Massively Exaggerated to the Point of Dishonest Applications of Colossians 2:20-23

Are separatists or fundamentalists, those who practice personal and ecclesiastical separation according to Scripture, the ascetics of Colossians 2:20-23?  Evangelicals want you to believe so.  They make this almost the entire application of Colossians 2:20-23.  Churches will get a lot bigger when they allow their members or attendees to live just like or very close to the world.  The evangelicals, like no other time in history, have stuck this kind of passage on separatists, to take away any guilt they might have for living lascivious lifestyles.  Now their congregations and evangelicalism, and Christianity really, are paying for it.  They read separatists and fundamentalists into this kind of passage to justify their manner of operation.

Ascetics added lists of rules to Scripture as an inclusion in their plan of salvation.  They add works to grace and not just scriptural works, but extra scriptural works, works not found in the Bible anywhere.   They also added extra requirements not found in God’s Word to real restrictions that were in Scripture.  We’re talking about what is mainly monk or nun like behavior.

Paul hits the ascetics with his words in Colossians 2:20-23, and warns the church not to go back to works salvation after union with Christ had removed the believers from such human religion (v. 20).  The ascetics were a kind of Gnosticism that believed flesh was evil, so their lifestyle became Pharisaical.  They kept “spiritual” by refraining from certain activities like bathing.  Someone might slip up and see your naked body.  And then as we move forward to v. 21, they wouldn’t touch people, afraid that their sin could rub off, and wouldn’t even taste certain foods that were too good to eat and might result in some pleasure.  If an ascetic were to do any of that, it would affect his spirituality.

Asceticism contradicted the sufficiency in Christ that Paul taught they had.  They had all fulness in Him, were complete in Him.  The ascetics’ regulations were made up, fake humility, phoniness, and ironically did not deny their flesh, but indulge it, what v. 23 says is ’satisfying the flesh.’  What was supposed to be spiritual was actually flesh.  It was all about man and nothing about Jesus, which is where all of salvation dwelt.

Evangelicals label separatists or fundamentalists as these ascetics.  Do you understand what they are doing?  They are judging the motives of separatists.  It is true that some professing Christians, fundamentalists, will judge spirituality too much by external criteria.  I dealt with that in my lost post on Colossians 2:16-17.   Sometimes movements within fundamentalism have issues with this.  In many cases, the problems of these segments of fundamentalism relates to their wrong view of the gospel, but it isn’t an asceticism issue.

These evangelicals, which include John MacArthur, John Piper, Charles Swindoll, Rick Warren, and others, make absurd overstatement, like this one by MacArthur:

[The] whole orientation was that spirituality is determined by external behavior. And you get into an environment like that and I can promise you some, it’ll intimidate you. You begin to feel that if you do the wrong things or if you say the wrong things or you happen to be for some organization or for some individual in the ministry and this whole outfit is against them, boy you are really on the out.

By smearing separatists with this asceticism charge, those part of evangelicalism feel in a superior spiritual position because of their woeful under-emphasis on externals.  The Bible doesn’t shuck externals.  They come out of internals, true, but externals are all over the place, and these evangelicals have greatly abused the grace of God by sending their people this direction.   It has become a kind of left-wing legalism.  True spirituality comes from an almost complete lack of emphasis on externals, resulting in a great dearth of holiness and spiritual discernment.

Now you’re seeing some of the conservative evangelicals backtracking to keep things from sliding over the precipice—books on personal separation and against worldliness.  Those books are still anemic, and I think, because they’ve got a people who can’t handle something strong about it.  However, they see that God’s grace has been cheapened to the extent that their own gospel has been affected with eternal consequences.

The ascetics are those who did bully the Colossians church members into reappraising their own salvation experience, because they were not following extra scriptural regulations.  So let’s not do that.  However, it isn’t talking about true spirituality manifesting itself in true self-denial and holy living—men having a short hair cut in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11:14, women wearing skirts and dresses in submission to Deuteronomy 22:5, not drinking alcohol because of Proverbs 23:31, faithful church attendance because of Hebrews 10:24-25, and not listening to or using worldly music because of a host of verses which teach about abstaining from worldly and fleshly lusts.  All of that is setting your affections on things above (Col 3:1-3).

I think these lascivious ones are the biggest bullies in our culture today.  They want to live like they want and they don’t want you to say anything to them about it.  They don’t want you to judge their church as worldly. If you do, well, they’ll shoot an eisegesis of scripture at you.

Spiritual Bullies (Colossians 2:16-17)

We find perfect Christian balance in Jesus Christ himself.  We are complete in Him, because in Him all fulness dwells (Col 2:9-10).  In Jesus we are holy.  In Him we will be holy and live holy.  We will be changed and different.  We will obey His Word.  We won’t be ruled by the flesh any more.  But we also are free.  We are free from the religion of human achievement.  We don’t attain spirituality by keeping lists of rules.  With live righteous lives in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

A group of false teachers in the Colossae region went around making people feel guilty because they didn’t keep a list of rules not found in Scripture.   To them, even if you had received Christ, you weren’t saved if you didn’t keep their pet menu of rituals and regulations and routines.  External standards are always tempting.  Unconverted phonies can conform to them, so they don’t provide a suitable basis to judge someone’s conversion.  Salvation is by grace through faith, but spiritual bullies desire to coerce others into their own criteria for spirituality, causing confusion and doubt to a church.

So Paul tells these churches at Colossae and Laodecia not to restrict themselves solely because of these false teachers that want them to cramp their lifestyles to earn their way to righteousness (v. 16).  This contradicted the sufficiency they had in Christ (vv. 9, 10).  He wasn’t, by the way, saying to them that they could do whatever they wanted.  Colossians 2 isn’t the only passage in the Bible on liberty.  There are huge chunks of text on this in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Galatians as well.  For instance, he wasn’t requiring them to jump through the salvation hoops of the Essenes, but in other passages he does tell the church to look out for the welfare of the weaker brother.  They didn’t have liberty to sin, to be worldly, to be a stumbling block, to be a bad testimony, to let their good be evil spoken of, to disobey church leadership, or to cause disunity in the church.  But he didn’t want them to be bullied by the onerous self-serving dicta of genuine legalists.

You aren’t a Christian because you show up for church work day, men’s prayer time, and for both times of door-to-door evangelism.  You aren’t a Christian because you are a regular kneeler at the front during invitations and you shout “amen” louder than anyone else in the church.  You aren’t a Christian because you don’t go to the movie theater, don’t subscribe to Sports Illustrated, your hair doesn’t touch your ears, you don’t have a Christmas tree, and you’ve never read a Tolkien novel.  You’re a Christian only because of Jesus Christ, because of His work on Calvary, because of His resurrection, because He intercedes for you on the right hand of the Father, and because of the righteousness with which you are robed in Him.  That will all look like good works and holiness and love for God and others.  However, nothing that we can do will add anything to the fulness that is in Christ.

The problem represented by Paul’s warning in Colossians 2:16-17 can raise its ugly head in any church, but I know it to be a particular one for separatist churches.  The churches often have high, scriptural standards of holiness.  People in those churches can replace actual salvation and spirituality with the rules of the church.  Those rules don’t even exist, but they do in the minds of some.  Some church members might live a double life buoyed by their ability both to wear the Christian uniform and nitpick others who don’t wear it like they do.  Inside they hold evil thoughts and an ugly spirit.  They’ve really developed their own religious system separate from the Bible and true godliness.   This kind of culture can spread, either causing major difficulties in a church or verging on taking over.  Paul says don’t let it happen.

Don’t let spiritual bullies have their way in a church.  I know they latch hold of one thing that I say in a sermon.  I might say that I don’t eat at some restaurant because of the prominent bar and they take that as “anyone who goes there isn’t saved.”  They themselves aren’t devoted to God but they won’t go to a restaurant that maybe they don’t go to anyway, and they’ll condemn anyone  else that goes there because they haven’t kept the rules of the church.  I’ve found that they do very little to help anyone else.  They will even bully the pastor into regulating himself for fear of the campaign they might start due to his inability to keep their ways.  And yet they expect to be thought highly of because they know how to look and they keep all the regulations they know are important.  Some of those standards might be helpful, but they don’t exist as a bar for measuring spirituality.

The Lord Jesus set us free from bondage through His death.   Jesus delivered you from the captivity of Satan and his demons.  Let’s not be bullied into another type of subtle, insidious imprisonment after all that the Lord has done.

Presuppositions and Asceticism (Colossians 2:16-17)

Paul here summarizes the point he has been making in the previous verses.  You might notice the train of thought which Paul, ever the logician, uses.  He is wrestling with God on their behalf, that their hearts might be comforted with strength by a full assurance and full knowledge of the mystery of God in Christ.  And he says this (v. 4) lest any man should beguile them with enticing words.   He uses the word therefore in verse 6 — in verse 5 he points out their order and steadfast faith in Christ.  In verse 6, he concludes that since they have received Christ Jesus the Lord (as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus…), so walk ye in him.  He expands on his meaning in verse 7.  When you received Christ Jesus the Lord, everything was of Christ.  In the same way, your Christian life and walk must be rooted and built up in Him.  He is the foundation and He is the building.  Beware of those who would spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, would carry you away captive from Christ.  Christ is the fullness of God, and you are made full in Christ.  The body of the sins of your flesh are put off by the circumcision of Christ.  You are buried with Him, and you are risen with Him, and you are made alive together with Him.  He has removed the contrariness of the law, and has made an open show of the lawyers who so severely prosecute you even now.

You might notice yet another therefore, this time in verse 16 — Because Christ is the foundation and the building, the ultimate starting point and the ultimate ending point, and because Christ has obliterated the “handwriting of ordinances that was against us,” let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days…”

Paul has been making a point in all of this.  Christ is the Lord.  He has spoken to us in the Word of God, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, and in those Scriptures He has revealed to us what we are to believe concerning God, and what duties God requires of man.  This must be our first and ultimate starting point, our most fundamental, rudimentary presupposition.

Paul has been making this point to combat the Colossian error.  We don’t invent our own ways of being holy.  We don’t make up our own rules, or set boundaries that God doesn’t set.  Notice what Paul says in verses 16-17.  “Let no man therefore judge you…”  The first word of that sentence in the TR is a Greek word of negation.  The sentence would literally read “not therefore anyone you judge.”  Greek does not depend on word order for meaning in the way that English does, so an unusual word order is used for emphasis.  In this case, Paul gives a very emphatic “not.”  Let NO man judge you.  The “you” is accusative, so it belongs after the verb, and it is emphatic to boot.  Paul emphatically does not want any man judging them.  Why?  Because Christ is the judge.  Our holiness is given by Christ, kept by Christ, and judged by Christ.  Man does not give our holiness, nor does man determine what holiness is, or chart the course for holiness.  Most certainly then, man has no right making up his own rules for holiness or judging your holiness (or lack therefore) by his own standards.

So this thing of standards is a matter of whose standards we use.  Men want us to live by man’s standard.  God demands that we live by Christ’s standards.  We are not judged by man’s standards.  Let no man judge you in eating or drinking — whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Let no man judge you in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.  Paul elaborates on this extensively in I Corinthians 8, and in Romans 14-15.  Note what he says in Romans 14:5ff, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”

This is Paul’s point — that we must live by faith.  Romans 14:22-23 states this directly: “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”  Let God be your judge, and be concerned what He thinks of you, not what we think of you.  For all of these things, all of the eating and drinking, all of the holydays and new moons and Sabbaths,  every one of these things are “a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.”

Paul is setting up a contrast in verse 17, between shadow and substance, between skia and soma.  Shadow requires substance.  Air does not cast a shadow, neither do mere ideas or theories.  So, the law is not simply a picture, a sketch, or an outline.  It is more than an ideal.  The law is a shadow, and the shadow is cast by the substance of God’s true holiness.  For the body, the substance is Christ’s.  The word for Christ here is in the genitive/ablative case.  This is an example of the richness of meaning contained in the very words of God.  Genitives have a wealth of possibility attached to them.  In this case, the context would allow for this to be a genitive of possession, a genitive of relationship, and an ablative of source.  The body, the substance of the law, is Christ.  It is derived from Christ, and the fullness, the meaning, the righteousness of it can only be realized through union with Christ.

The Gnostics preached asceticism, but that was not the point of the law to begin with.  The point of the law was to make a difference between the clean and the unclean.  That implies that there was a difference between the clean and the unclean to begin with, contrary to the Gnostic teaching that the material world was evil.  Through Christ, the ceremonial prohibitions of the law were ended (Acts 10).  But Gnostic error turned the law into an issue of abstinence.  God never intended for the law to be ascetic.

And that brings us to the issue here.  Our standards must come from God.  We do not have liberty to “make things up as we go.”  Most certainly, we must strive to live according to God’s law, in obedience to Christ.  But we do not make up our own rules, nor are we beholden to the whims of men.  Since Christ is the ultimate authority, we take our standards from the Word of God.   Presupposing Christ, we live by His law.  He has given us every good thing to enjoy, and we enjoy it, receiving it with thanksgiving.

How Do You Do That? (Colossians 1:10)

Have you ever seen someone perform some feat that, to you, would be impossible?  Yet, they did it easily.  You may have gone to them and asked, “How do you do that?”  Or, you’ve just established your own home and want to make your grandmother’s famous cake, so you call and ask her, “How do you make that cake we all love?”  She replies, “My, I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. I’ve been doing it so long that I don’t even give it a thought. Let me think…., What do I put in there? How much? How….It’s, you know…., I just do it.” And you think, “Oh!, that’s a big help!”

Sometimes it can be that way in our Christian walk.  Some Christians have been walking so long it’s hard for them to comprehend why anyone would have a hard time doing the simple things in the Christian life.  But we should all remember how hard it was for us when we first started walking.  Of course, we probably can’t remember that, but we can remember how hard it was for our children or nephews and nieces to start walking.  We even remember that we didn’t expect them to walk the very day they came home from the hospital–it would have been too hard.  We patiently waited until they were strong enough to walk before we coaxed and encouraged and even tricked them into walking.  Now, if you would ask them, “How do you walk?” they would laugh because, “Everyone knows how to walk.  It’s second nature.”

New Christians need careful, meticulous training and help to learn how to do the simple walking in the Christian life.  Those simple things should grow to be “second nature” for every half-mature Christian.  And those of us who’ve been walking for awhile should remember it’s not all that simple if you’ve just come home from being born in the hospital.

You Aren’t Adding to Your Holiness (Colossians 2:10-15)

Thus far, Paul has used an indirect approach in addressing the errors promoted by false teachers in Colosse.  His introduction reminds me of the way the nurse introduces the shot.  She sets it on the table next to me.  She opens up several of those alcohol swabs and wipes.  She sort of thumbs the spot.  She addresses it with the alcohol wipe.  Then comes the big stick.  Ouch!

We all know what is coming, and by the time the alcohol wipe touches the skin, we know that it is coming soon.  We know why it is coming, and why we need it, and we are quite sure it will help.  But we can’t help wincing a bit when it finally comes.  Consider this the final wince before the shot.  The shot comes in verse 16.  But meanwhile, we’ve got that alcohol wipe, and it is high time we applied it.

Between the Gnostics, the Essenes, and the Judaizers, the believers at Colosse were confused.  Before they were saved, when they were dead in their sins and the uncircumcision of their flesh, they understood that they were in bondage.  It didn’t always feel like bondage, but once they converted, they understood that it really was bondage.  Because of false teachers, however, they were really beginning to feel that they were in more bondage than before.  The rules and restrictions and ‘can’t’ lists seemed to grow exponentially.  They had to be circumcised, they needed to respect all these new holy days, they had to stop eating food they enjoyed, they had to keep the sabbath, they had to “touch not, taste not, handle not.”  Every time they turned around, there was a new rule.  Basically, they found that they had to give up everything they enjoyed, and replace it with all sorts of things they did not enjoy.

I find no evidence in the book of Colossians that these believers were resentful of this new kind of bondage.  If they were chafing at the rules or thinking about turning back, Paul gives no indication.  From all appearances, they were ready and willing to go along with the form of ascetic Christianity being taught by false teachers.  For this, I believe that they deserve a little credit.  But here is the point when Paul steps in to reverse the trend and send them back in the right direction…

You are in Christ, and in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  Being in Christ then, you are filled (complete – v. 10).  How complete are you?  Well, you are already circumcised.  What’s that, you say?  You’ve never been circumcized?  But you are, though.  You are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.  The body of the sins of your flesh are put off by the circumcision of Christ.  You are in Him, remember?

Would you repeat that question?  You were asking if that means you don’t need to be circumcised after all?  That’s correct.  You already are, remember?  With the circumcision made without hands.

That’s not all either.  You are buried with Christ also.  You are buried with Him in baptism by immersion (sprinkling doesn’t picture burial).  So, you don’t need to give up life and living.  What’s that you just asked?  You wanted to know if ‘living’ would get bad stuff on us, the way dirt makes us dirty?  You wanted to know if we aren’t supposed to die to the things of this world, and stop enjoying things?

Wait, wait… one question at a time please.  Yes, I have heard that definition of Puritanism — the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.  But that is really just a slander… No, you don’t have to fear pleasure and lawful enjoyment.  No, you won’t need to die to pleasure, that’s what I am saying.  You are buried with Christ already.

How’s that again?  Yes, exactly… this means that you already died with Christ (see Romans 6).  Not only that, but you are risen with him through the faith of the operation (the Greek word here is energeias – energy) of God, who raised Christ from the dead.  You see, you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh.  But now you are risen with Christ.  He has quickened you together with Christ.  The word is sunzōpoieō, and it indicates that you are not made alive by yourself, but that you are joined together with Christ in being made alive.  So, yes, you are free to live, because you are alive with Christ.

Jesus Christ died, buried, and revived.  He quickened you together with Himself when He saved you.  In quickening you, he forgave you all trespasses.  He also did something else for you, something that the false teachers like to ignore so that they can plunder you of your liberty in Christ.  When Christ quickened you, forgiving you all trespasses, he also obliterated the bondage of the law.  As a matter of fact, you know how those Judaizers and pseudo-religious leaders are always harrassing you about your need to be circumcised and to submit to the ceremonial law?  Well, let me tell you about them.  You see, when Christ was nailed to the cross, they thought that they had triumphed over Him.  But in fact, He was triumphing over them.  When He gave up the ghost, He shocked all their sensibilities, for He prayed, “Father, forgive them…”  He shocked their sensibilities even more, for He ripped the veil of the temple in two.  And then, on the third day, He made a show of them openly in that He arose from the grave.

Now, they want you to think that holiness is found in keeping yourself from touching so-called “defiled” things.  They want you to believe that you become more holy by keeping all of their feasts and holy days and sabbaths.  But you should understand that your righteousness and holiness is not in yourself.  It is found in Christ.  Be holy, for sure.  You must, because you are in Christ.  We’ll be getting to that shortly.  But for right now, understand that you can keep all of their laws, but you aren’t adding even one speck to your holiness.  Your holiness (forgive me for repeating myself) is all wrapped up in Christ.

Some final thoughts…

I know of a church that requires Christians, before they can join the church, to sign a covenant with the church promising that they will not have a television, that they will not watch professional sports, that they will not participate in any team sport, that they will not watch any movie with a rating above a “G,” that they will turn down commercials on their radio, that they will only listen to one of the two radio stations approved by the church, that they will never skip family devotions, that their ladies will never wear cullottes, that their men will never wear shorts, that they will never go to a restaurant on a Sunday, and that they will not drink Coca-Cola.  If they will not promise all of these things, they cannot join.

I believe that Paul’s point in Colossians 2 would reject this sort of thing.  God has quickened us together with Christ, and He intends that we would live.

Walk in Christ the Way You Received Him (Colossians 2:6-8)

A Case for Christian Presuppositions

We have been inundated with books of the “evidential” variety, beginning with McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict, and most recently continuing with Lee Strobel and his very popular The Case for … series of books.  I’ll not go so far as to say that these books have no value.  No doubt, there are those who have come to faith in Christ after having taken a candid look at the evidence.  Nor would I argue that there is not a veritable universe filled with evidence of our Creator.  The whole earth is full of his glory.

But I have a problem with this method of evangelism.  I believe that it elevates human intellect and invites men to come to Christ on their own terms.  The Bible characterizes the world as having an autonomous self-sufficiency, and the evidential approach to apologetics appeals to this autonomous self-sufficiency.  For, when an autonomous man is persuaded by human wisdom and evidence that he “just can’t answer,” that man has come to Christ on his own terms, rather than coming on Christ’s terms.

Christ’s call to salvation requires mankind to repent.  But the evidential approach requires no repentance.  It merely requires a progression in one’s understanding.  The worldly mind promotes human reasoning above all else, and the evidential approach appeals to human reasoning.  Paul often spoke of the worldly mind.  In Colossians 2:8, he described it as philosophy that is vain deceit, and characterized it as “after the tradition of men… and not after Christ.”  In I Corinthians 1:12, Paul tells us that “the world by wisdom knew not God.”  And in Ephesians 4:17ff, Paul demands that we “henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind…“  He says that their understanding is darkened, that they are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.  We have not received the spirit of the world (I Corinthians 2:12), but the spirit of Christ.  Nor will the spirit of the world ever bring a man to Christ, for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spririt of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”  (I Corinthians 2:14).

Brethren, I would remind you that it is the natural man who demands evidence (I Corinthians 1:22).  But we refrain from speach that utilizes the words which man’s wisdom teaches (I Corinthians 1:23-24; 2:13).  The worldly mind refuses to believe anything that does not meet its criterion for evidence.  This is why men who lived during the time of Christ, who saw His miracles and heard His preaching and even made up lies to deny His resurrection did not become believers or disciples of Christ.  It certainly wasn’t for a lack of evidence.  They had more evidence than any man can possibly want in our day.

The world’s problem is and always has been its presuppositions.  The world sets its presuppositions against the presuppositions that the Bible demands.  And the world by wisdom does not know God.  God requires a man to repent of these worldly presuppositions, or he will perish.  And this, as I see it, is exactly the problem with the evidentialist approach to apologetics.  Evidentialism appeals to a man to keep those worldly assumptions and come to Christ that way.  So that when a man converts, he does not convert because he has submitted himself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  He converts because he has persuaded himself that Christianity is the truth.  He comes to Christ, not on Christ’s authority, but on the authority of his own autonomous mind.

As an aside, I believe that this kind of “converting” explains why so many of these converts continue to lead such a worldly and sensual lifestyle.  They walk in Christ the way they received Him.

We receive Christ on His terms.  He is God.  He does not appeal to evidence when He calls men to salvation.  He appeals to His own authority.  He demands that we lay aside our own assumptions and take up the Christian presuppositions of Scripture.  Sight does not make a man a Christian.  And yet, many Christians in their desire to persuade men, appeal to their own self-sufficient sight by appealing on the basis of evidence.  The just shall live by faith.  We walk by faith, not by sight.  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The way that we received Christ is the way that we are to walk in Him.  That includes, most obviously, our manner of living.  But it also includes our thinking, our scholarly endeavors, and our witnessing.  When we witness for the Lord, we are to witness in submission to His Lordship.  No doubt, we are the people, and we think that we have found a better way.  After all, these evidentialists, they are bringing many people to make a profession of faith.  We can’t really see evidence of conversion, but at least people are giving lip-service to it, right?  I mean, that’s probably better than nothing.  Which reminds me, why am I wasting my time writing this when I could be out soul winning.

But Paul commands us to be rooted and built up in Christ.  That is how we are to walk in Him.  Stablished in the faith, as we have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.  And as we do, Paul warns us, that is, those of us who are walking in Christ the way we received him, to “Beware lest any man spoil (take captive, carry off as booty) you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men (worldly presuppositions that demand evidence and refuse to acknowledge the authority of Christ in the realm of knowledge), after the rudiments of the world (autonomous self-sufficiency), and not after Christ.

In this, then, we should take note of yet another evidence of true conversion — that the former man of the world has repented of his former basic assumptions, and now has a new basic assumption.  He now assumes that whatever God says in His Word is true, and he approaches Scripture that way.  As Ephesians 4:20-24 teaches, that man has new committments, new assumptions, new presuppositions, a new love, a new direction, new evidence, a new life - behold, all things have become new!

I’d Like to Buy a Comment

Meandering through Colossians, we completed exactly one fourth of the book in one month.  And with that same blistering pace and blazing speed, we have every intention of finishing the book in February.  We recognize that our faithful readers, fearful of offering the kinds of comments that are standard fare on sites like Pyromaniacs, refrain from excessive glad-handing.  And, all things considered, we appreciate that. 

BUT FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD, CAN’T YOU THINK OF ANYTHING TO SAY?!

There.  We said it.  We needed to, so we did.  Don’t feel like you can only comment if you found something to disagree with.  We don’t need our backs scratched, our ears tickled, our bellies rubbed, or our heads patted.  But we would love to have folks add to the conversation.  We love to discuss Scripture, and we are pretty sure that you all do as well.  Might take some effort on your part, but we’re confident that you can do it.  Just keep on baby-stepping.  We’ll never give up hope.

The Sufficiency of Jesus (Colossians 2:8-10)

All fulfillment depends on Jesus.  Whatever false teaching would mess that up should be avoided.   And men with their father, the devil, will persist in influencing people to turn away from the Lord.  Every single human being gets that choice:  the true and only Jesus or what men have to say about Jesus and everything else.  Everyone’s eternal destiny hangs on how he responds to those two options.

The first possibility is in v. 8, which is man’s thinking on things.  You can go with that and it might even make sense to you.  It is after all how most people get popular and powerful in time.  Of course, Paul warns to beware of that direction.  It will “spoil” you.  The Greek verb translated “spoil” essentially has the understanding of “being made spoil.”  You’ll be nothing but Satan’s booty if you go that direction.  You’ll be his trophy hanging on his wall.  You’ll think you have freedom to think and express yourself and really be the real you, but you’ll actually be his prisoner, his captive.

By the way, Satan will call the philosophy “evidence.”  He’ll say it’s empirical, it’s science, and the only reasonable way.  He’ll say that his way is for the thinking person, somebody who isn’t easily duped by shallow, mindless Christianity.  It is very elite.  This is the way man’s wisdom is—it comes with a lot of bells and whistles.  It will make you look good.

To get the Jesus’ way, which is the only way of salvation, real wisdom, eternal life, and true satisfaction, you have to recognize your own spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy.  You have to do something like what Paul did in Philippians 3 when he said all his best smarts and achievements he had to put the “dung” label on.

I wish that teenagers would consider this for a moment.  The fads of this world are sucking you into a worthless life.   They may be “cool” or “phat” or “sweet,” but they make you captive.  You think you’re getting something, but all you’re getting is getting gotten.  What you think you will get from the world and its toys will leave you with the inside of a donut, even worse.

On the Jesus side of the ledger (vv. 9, 10) is “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”  The Gnostics said, “not so, Jesus was just some emanation several times removed from God; God couldn’t or wouldn’t dwell in a body—all flesh is evil and all spirit is good.”  And that teaching, my friend, is convoluted and a dead end.  In Jesus is everything that God is, which happens to be everything.  And when I say everything, I mean things that you haven’t even thought that you needed.  Which is why it is also to say that “ye are complete in Him.”

Want a complete life?  It’s Jesus.  That’s why it’s so important that you get settled about Him.  Stop frittering your life away with the useless trinkets, which happen to be anything that is not Jesus.

And Christian, be confident.  You’re complete in Jesus.  Complete.  Believe it.  Don’t apologize for that choice.  It’s the best.  Now go tell everyone.

Keeping Rank, Holding the Line, and Marching Forward (Colossians 2:4-7)

As far as Paul was concerned, a war was on with the Colossian church, as much as any physical battle that could be fought, except even more was at stake.  The church was more important than anything.  I see his view of military imagery here, the picture in his mind of armies waging warfare.  So like a commanding officer, he has his orders for both the Colossian and Laodecian churches.  You find this description in the words of Colossians 2:5:  “beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.”

“Order” and “steadfastness” were both military terms.  “Order” is “rank,” that is, the line that soldiers kept in their maneuvers.  He is commending the churches for still holding rank, keeping the line.   The arrows and spears of doctrinal attack may have been flying, and yet they had not broken ranks, but had held their lines intact.

“Steadfastness” had to do with firmly holding ground, keeping the line solid, not having any gaps.  Not only were they holding the line, but they were solid in it, not allowing any of the enemy to come through at any point in the line, so as to result in a flanking or being surrounded.  Nothing was breaking through their lines.  Everybody was doing his part.

Paul had great love and then desires for these churches (2:1).  These desires would be what kept their lines secure and strong.  In 2:2a it was found in their minds strengthened by the thinking the truth.   Out of that right kind of thinking came the practice of love that would unite them (2:2b), so that members would not turn on one another.  The right practice that came from the right thinking would continue into full assurance (2:2c).   They would not be wavering in their belief in the deity and sufficiency of Christ.  They were firm in their relationship with the Lord Jesus, despite the attacks on His Person (2:3-4).

With their keeping ranks and holding the line (2:5), now they needed to march forward, walk in Christ (2:6).  They shouldn’t change their viewpoint of Christ, but keep living according to His example, doing what He would do.  Walking in Christ would build up the church, establish it even more in the faith, producing thankful attitudes (2:7).  I get the picture of a company, working within an even larger army, withstanding attacks, sticking together, and gaining ground against its enemy.

The Value of a Christian Worldview (Colossians 2:2-3)

I have had more than a few Mormons ask me to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, asking God to show me if it is true.  I refuse to do this.  I am more than happy to tell them why.  The first reason I give is that “I don’t need to pray about it.”  As one evangelist said, “I don’t lack wisdom in this area.”  A second reason for not asking God whether the Book of Mormon is true is that such a prayer would be sin. 

I hope you will not think me conceited for saying so, but I give this same answer to every religion that denies the truth of Scripture.  I don’t need to pray about Buddhism, Hinduism, Scientism, Evolutionism, atheism, or agnosticism.  I have no need to pray over Islam.  I don’t ask the Lord to show me whether or not the Jehovah’s Witnesses are true.  In fact, I believe that I would be in sin to pray and ask God to show me whether or not these things are the truth. 

For that matter, I have not prayed over the Bible or Christianity this way either.  Why would I?  Why would I ask God to show me if He is telling the truth or not?  What good would that do?  If God isn’t telling the truth, how would it help me to ask Him if He is telling the truth?  If God doesn’t speak, why would I ask Him?  If the Bible is a lie, then God will not answer me anyway.  And if God is true, then it is rebellious, arrogant, and vain for me to ask Him to prove to me that He is telling the truth.

From time to time, I will hear a foolish Christian confront religious error by playing a game of “let’s pretend.”  “Let’s pretend that God doesn’t exist,” they say.  And they think that by pretending that God doesn’t exist, they will be able to prove that He does.  That is silliness. 

We might as well try to prove that logic exists by pretending that it doesn’t.  If logic doesn’t exist, I can’t use it.  If I can’t use logic, how can I prove that it exists?  For that matter, I might just as well try to prove my own existence by assuming my own non-existence.  This sort of argumentation leads us nowhere but down into the pit.  And with good reason, for this kind of argumentation comes out of the pit. 

When the Colossian believers confronted unbelieving error, they were troubled.  Error weakened their faith and their resolve, as it always will.  Paul wanted to comfort their hearts.  In the first chapter, he told them of his prayers for them, that among other things, they might be strengthened with all might (1:11).  Now, Paul wants to comfort (strengthen) their hearts.  Paul believed that this would be accomplished in part by their communion with the saints in their local church — “being knit together in love.”  But this would also be accomplished by a solid Christian worldview — “being knit together… unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ…”

Paul wants to help them with their epistemology.  This is vital for them, in order to avoid the pernicious error of Gnosticism.  Paul does not want them confronting Gnosticism with Agnosticism.  He does not want them to lay aside their Christian worldview and take on a sort of “neutral” position, judging between the claims of the Gnostics and the claims of Christ.  Christ is our creator (1:16-17).  In Christ, all the fulness dwells (1:19).  And in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The Colossian question was a question, not of “who is right,” but a question of epistemology.  How do we know anything?  We know because God made us, and gave us minds that might reason and know the truth.  God made a world that could be known, and gave us minds that could know.  A perfect match, we might say.  But then, we must also understand that we cannot separate the truth from God, as if truth stands independently from Him.  Jesus is the truth (John 14:6).  God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).  And therefore, we can only know through Him.  We can only know what God has revealed and enabled us to know.  Knowledge does not bring us to the fear of the Lord.  The fear of the Lord brings us to knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). 

All the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God would strengthen the believers then, as they will now.  “Full assurance” speaks of a “well-settled judgement” (Matthew Henry), a confidence that does not doubt the truth or call it into question.  The word “understanding” continues the idea of “being knit together.”  It is the genitive singular form of the Greek word synesis, and has to do with a union or confluence.  Paul wants these believers using their full intellect in full confidence, their minds united to the truth.  The word “acknowledgement” is the accusative singular form of epignosis — full knowledge.  The Greek preposition eis is used twice here — unto all riches, and to the acknowledgement.  Eis can also be translated “into.”  This is where Paul wants the Colossians to be, in a spiritual sense.  He wants their full intellect immersed in the full confidence of the fulness of knowledge.  This will keep them from Gnostic error.

When confronted with error, nothing comforts like the strength, the power of a Christian worldview.

Sinless Perfection (Colossians 1:27-29)

I believe in sinless perfection.  I’m not ashamed to say so, not even on the World Wide Web.  In fact, I’m delighted for the opportunity to openly declare my belief in sinless perfection.

I believe that every Christian is now and will one day be perfectly sinless.  But before you fire up the chain e-mails and rally all my friends against me, I hope that you will read the rest of what I have to say.

Paul declared that the riches of the glory of ‘this’ mystery among the Gentiles is this: Christ in you, the hope of glory.  This is the Christ that Paul and Epaphras preached (1:28), warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom.  And they had a distinct purpose in preaching this: so that they might present every man perfect in Christ.  Paul himself labored to this end, according to his working, which he worked in Paul mightily.

This is Christ’s purpose in reconciling us — “to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight”  (1:22).  This was the reason Epaphras labored so fervently for them, “that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”  In fact, this is the reason God gives us pastors and spiritual leaders:

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Perfection was an obsession of the Gnostics.  Paul uses the Greek word teleion (an adjective for perfect or mature) in verse 28.  “The Gnostics used τελειος  of the one fully initiated into their mysteries and it is quite possible that Paul here has also a sidewise reference to their use of the term.” (1)  They believed that perfection came independently of Christ.  I find that those in our day who believe in some sort of sinless perfection achieved in this life also believe that this comes independently of Christ.  But faithful believers in Christ also believe in, and in fact are obsessed with perfection.  Allow me to explain.

Christ is Perfect

He is the perfection of all holiness, of all goodness, of all wisdom and knowledge and truth.  Christ is perfect.  He did no sin, neither was any guile found in his mouth.  Christ perfectly fulfilled all of God’s law, perfectly satisfied all of God’s demands for justice, perfectly finished the work of the cross.  Christ is perfect, one man who is perfectly sinless.  Believers acknowledge His sinless perfection.

We are Perfect

In Colossians 2:10, Paul says, “And ye are complete in him…”  In Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete (made full) in him.  Our life is hid with Christ in God (3:3), and Christ is our life (3:4).  Having no righteousness of our own, His righteousness is imputed on us, and we are made righteous in Christ.  And, God calls those things that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17).  In Christ, we are perfect.  Not that we have achieved a level of sinlessness in this life.  For we are always told to put away those things.  But that we are made perfect in Christ.  This is the point.  When we discuss the possibility of sinlessness or of perfection, we tend to look inward.  I cannot be sinless, or sinlessly perfect in this life.  We must look outwardly — outside of ourselves, if we would find ’sinless perfection.’  We must look to Christ.  For Christ is sinlessly perfect, and my identity is all wrapped up in Him. 

We are Not Perfect

This is the point of Paul’s preaching, of his warning, of his teaching in all wisdom.  Paul wanted to present the Colossians perfect in Christ.  Paul labored to this end, according to God’s working (the Greek word here is energeian – God’s energizing), which worketh (same Greek word in a verb/participle form) in me mightily.  We are made perfect and complete in Christ, and yet we are not perfect or complete.  And therefore, we are changed into Christ’s image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor 3:18). 

From time-to-time, men lose sight of their position in Christ, and strive to gain a position for themselves. The Colossians were doing this.  False teachers taught them to deny themselves, to deny the lawful pleasures of this life and to deny their own body, all in the name of achieving this higher holiness.  The modern day holiness movement, especially the segment that springs out of the teaching of Charles Finney, pursues this same kind of thing.  Men are trying to reach some degree of sinless perfection on their own, in their own strength, and for themselves. They attempt to achieve this in their own flesh. 

Believers must be satisfied to look to Christ.  His righteousness, His holiness, His perfection must satisfy them.  Our striving for personal holiness then comes out of our satisfaction with His holiness, and our desire to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. 

 

(1) Robertson, A.T.: Word Pictures in the New Testament. Oak Harbor : Logos Research Systems, 1997, S. Col 1:28

Hearts Comforted (Colossians 2:1-2a)

Christianity is Christ.   Belief in Christ saves.  But it is belief in the Jesus of the Bible, the one and only true Christ.  The wrong thinking about Christ would destroy the churches of Colossae and Laodecia.  Paul is torn with concern over two churches he had never visited or seen.  He agonized (“conflict” in 2:1, ”strive” in v. 29) over them.  Paul was saying that those churches did not know the anguish that he experienced over them because of the spiritual threats brought by the false teachers.

Paul loved the church, and so he loved these churches.  He had desires for them that would provide what they needed to overcome spiritual attack.  The first was that their hearts would be comforted.  When you read those words at the first part of v. 2, it sounds like what someone would need who was discouraged or depressed.  I don’t think that’s what it is at all.

The center of emotions in Hebrew culture were the “bowels.”  The “heart” is synonymous with the mind.  The word for “comfort” is often translated strengthened.  It’s a word, parakaleo, that is translated a number of ways, including “edify.”   It’s  compound Greek word that means literally:  “called along side of.”   That’s why it is translated a number of different ways.  Different situations demanded different types of help.  Sometimes it was comfort.  What helps are the words that are said to someone that will alleviate the need.

The problem of the false teachings about Christ was in the mind.  They weren’t thinking correctly.  Paul wanted their minds to be strengthened or built up in a way that would have them thinking the right way.  He desired that their minds might find it easy to say “no” to the false doctrine of the gnostics and ascetics.   He wanted their minds to be so full of the truth that they would easily see the counterfeits.  Then they could stand for the Lord without falling.

We Can Know (Colossians 1:26-27)

Until the time that Christ returns, men will flatter themselves with the vain notion that they have been granted special understanding and fuller knowledge of divine truth apart from and independently of God’s Word.  This is a pernicious error, and yet a persistent one.  Those who think this way become vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind, for they consider themselves enlightened beyond what is allowed to the ordinary man.

This kind of vain thinking surrounds us, and every “religion” that strays from God’s perfect revelation of Himself in the Bible promotes it.  The LDS church comes to mind.  They certainly are not the only religion to claim special light.  But their claim is typical of those who reject the plain teaching of the Word.  They have experienced a special burning in the bosom that frees them from the constraints of God’s pure Word.  They have received more “light” than those who hold to Sola Scriptura.

No Bible believer should ever be disturbed by this kind of vain deceit.  They would have you believe that your faith is somehow inferior to theirs, that you have not acquired their level of knowledge.  In their sight, you are unenlightened, ignorant, and disadvantaged.  But this is not what God thinks of you.  Rather, those who hold the pure faith of the Gospel, as revealed in Scripture alone have the advantage.  For in and through the Word of God, you may be filled with all the fulness of God.

Paul the Apostle was made a minister (the word here is diakonos) for this purpose.  The vain philosophers of this world might think that they have obtained full knowledge independently of God.  But knowledge is impossible apart from God, and in Christ are hid all the treasures of knowledge (Colossians 2:3).  The dispensation of God was given to Paul for us — Paul emphasizes the word “you” here, and the word “for” is the Greek word eis, which also means “into,” “to,” or “in.”  In other words, the stewardship of the Word was given to Paul so that the Word, the mystery (v. 26) could come through him to us.  In verse 26, Paul is more specific about what has been entrusted to him —

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

God is able to keep these mysteries hidden.  He kept them hidden for generations, even from those prophets that he used to record those mysteries (Matthew 13:17; Luke 10:24; I Peter 1:10-12).  Men might flatter themselves that they have discovered these things on their own.  But they are blind leaders of the blind.  The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But God, according to His grace, has made known the riches of the glory of this mystery.  God has even stooped so far as to make them known among the Gentiles.  God has done this through the Apostle Paul, by entrusting him with the stewardship of this mystery.  God has revealed these things, not to the “wise” or to the “prudent,” but to babes in Christ.  God has revealed these mysteries in His Word, in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).  This is the glory of the mystery — Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Brethren, we must not let any man beguile us of our reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Rather, we must stand firm on the Word of God.  We can know.  And those who are resting in Christ alone for their redemption, those who have received Jesus Christ alone as He is presented in the Gospel, having repented of their sins and come to Christ by faith, to them God has made known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery.

The Essential for Ministry (Colossians 1:24-25)

Paul refutes the Colossians false teachers’ attack on the identity of Christ (1:15-19) and the ability of Him to save (1:20-23).  He could save because of Who He was, so the two build upon one another.  And Jesus Christ was Whom Paul served, to Whom he had given his allegiance.  He was a servant of Christ, the term “minister” at the end of v. 23.  Having used that word, Paul segues to a section about ministry as he so often does in his epistles.  He spends vv. 24-29 on what his ministry was all about.

Paul didn’t choose what he was doing—he was made a minister (vv. 23, 25).  So Paul wasn’t doing what He felt like, but exactly what God wanted.  When Paul got started, the first thing he asked was, “Lord, what will you have me to do?”  We’re ministers of God because we are called by God.  “Called” is salvation terminology and every believer is called to a new vocation (Eph 4:1), which is a minister of God.  And God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18).

In v. 25, Paul calls his ministry a dispensation of God.  The word “dispensation” comes from a Greek word which speaks of a stewardship, the management of someone else’s possession.  Paul had been given a stewardship, something to manage; it was God’s and he didn’t want to blow it.  We have been handed something to take care of and we must be faithful to take care of this task.  It isn’t ours; it’s God’s.

Because this is such a great thing to be, that is, a servant of the Lord, we rejoice in it.  It’s not a bummer, even if it means suffering.  We’ve got a definite purpose, it’s Divine, and so it counts for eternity.  We’ve got a reason to go through afflictions, so we can go at it with the right attitude.  Paul was one joyful man, and that should set the example for how we go about stewarding the service that God has given us.  And the ministry will include suffering.  Paul characterized his job as one that would carry with it affliction.  Paul assumed that this came with the territory and kept the positive, upbeat outlook about it all.

Paul loved Jesus and so he loved the body of Christ.  His service was through, in, around, and for the church.  He paid the price to build up the body of Christ through evangelism and edification.  While he was out preaching, he faced opposition.  People tried to kill him and beat him in the process.  To Paul, to be a servant of the Lord was indistinguishable from being a servant to the church.  Ministry is about the church.   Ministry isn’t a camp, an association, a board, but the church.

The purpose of Paul in all of his ministry was “to fulfill the Word of God” (1:25b). I’m calling this the essential of the ministry.  We have joy in fulfilling the Word of God.  We have joy in managing God’s work according to the Word of God.  We go through affliction in order to accomplish the Word of God.   Ministers are not responsible to win the whole world to Christ.  They are not required to have a big church.  What they do need to do is fulfill the Word of God.   The Word of God tells us how ministry should be accomplished.  God’s faithful servants will not diminish the Word of God in order to cobble together alliances and associations.  Ministry was obeying the Word of God in, through, and for the church, enduring suffering with joy.  It’s God’s work and we keep it going by means of the guidelines He has given us in His Word.  Of course, to do that, we need to study to know it.  We won’t fulfill it if we don’t know what it says.

If someone asks you what you do, you could answer, “I fulfill the Word of God.  That’s my job description.”

The Just Shall Live by Faith (Colossians 1:14-23)

Backtracking a little, we find a vital truth in this passage.  Our holiness and our identity are not vested in ourselves.  They are vested in our Lord Jesus Christ.  Repeatedly throughout the book of Colossians, particularly in the first three chapters, Paul reminds the Colossians believers that their life and their identity is hid with Christ (3:3).  We have redemption in Christ (1:14).  Christ has reconciled us in Himself — in the body of His flesh (1:22).  Christ in us is our hope of glory(1:27).  And when we stand before God, we will be presented in Christ (1:28).  It is Christ’s working in me that matters (1:29).  In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (2:3), and Paul said this “lest any man should beguile you with enticing words”  (2:4).

As we have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, we are to walk in him (2:6).  We are rooted and built up in him (2:7), and we are complete in him (2:10).  In him we are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands (2:11).  We are buried with him in baptism, we are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God (2:12), and we are quickened together with him (2:13).  Our life and our identity is all wrapped up in Christ.  He is our life.  He is our identity (3:3-4).

In verses 14-19 of chapter 1, Paul points to Christ and exposes all the blessings that come to us through Him.  He has a purpose for doing this.  This same Jesus, Who created all things and created them for Himself; Who is before all things and sustaining all things; Who is the head of the body, the church; Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; in Whom all fulness dwells; this same Jesus reconciled us to God.  He made peace through the blood of His cross.

This was important for the Colossians, because false teachers told them that reconciliation could be partially obtained through the mediation of angels.  Christ brought absolute reconciliation between God and man, for Christ was fully man and as such became sin for us, and Christ was fully God.  And therefore when Christ Who became sin made peace, God and man were perfectly joined together in the person of Jesus Christ.  Wuest points out in his Word Studies that “The Greek word “to make peace” (eirō ) means “to bind together.”(1)  You that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death… We can’t get any more personal than this.  It is in Christ, in His very person, in His very body, in the body of his flesh, that we are reconciled.

It should be noted on a practical level that this freed the Colossians from the bondage of the law to walk in the glorious liberty of the Sons of God.  For He has forgiven all trespasses (2:13), blotting out at the same time the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way as well, nailing it to his cross (2:14).  And for this reason, we are not to let any man judge us in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.  All of the Essene principles incorporated by the false teachers, all of the ascetic values of Gnostics are demolished under the hammer of the Word.

And all of these things held true to those who continue in the faith grounded and settled, who are not moved away by false teachers from the hope of the gospel (1:23).  You see, the just shall live by faith.  Not by philosophy and vain deceit.  Not after the tradition of men.  Not after the rudiments of the world.  The just shall live by faith. Faith in the finished work of Christ.  Faith in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Those who are redeemed were in the past alienated and enemies in their mind, not because the world is corrupt, but because of the corruption that is in the world through lust.  We were not alienated and enemies externally, nor does our corruption come from the outside in, through contact with an unclean world.  We were alienated and enemies internally, that is, in our mind, and because of wicked works.  But Christ has reconciled us to God, has put away the filth of the flesh, and has made us perfect in Christ.

This is a glorious truth for the believer.  It really is faith that we must live by.  We rest on the work of Christ, we walk in Him and live in Him and move in Him.  He is our life, and our life is hid with Christ in God.  There we find liberty and freedom and joy and life.

(1) Wuest, K. S. 1997, c1984. Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader . Eerdmans: Grand Rapids