Colossians 1

Study Guide 146: Colossians 1-2 A NEW HUMANITY Overview This brief but significant letter reflects a challenge raised by false philosophical systems that attempted to infiltrate and distort Christianity in its early centuries. This system, known as Gnosticism, is known in its developed form from second-century writings. Its basic tenets are confronted here by the Apostle Paul. The Gnostics claimed a special, hidden knowledge not available to ordinary Christians. But their beliefs in fact contradicted basic Bible truths! In responding to the challenge Paul powerfully affirmed basic tenets of the biblical faith. He made it clear just what God is like, who Jesus is, how we come to know God, and how we can experience a vital spiritual life through relationship with the Lord. The book can be outlined quite simply. Paul wrote this letter while in Rome in prison, and sent it in a.d. 62 or 63.

Outline I. IntroductionCol_1:1-2 II. Christ, God in the FleshCol_1:3-29 III. Christ, the Way to GodCol_2:1-23 IV. Christ, Key to Spirituality3:1-4:1 V. Personal NotesCol_4:2-18 Commentary Two of the most powerful words in advertising, I’ ve been told, are new and free. When the Gospel message echoed across the first-century world, both these elements were emphasized. “ It is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Gospel is free! And, God created one “ new man out of the two [Jew and Gentile], thus making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). The Gospel brings that which is refreshingly new! Suddenly all the old categories men used to define themselves, and the old ways they attempted to understand the world and their relationship to the divine, were shattered. The new had come. Commenting on Colossians 3:11, Ralph Martin (in Colossians: The Church’ s Lord and the Christian’ s Liberty [Zondervan]) observes: In the society of Christians a new type of humanity is being formed. Christ’ s life flows out to His people and is reproduced in their midst. One proof of this new life was seen in the canceling of restrictions and inhibitions which made the ancient world so socially stratified and class-conscious. Paul had shown how in the church barriers of race, social distinction, and sex were being broken down as Christians acted on their baptismal profession of initiation into the body. But many in the ancient world struggled against the idea of “ new.” They were attracted to the church but tried to adjust Christ to fit their old categories. They tried to define Christianity in terms of their human philosophies rather than letting Christ define them as a new humanity. We have the same problem. We have seen that the church is a living organism. Yet today we still persist in diagramming its structure as a business rather than a body. The leadership is called to equip members of the body. Yet all too many Christians view the pastoral staff as men hired to do the teaching and evangelism that is the body’ s ministry. We see in the New Testament that a dynamic holiness is to mark the character of believers, and the believing community. And yet we persist in trying to define our righteousness by lists of things we do and things we don’ t. Constantly the temptation is to push and squeeze the totally new into the old and familiar ways. In Christ, the new has come, and in the church — God’ s new humanity — we find a life that calls us to a fulfillment that can be found only in Christ’ s completely different way! Understanding this, it is not too surprising to discover that in the once-important center of Colossae, the church was being drained of power by a group of men who claimed advanced knowledge (gnosis) but were attempting to fit Christianity into an old and empty philosophic system: the Gnostic way. Not until the middle of the second century did the church fathers combat a developed form of Gnosticism. Yet most scholars see the terms Paul uses in Colossians and the concerns he deals with as indicating the presence of this heresy in Colossae. These Gnostics were concerned about issues explored by people of all ages: What is God like and what is His relationship to the world? How does a human being gain access to God’ s true presence? How does the human being find fullness of spiritual life? Gnosticism not only posed these questions, but claimed to answer them. When a local congregation formed at Colossae, early Gnostics hurried in to redefine Christ and the Gospel in their own terms. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Here are a number of statements that Christians today might or might not make. Ask your group members to determine which, if any, they agree with. Then tell them that some of these statements reflect an ancient heresy called Gnosticism. At the end of class time, you will return to these statements and reevaluate them in light of what you find in Colossians 1:1-29 and Colossians 2:1-23. I feel closest to God alone. Wearing lipstick is not spiritual. I know she’ s spiritual; she can quote over 2,000 Bible verses. I’ m suspicious of things I enjoy. God doesn’ t want me to get entangled in the world. The really spiritual people in our church are the ones who teach Sunday School and come to every meeting. I just won’ t associate with people who curse and smoke. I always look to the Ten Commandments to tell me how to live. What is God like? The Gnostics were dualists. They saw all things in terms of two contrasting principles. On the one side was good, which was associated with the spiritual and the immaterial. On the other side was evil, which was associated with the material universe. God Himself was perfectly good, spiritual, and totally disassociated from the material. He would not pollute Himself by any such contact! The material universe was an accident or, at worst, the error of the last of a long series of supernatural beings — intermediaries — ranked between God and matter. To God, the pure Spirit, the world was alien and despicable. To the Gnostics how jolting was the idea of an Incarnation! God become man? God take on human flesh? Never! Christ must be a lower intermediary or an “ appearance” — a shadow of God cast on a screen. But God in human flesh? Unthinkable! It was also unthinkable that God might wish to enter believers’ lives. Instead the Gnostics saw the human being as trapped; a spark of the divine held captive in a fleshly prison. Salvation meant release from bondage to all that was material, including our own bodies! Resurrection? God’ s life, lived out in a corporate body shaped of loving men and women, in whom Christ now walks this world? Ugly! Horrible! How does a human being gain access to God? The Gnostic saw God as remote and inaccessible. God might be approached through the long chain of intermediaries that stretched between Him and matter. Jesus Christ might even be one of these intermediaries. But since Jesus had contact with this world, Christ’ s rank within the chain must be low. Here is a partial explanation of Paul’ s reference to the worship of angels (Colossians 2:18): people were striving to gain the attention and support of beings who form a chain leading to God. These powerful spirits should be placated, the Gnostics taught, for human destiny lay in their hands, not in God’ s. How does a human being find fullness of life? The Gnostics said, by practicing the way of life they propounded. That way of life stressed asceticism and rigid regulations, abstinence and self-punishment. For liberation from the evil, fleshly body must be good. The angelic intermediaries were honored by ritual and self-discipline. In this way, the fullness might be found. So some at Colossae were imposing this approach to spirituality on the church there. And Paul wrote this letter to refute the false teaching that warped both faith and Christian experience. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Give a lecture covering the main tenets of the Gnostic way. Use the left side of the comparison chart to sum up their teachings. If you wish, duplicate the chart and distribute it as a study guide.

God’ s Way: Colossians 1-2 The Gospel of Christ simply did not fit the Gnostic’ s categories, which were drawn from well-known philosophies of that time. Only a drastic reordering of these old categories enables the believer to grasp the fantastic new hope held out to man. The body of Christ — the new and living organism of which you and I are a part — is at the heart of that newness. Christ living in His body forms the new humanity, and transforms us as well as all our old ideas about life. So the Book of Colossians not only challenged the people to whom it was addressed; it challenges us now. Am I able to set aside my old ways of thinking about spirituality and to enter joyfully into the new? Commendation (Colossians 1:1-8). As always, Paul began with a commendation. The Colossians’ lives were marked by love for all the saints. God’ s Gospel had taken root among them, and was growing and producing fruit. Concern (Colossians 1:9-14). At the same time, Paul had a deep concern for this church, a concern he expressed in his prayer. Paul was eager that God would fill the Colossians “ with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9), that through knowing God’ s will their lives might be worthy of Him. Paul was eager that growth, good works, and empowerment might be theirs. He was eager that they experience fully what it meant to live now in the kingdom of God’ s Son. Who Jesus is (Colossians 1:15-23). The kingdom is Christ’ s. Clearly then, we must grasp who Jesus is. In this passage, which was possibly adapted from early liturgy, Paul contradicts every Gnostic category! Jesus is the express “ image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). He is not some distant, inferior reflection. Jesus is the direct Creator of all things in the material and spiritual universe — even of the angelic hosts. By Him and for Him everything was made (Colossians 1:16-17). Clearly God and the material universe are not at odds! Jesus is Head of the body, and He is supreme in everything (Colossians 1:18). The fullness of God resides in Him alone (Colossians 1:19). In a real Incarnation — in Christ’ s physical body through death — God has reconciled us, bringing us into His very presence. In Christ we are “ holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:20-22). In fact spiritual effects are accomplished in the physical body. Again, our life in this world and our life with God are not at odds, but harmonize. Paul concluded that the Colossians should continue in their faith, “ established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel” (Colossians 1:23). In this way they would experience the reality of being new men and women in Christ. Christ is the sole focus, the center, and to understand newness, we must keep our lives centered in Him. Mystery (Colossians 1:24-29). Paul now showed that his ministry was to help the saints grasp this great mystery. No knowledge is hidden, as the Gnostics claim. All has been revealed, even the great secret that “ Christ is in you, bringing with Him the hope of all the glorious things to come” (Colossians 1:27, PH). In Christ (Colossians 2:1-15). Here Paul appealed to the Colossians to realize that Christianity calls us to live our present life “ in Christ.” This involves not only reliance on the Head, but also participation in the body (Colossians 2:6-7). In being joined to Christ by the Spirit’ s baptizing work (Colossians 2:12, see also 1 Corinthians 12:13), we were so completely united to Him that we experienced not only His death but also His resurrection. Having thus been made alive with Christ (Colossians 2:13), we are freed to live a resurrection kind of life now. Christ’ s death canceled and made irrelevant all the old things that once cluttered life and opposed us (Colossians 2:15). Life is now the issue; our sole goal is to live Jesus’ life in this world. God’ s new humanity (Colossians 2:16-23). How empty the rigorous life the Gnostics proposed! Keep regulations. Worship higher powers. Eat this. Don’ t eat that. Strictly observe rituals and taboos. In Paul’ s judgment, “ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Colossians 2:22-23). Paul’ s point is that while such self-discipline may limit expression of certain kinds of sins, the sin nature will still find occasion to express itself — as in spiritual pride. The person groping for a touch of God loses connection with Christ when he or she focuses on the shadows of human effort. That taste of true spirituality, for which we all yearn, is found in relationship with Jesus Christ as Head of a living body. It is from the Head that “ the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow” (Colossians 2:19). And so both Colossians and Ephesians emphasize that the church as Christ’ s living body is the key to understanding — and becoming — God’ s new humanity. What is God like, and what is His relationship to the world? God is Jesus, Creator and Sustainer of all things visible and invisible. And God walks the world today in that body of which Christ is living Head. How does a human being gain access to God’ s true presence? By the reconciliation won through Christ’ s blood and death and by intimate relationship with others who have life through Jesus. How does a human being find fullness of life? That question will be answered as we finish our study of Colossians by examining Colossians 3:1-25.

Gnostic Way Versus God’ s Way Gnostic WayGod’ s Way in Colossians Dualistic “ Good”“ Evil” SpiritualMaterial DivineNon-divine To knowTo do There is no contact between these two systems. Christ — a lower intermediary or an appearance. Man — a divine spark imprisoned in an evil, material body. Salvation — freedom from the evil, material prison. Way of salvation — found through special knowledge, asceticism, and honoring angelic intermediaries. Individual morality — ascetic self-denial of needs, drives, desires, and appetites. True religion — subjective, speculative. Escape to a realm in which the material plays no part. Angels — powers between God and men who must be honored and used as access to the fullness. The Threat Gnosticism in the early church was no harmless alternative to faith. It challenged the very core of living faith by attempting to set Jesus aside, and make Him something less than the center of our lives. Gnosticism also attempted to set the body of Christ aside, by raising many objections to oneness. Love and caring became less important than fulfilling rituals. Unity was displaced in favor of hierarchy, not only in the spirit world but also in the church. Those with “ special hidden knowledge” — the Gnostics — were at the top. Next were those whose rigid adherence to rituals and other religious duties made them “ more spiritual” than the herd. The attitude that calls us to “ consider others better than ourselves” (Phi 2:3) gave way to rank and pride. Living with other believers in harmony and peace was set aside as unimportant. Gnosticism also rejected the concept that the Christian’ s calling is to live in this world. The kingdom was viewed as far-off, and spiritual. Good works were ridiculed. After all, the world is the corrupt dwelling place of sin. Only by withdrawing could one find a touch of the divine. The kind of commitment Jesus knew — to walk and talk and love a band of sweaty men as the perspiration poured down His own back — was unknown to the Gnostics. The idea that Jesus, through His body on earth, might desire to touch the filthy among sin-warped humanity was foreign to their thought. (Sometimes it is foreign to us as well!) Yet a study of the Gnostics against whom Paul wrote is helpful to us. It raises questions that each of us need to face. Where do we center our faith? In Jesus, or in the practice of religion? Where do we place our priorities? On knowing and loving each other as members of one body? Or have other things intruded and led us to build our own hierarchies and establish our own little rules: rules that enable us to keep our brothers at arm’ s length and to feel better than they? And, where do we see our calling? Are we simply to worship, in some cloister set apart from the world? Or are we to be God’ s kingdom now, and reach out to touch the poor and the lost? “ He has rescued us,” Paul wrote to the Colossians (Colossians 1:13). Rescued, we are the new humanity. Old categories no longer fit, and we cannot define ourselves by them. To discover who we are, we must submit all thoughts to Christ.

Teaching Guide Prepare Read the text of Colossians 1:1-29 and Colossians 2:1-23 carefully, against the background of Gnostic beliefs as discussed in this study guide.

Explore

1. Give your group members a series of statements with which to agree or disagree. Some of these reflect contemporary expressions of Gnostic attitudes. See “ link-to-life” above.
2. Distribute the chart above which lists Gnostic beliefs. Explain each, supplementing with information in the commentary. It is important that your group members understand the Gnostic system as background for their study of the text.

Expand Divide into teams of five to study Colossians 1:1-29 and Colossians 2:1-23 directly. Each team should find verses/concepts in Colossians that confront Gnostic ideas expressed in the chart. When teams have studied the text, come together and discuss what they have found. The commentary on specific passages will help you make sure your group members have noted all important points.

Apply Review the statements used in the opening study activity. How would the group now evaluate each? Discuss: “ What is the key to Christian spirituality and experience?”