, your money… even your existence in this life… they are all temporary. Paul says that the Christian has died to these things… therefore they are to seek a new and different way.

Again, it is not that life is evil, or matter is evil, and we are not to enjoy all the good things of this life.. the issue is our priority, our focus.. what we really want and value.. in essence.. what we really and truly worship. And we can sacrifice some, or everything for Jesus, because, as Paul writes in our last verse for today… one day, Christians will be “revealed with him in glory.” I don’t really know what this means, but this verse states that there is another kingdom, another reality beyond this one that we now know. This is where Christ is “seated at the right hand of God.’ It is heaven, or eternity. It is eternal life. It is this truth that cast meaning and purpose back into our day to day life. We are not just living organisms that magically spring up and then are extinguished. Life has meaning and purpose. The Christian believes that we find our true meaning and purpose, and really our true happiness in this life, seeking the things that are above, where Christ is.

I hope you are enjoying this series. Keep on reading and pondering this book. It will do you good. Next week we will look at Colossians 3:5-17.. As I mentioned, some of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

AMEN