In our portion of Scripture today we have some of the most beautiful words ever written by the Apostle Paul. We know he has said that he preaches the gospel with plainness of speech, but in his letters he is speaking to those already in the faith, and his gift with words clearly shows in his letters as he delves into more complicated subjects and paints a glorious picture of who Christ is and who we are in Christ.
He begins by praising the believers at Colossae for standing firm in the faith even though the culture around them is full of pagan beliefs and perverted versions of the gospel. "For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is." (Colossians 2:5) Though Paul can't be with these believers, he feels a strong connection to them through their mutual faith, through his love for them, and through the prayers he prays for them. Even when we're not bodily present with our loved ones, we feel present with them in spirit, don't we? We think about them during the workday, we mention them in our daily prayers, and we feel love for them in our hearts all the time. We have a connection to them even when we aren't with them, and this is how Paul feels about the church members at Colossae.
Now that he's commended their firm stand in the faith, he encourages them to keep on standing firm. "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:6-8) Who saved and transformed the people of Colossae? Was it not Christ Jesus the Lord? Then they must not turn aside to anyone else or anything else. There's nothing they can "add to" their salvation. They must stay rooted and grounded in the gospel and in the holy word of God, and they must beware of any teacher who tries to add to or take away from what the word of God says.
"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." (Colossians 2:9-12) Paul corrects any false teaching that says Christ is inferior to God, for he declares that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. Though He came to earth as fully man, He was also at the same time fully God. Christ lacks nothing and is not inferior to God the Father in any way. He has all the power and authority of God because He is God. Because Christ is completely God, we who believe in Him are completely saved. There's nothing of human design that we can "add to" our salvation because God the Son has done everything necessary for our salvation. Circumcision of the flesh does nothing to make us more holy, for we have already been circumcised at heart. This is why we undergo baptism, not because baptism itself saves us, but because it is an outward display of what has taken place on the inside. Christ came to earth in the flesh so He could identify with mankind and take our shame and punishment on Himself. So when we undergo baptism, we are saying, "I identify with Christ. He died for me, so I'm buried in baptism to symbolize the death of the 'old me'. He rose from the dead to prove God had accepted His sacrifice on my behalf, so I rise from the water to symbolize the newness of life I have in Christ."
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." (Colossians 2:13-15) There was a long list of charges against us, and rightly so, for we were lawbreakers. The powers and authorities of spiritual darkness were gnashing their teeth in their eagerness to get their hands on us after the judgment in which they expected us to be condemned. But Christ disarmed them by canceling out our debts by paying for them with His own blood. Darkness has no claim on us now. These powers and authorities can never get their hands on our souls. Christ publicly displayed His victory over sin, death, and hell by achieving salvation for mankind at the cross. Now the long list of charges against us is stamped over in the redness of Christ's blood, "Paid in full!"
No comments:
Post a Comment