Colossians 2:1-3 “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.”
Our hearts should be knit together
as best as possible with other Christians.
We all have one thing in common; we have the Lord Jesus in our
hearts. We will probably never agree
completely across the body of Christ on doctrinal points. We all should come to a full understanding of
the mystery of God, which is Christ in us.
In Christ is hidden all the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:4-8 “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.”
Paul used the word rooted in verse
7. In this passage, Paul is beginning to
describe the person that Jesus referred to as stony ground in the parable of
the sower. Jesus said in Matthew 13:21
that this person has no root in himself; he is not rooted and grounded in the
gospel or the word of righteousness apart from our works. Paul encouraged them to be steadfast in their
faith in Christ. As we received the
Lord, we are to walk in Him. How did we
receive the Lord? We trusted in Jesus
and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins and received the free gift of
righteousness by faith. We are to
continue on our journey in the same way, trusting in His grace. We are to
beware lest anyone cheat us out of that faith in Christ. How are we cheated?
Paul will describe in the rest of the chapter how we are cheated if we fall
back to the Old Testament law.
Colossians 2:9-15 “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.”
In Jesus dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. We are complete in
Him. Jesus lives in us. He made us alive together with Him when we
were born again. He has forgiven you all
trespasses. Notice again that Paul does
not qualify that as just our past sins.
He has forgiven us of the sins of our entire lifetime. He has wiped out the handwriting of
requirements, the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament Law that were against
us. He has taken them out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross. The word
disarm is used by Paul here. He meant
that the enemy, Satan, used the Law as a weapon against us to condemn us. But Jesus disarmed him, took our punishment
on the cross, and triumphed over our enemy.
We are never to fall back into an Old Testament mindset of law and
punishment.
Colossians 2:16-23 “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.”
Not only are we no longer under the
Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, we are no longer under the dietary laws
or the festivals or the sabbaths either.
These all were a shadow of the things to come in the New Testament in
Christ Jesus. Now that we have the
substance in Jesus, why go back to the shadow? We can learn from the Old
Testament, but we are to hold to Jesus and His grace and free gift of
righteousness to us. We died with Christ
from the basic elements of the world. We should not subject ourselves again to
regulations in an attempt to gain right-standing with God. Paul said these outward regulations have an
appearance of wisdom but are of no value against the indulgence of the
flesh. The commandments and dietary laws
and other regulations of the Old Testament will show us that we are sinners in
need of a Savior, but they won’t set us free from sin.
Paul described how we can avoid
being the stony ground of Jesus’ parable in chapter 2. In chapter 3 of Colossians, he shows us how
to avoid being the seed sown among thorns that Jesus described.
Keith Oliver
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