Colossians 2
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and {attaining} to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, {resulting} in a true knowledge of God's mystery, {that is,} Christ {Himself,}
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul felt a burden to ensure that all these people who were becoming believers grew properly to maturity. He wanted the best for them, and he wanted them to know that he cared for them.
One really important thing that he wanted them to know was that Christianity was not about following rules but about becoming like a person (Jesus).
Just like in Paul’s time, even today, people don’t realize that Christianity was not about following rules but about becoming like a person (Jesus). As a result, people get entangled in all kinds of distractions that are of no real eternal value.
Some Christians fight about money (e.g. why is the congregation giving so little?). Some fight about honor (e.g. why are women not given the same honor as men in the church?). Some fight about titles (e.g. why am I just a pastor and not a senior pastor?). Some fight about the behavior of unbelievers (e.g. homosexual rights). Some fight about what to eat (e.g. should Christians abstain from pork?). Some fight about festivals (e.g. should Christians keep the Sabbath?). And so on.
It’s one thing to have an opinion on things, but quite another to fight about them. Everyone may have an opinion on anything, but few things are really worth fighting for. What did Jesus fight for? That is what we too should fight for.
4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.
Paul wanted the Christians in Colossae to understand that Christianity is about following Christ, and he wanted to make sure that they were not deluded by anyone who had the knack of persuading people to do otherwise.
If someone came to you with a persuasive argument that you need to keep the Sabbath, or that good Christians are vegetarians, would you buy into that?
5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.
Paul explained that he really wanted the best for these people.
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, {so} walk in Him,
7 having been firmly rooted {and now} being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, {and} overflowing with gratitude.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Paul wanted to make sure that these Christians didn’t get trapped by anyone into following the traditions of men.
For example, celebrating Christmas is a tradition of men. There is no command in the Bible to celebrate the birth of Jesus. So is celebrating Easter.
Yet, amazingly, even after Paul took all the trouble to write about this trap to the Colossians, Christians all over the world have still fallen into this trap!
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
Right now, after His resurrection, Jesus is once again fully God. Some people, failing to note the present tense of the verb ‘dwells’, use this verse to teach that Jesus was fully God even when He came to earth as man. But actually, this verse is not referring to the state of Jesus while He was on earth as a man, but His state at the time Paul wrote Colossians.
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
We were only made complete in Him after He completed making atonement for our sins. He only became head over all rule and authority after He completed making atonement for our sins – not before – and thus, this verse establishes the temporal context of verse 9, which is at the time of Paul’s writing, and not the time when Jesus was on earth as man.
11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
When a person is born again, he no longer wants to sin, and when tempted to sin, will fight to overcome that temptation. This, in a manner of speaking, is ‘the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ’ that Paul mentions above. Baptism is where the believer testifies his willingness to fight that fight.
Note that Jesus didn’t raise Himself up from the dead; rather, it was God who raised Him up. God’s raising Jesus up was proof that Jesus lived His entire life without sin, and that He payment for our sins was acceptable to God. That is why the resurrection of Christ is such an important thing. If God didn’t raise Jesus then we would still be in our sins, doomed to eternal separation from God.
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Paul is reminding the Colossians of what (and Who) is the real reason for our salvation. Since Jesus is the person to follow, make sure that you don’t follow the traditions of men instead. Check with Jesus to see what He thinks about those traditions.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day –
17 things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Following human traditions regarding food or drink doesn’t bring you closer to God. Neither does celebrating any festival, or any day of significance. Neither does keeping the Sabbath day.
People who try to tell us that it is important for a Christian to keep the Sabbath should meditate on verses 16 and 17. The Sabbath was a mere shadow of what was to come (the New Testament). Now that the New Testament has come, the Sabbath is obsolete.
Remember the day you were born again? Surely it was a day to remember! Then you became part of a local church, and blended in. Around December that year, you probably celebrated your first Christmas. Did you bother to ask why the church celebrated Christmas, or did you follow like a docile lamb? In other words, you let them act as your judge in regard to a festival.
When Paul taught the Bereans about Christianity, they questioned him, and wanted him to show them Scripture to back what he was telling them (Ac 17:11). For this reason, the Holy Spirit said that they were noble-minded. If you want the Holy Spirit to consider you noble-minded then you need to be like the Bereans.
At the same time, if you have the good sense to not follow the traditions of men, don’t look down on any brother or sister who still follows the traditions of men. Let them be! It is not for you and me to judge another person.
18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on {visions} he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
People may do all sorts of things to convince you to follow useless traditions. Some might say that God (or one of His angels) spoke to them in a vision. Don’t believe them. In promoting such nonsense, they are only showing that they are not connected to the head (Christ).
Those who are connected to the head experience growth in the true nature of Christ, and that’s what matters. If you are growing in humility, gentleness, kindness, mercy, love, and these kind of things, you are connected to Christ, and celebrating festivals, and following traditions concerning eating and drinking, or holding certain days as important, are really totally unnecessary and irrelevant.
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
22 (which all {refer} {to} things destined to perish with use) – in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, {but are} of no value against fleshly indulgence.
On the other hand, if you are proud, mean, unmerciful, unloving, and so on, no amount of penance and sacrifice and celebration of festivals, or traditions, will be of help to you.
We all need to get this into our thick skulls – Christianity is NOT about following the traditions of men; rather, it is about becoming like Jesus, and Paul explains in the next chapter what ‘becoming like Jesus’ is all about.
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