Chapter2:
Paul keeps on talking about the struggle of working for the gospel. Working for the Lord is not easy. Paul struggled because he was fighting to help the people of Colossae grow into the church God meant them to be.
He also struggled because he was unable to minister to them face to face.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul wanted their “hearts” to be encouraged – in other words he wanted a real change in character that would make them uplifted, encouraged and motivated saints. Paul wanted to encourage every believer but he thought it more important that each believer have encouragement placed in their own hearts – in other words he wanted Christians to be able to encourage themselves.
When we are properly encouraged we will fight for unity. Paul wanted them to be “knit together in love”. When we reach for God’s riches, wisdom and knowledge we ought to reach for these things as a unit, not as individuals. Pursuing God is a team game.
Paul teaches us that understanding Christ isn’t just an intellectual pursuit. It helps us to stand against the arguments of the world.
4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
When we truly understand Christ we won’t be deluded by Satan. Satan has one tact and that is the same tact he used against Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: he lies. Satan will paint a picture or present an argument that seems difficult to answer; he attempts to confuse, deceive and discourage a believer.
Understanding Christ stops Satan in his tracks. When we understand Him we won’t be deluded; we will maintain good order and firmness. We will be strong.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
The more we understand Christ the more we will be rooted in the truth. This passage speaks to the purpose of biblical leadership, a purpose we learn of in Ephesians 4:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. [Ephesians 4:11-16]
Paul was fulfilling his purpose by building the people of Colossae (and us) by writing this epistle. And as we grow stronger in the Lord we will grow in our Thanksgiving – in other words the more we understand what Christ did for us the more we will be thankful for it. A lack of thankfulness shows that we don’t understand or value the sacrifice Christ gave.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
The danger was falling to philosophy. Paul alluded to this danger before, but now he gets more specific: following the thoughts and philosophies of the world around us is dangerous for our faith.
Philosophy is “empty deceit”. Often times we are beguiled by the clever words of men. We hear the philosophies of the world and recognize the thought it took to devise them, but Paul looks at all the work it takes to build worldly philosophies and sees the evidence of a dedicated liar. Everything that isn’t from Christ is from the Father of Liars.
This is the human tradition – to be fooled and live lives that lead to nothing worthwhile. The Preacher said it correctly when he looked at everything “under the sun” and saw only vanity. “Under the sun” summarizes the state of humanity without God – the thoughtful Christian is cynical about anything human that has not been redeemed by God.
The Elemental spirits of the World in this case probably means a combination of demons and false gods. Some were worshipping idols, not knowing that they represented demons. Some people worship false gods designed by Satan to divert worship from the True God. In both cases true worship is being perverted and directed to the elemental spirits of the world and not to Christ.
The cure to the problems of human philosophy is a deeper understanding of Christ, and Paul expounds on the truths of Christ in this next section:
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Christ is everything that human philosophy isn’t. He is first real. He exists and is relevant.
He is the physical form of God. Unlike the idols that depicted a warped version of God based off of human imagination and demonic inspiration he is Emmanuel, God with us. Christ fills us and leads us directly, not vaguely. He transcends the commandments of Jewish law because he cuts off the impurity of the heart and separates us by redeeming our souls instead of making a mark on the body.
He is alive and gives life, while philosophy and the human tradition leads to death, destruction and decay. He doesn’t make an endless list of do’s and don’ts – he also crucifies our debt and the legal demands that led to our debts. He leads to victory while philosophy often leads to doubt and despair.
The world has its own solutions to the human condition. The first of which is religion:
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Religion is not Christianity and Christianity is not a religion. A religion is best defined as a set of behaviors and attitudes people assume will get them closer to God. Nothing is more useless than this type of hopeless religion.
People “feel” closer to God when they speak old English, so they refer to God as “thou”. People “feel” in touch with God when their music is intense, so they love intense music. Some people have superstitions or patterns that they think get them closer to God. Even teachers develop set patterns and try to impose these patterns on others.
Actions matter – and Paul would never argue that they don’t – but religion doesn’t get us any closer to God. These religious festivals and rites may feel good, but the best way to stand close to God is to recognize that Christ is God. The one who is stuck on religion is really letting style trump substance.
The second solution is asceticism:
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Asceticism is the belief that denying worldly pleasures will lead us to a higher spiritual state. The bible doesn’t preach asceticism; it preaches discipline.
The bible calls on believers to fight the lusts of the flesh and to live controlled lives but we are also to enjoy life. The married are to enjoy sexual union. The one who eats should enjoy his food. Parents should enjoy their children. As the Preacher says:
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. [Ecclesiastes 2:24]
Nothing is gained by living miserably. Christ gave us life so that we can live it and live it more abundantly.
The third solution is spiritualism. This is the pursuit of spiritual things we cannot and do not understand. Thus you will have people interpreting scripture based on what they feel. Others seek for knowledge on things scripture is not clear on, like the nature of angels and demons, the last days or how the world was before the flood. Others think they have visions and pursue these visions as if they are inspired by God.
Paul addresses this bluntly: spiritualism is nothing but arrogance. It presumes to know things that we cannot know. Often times it is based on the world’s fourth solution: hedonism.
Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure above all else. The ones who give into hedonism, ascetism and spiritualism forget that Christ nourishes the spirit. Asceticism doesn’t think we’re supposed to be nourished, spiritualism looks to someone other that Jesus and hedonism doesn’t even care about spiritual nourishment.
When we focus on Christ we find our true fulfillment and we will grow.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
These man made solutions may seem like they do something but they are actually no help in our battle against sin. Having absolutely no pleasure in life does not lead to discipline. Instead of relying on the world’s philosophy Paul urges us to rely on Christ.
Paul keeps on talking about the struggle of working for the gospel. Working for the Lord is not easy. Paul struggled because he was fighting to help the people of Colossae grow into the church God meant them to be.
He also struggled because he was unable to minister to them face to face.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul wanted their “hearts” to be encouraged – in other words he wanted a real change in character that would make them uplifted, encouraged and motivated saints. Paul wanted to encourage every believer but he thought it more important that each believer have encouragement placed in their own hearts – in other words he wanted Christians to be able to encourage themselves.
When we are properly encouraged we will fight for unity. Paul wanted them to be “knit together in love”. When we reach for God’s riches, wisdom and knowledge we ought to reach for these things as a unit, not as individuals. Pursuing God is a team game.
Paul teaches us that understanding Christ isn’t just an intellectual pursuit. It helps us to stand against the arguments of the world.
4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
When we truly understand Christ we won’t be deluded by Satan. Satan has one tact and that is the same tact he used against Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: he lies. Satan will paint a picture or present an argument that seems difficult to answer; he attempts to confuse, deceive and discourage a believer.
Understanding Christ stops Satan in his tracks. When we understand Him we won’t be deluded; we will maintain good order and firmness. We will be strong.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
The more we understand Christ the more we will be rooted in the truth. This passage speaks to the purpose of biblical leadership, a purpose we learn of in Ephesians 4:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. [Ephesians 4:11-16]
Paul was fulfilling his purpose by building the people of Colossae (and us) by writing this epistle. And as we grow stronger in the Lord we will grow in our Thanksgiving – in other words the more we understand what Christ did for us the more we will be thankful for it. A lack of thankfulness shows that we don’t understand or value the sacrifice Christ gave.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
The danger was falling to philosophy. Paul alluded to this danger before, but now he gets more specific: following the thoughts and philosophies of the world around us is dangerous for our faith.
Philosophy is “empty deceit”. Often times we are beguiled by the clever words of men. We hear the philosophies of the world and recognize the thought it took to devise them, but Paul looks at all the work it takes to build worldly philosophies and sees the evidence of a dedicated liar. Everything that isn’t from Christ is from the Father of Liars.
This is the human tradition – to be fooled and live lives that lead to nothing worthwhile. The Preacher said it correctly when he looked at everything “under the sun” and saw only vanity. “Under the sun” summarizes the state of humanity without God – the thoughtful Christian is cynical about anything human that has not been redeemed by God.
The Elemental spirits of the World in this case probably means a combination of demons and false gods. Some were worshipping idols, not knowing that they represented demons. Some people worship false gods designed by Satan to divert worship from the True God. In both cases true worship is being perverted and directed to the elemental spirits of the world and not to Christ.
The cure to the problems of human philosophy is a deeper understanding of Christ, and Paul expounds on the truths of Christ in this next section:
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Christ is everything that human philosophy isn’t. He is first real. He exists and is relevant.
He is the physical form of God. Unlike the idols that depicted a warped version of God based off of human imagination and demonic inspiration he is Emmanuel, God with us. Christ fills us and leads us directly, not vaguely. He transcends the commandments of Jewish law because he cuts off the impurity of the heart and separates us by redeeming our souls instead of making a mark on the body.
He is alive and gives life, while philosophy and the human tradition leads to death, destruction and decay. He doesn’t make an endless list of do’s and don’ts – he also crucifies our debt and the legal demands that led to our debts. He leads to victory while philosophy often leads to doubt and despair.
The world has its own solutions to the human condition. The first of which is religion:
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Religion is not Christianity and Christianity is not a religion. A religion is best defined as a set of behaviors and attitudes people assume will get them closer to God. Nothing is more useless than this type of hopeless religion.
People “feel” closer to God when they speak old English, so they refer to God as “thou”. People “feel” in touch with God when their music is intense, so they love intense music. Some people have superstitions or patterns that they think get them closer to God. Even teachers develop set patterns and try to impose these patterns on others.
Actions matter – and Paul would never argue that they don’t – but religion doesn’t get us any closer to God. These religious festivals and rites may feel good, but the best way to stand close to God is to recognize that Christ is God. The one who is stuck on religion is really letting style trump substance.
The second solution is asceticism:
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Asceticism is the belief that denying worldly pleasures will lead us to a higher spiritual state. The bible doesn’t preach asceticism; it preaches discipline.
The bible calls on believers to fight the lusts of the flesh and to live controlled lives but we are also to enjoy life. The married are to enjoy sexual union. The one who eats should enjoy his food. Parents should enjoy their children. As the Preacher says:
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. [Ecclesiastes 2:24]
Nothing is gained by living miserably. Christ gave us life so that we can live it and live it more abundantly.
The third solution is spiritualism. This is the pursuit of spiritual things we cannot and do not understand. Thus you will have people interpreting scripture based on what they feel. Others seek for knowledge on things scripture is not clear on, like the nature of angels and demons, the last days or how the world was before the flood. Others think they have visions and pursue these visions as if they are inspired by God.
Paul addresses this bluntly: spiritualism is nothing but arrogance. It presumes to know things that we cannot know. Often times it is based on the world’s fourth solution: hedonism.
Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure above all else. The ones who give into hedonism, ascetism and spiritualism forget that Christ nourishes the spirit. Asceticism doesn’t think we’re supposed to be nourished, spiritualism looks to someone other that Jesus and hedonism doesn’t even care about spiritual nourishment.
When we focus on Christ we find our true fulfillment and we will grow.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
These man made solutions may seem like they do something but they are actually no help in our battle against sin. Having absolutely no pleasure in life does not lead to discipline. Instead of relying on the world’s philosophy Paul urges us to rely on Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment