Text: Colossians 2 (NKJV)
1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using— according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
The main point of the Apostle Paul in this letter to the Colossians is that Jesus Christ is totally superior to any other system of belief or practice. Colossae was a crossroads, and so the church there suffered from the incursion of numerous heresies into their church. In this chapter, Jesus is exalted over philosophy (in this case, Greek philosophy) and legalism (here, imposing the Jewish law on Christians).
Verses 1-10 focus on the supremacy of Jesus over philosophy. Paul encourages the believers there not to add to the things which they have learned correctly (verses 6-7) as a positive way to address the problem. Often in our lives, we find ourselves asking "Is this ok?", "Can I do this?", or simply trying to justify our actions after the fact. A far better and more Biblical approach would be to positively obey what the Bible tells us to do. As Paul tells the Colossian church to do that here, so should we in all aspects of our spiritual life. Where would we find what God wants us to do? As he says in verse 7- in the Bible ("as you have been taught"). Paul then addressed the Colossian philosophical heresy. From the definite article used, it is apparent that he was addressing a specific philosophical heresy; however, we don't know exactly what it was. Based on verses 9-10 though, it is logical to surmise that it had something to do with Jesus Christ. They were asserting natural, human thought over what God had said. I believe that it was likely a heresy related to imposing philosophy on the nature of Jesus Christ. They were probably claiming something to the effect of Jesus being an illusion and not actually physically ever on Earth, or trying to explain the nature of Jesus with Platonic Dualism. Regardless of speculation on specifically what the heresy was, Paul asserted the full divinity and power of Jesus Christ to complete Christians spiritually, and really in every way.
Verses 11-23 provide a rebuttal to Jewish legalism. This was probably the greatest problem for the 1st Century Christian church. The Romans, at this time, were just beginning to distinguish Christianity as a distinct religion from just another sect of Judaism. The church was effectively centered in Jerusalem. Most Christians worldwide were Jewish. It seemed natural for many of them to want to keep up Jewish traditional laws found in the Old Testament and manuals of their religious scholars. Many, many times in the New Testament, this is addressed, and in every situation, the answer is consistent- the Christian (regardless of being Jewish or not) does not have to obey the Old Testament Law. The central point of contention was circumcision. For Jews, it was the identifying mark. All males had to be circumcised. The question arose then for new, Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians if they needed to get circumcised. The answer was "no," but that didn't stop many from trying to coerce them into doing it. Verses 13-14 really boil it down and give a direct answer- it is Jesus alone who saves us and He has removed all the requirements of the Old Testament Law from our lives. Verses 20-23 are very important verses to our church today. And more specifically, to my church (North Hills Baptist). Our approach is to try and be solely Biblical. The context for this is that the Jews had taken the already large number of laws from the Old Testament and magnified them to prevent a breach of the actual Old Testament Law. For example, the Old Testament prohibition against working on the Sabbath day was modified to put in place strict regulations, to include maximum allowable walking distances. Those, according to Paul here, are useless, and the attempt to do such things with Christianity is also useless. Simply do what the Bible says. As Christians not subject to the Old Testament Law (see: A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament), the New Testament is the priority for doctrine and practice.
Application(s):
Don't try to justify your actions with the Bible. Change your living from this to the opposite, whereby you are actively doing what the Bible says.
Study the Bible! It is our source of truth, and it is totally sufficient for the Christian to be complete (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
Simply obey the Bible. Things that are traditions you do with regard to religion aren't necessarily bad, but they are useless. Do what the Bible says, and don't get too caught up in anything else. Many people impose things on the church (specific translation, women having to wear skirts/dresses in church, not using certain technology, etc.) that are not necessarily wrong to do but are certainly not points to be divisive over.
Other Studies from Colossians
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