Colossians 2

CHAPTER 2THEME: Christ, the answer to philosophy; Christ, the answer to ritualIn the first fifteen verses of this chapter we will see that Christ is the answer to philosophy. The remainder of the chapter will show that He is the answer to ritual. The answer to philosophy is for the head; the answer to ritual is for the heart. Christianity has always been in the danger of sailing between Scylla and Charybdis. On one extreme Christianity is in danger of evaporating into a philosophythen it becomes nothing but steam. The opposite danger is that it will freeze into a form and become nothing more than a ritual. There is a real peril on either side. But the Lord Jesus called Himself the Water of Life. He is neither steam nor iceneither can sustain life. That is why we need to guard against following the line of philosophy or following the line of ritual. Christianity is Christ! There were five errors that endangered the Colossian church which Paul will deal with in this chapter. They were:

1. Enticing wordsverses Col_2:4-7
2. Philosophyverses Col_2:8-13
3. Legalityverses Col_2:14-17
4. Mysticismverses Col_2:18-19
5. Asceticismverses Col_2:20-23 These are still dangers today. I think that most of us could sit down with this chapter and go through it to make an inventory of our spiritual lives. It would show us the direction in which we are going. A great many even so-called Bible believers have slipped into one or more of these errors.

Colossians 2:1

CHRIST, THE ANSWER TO PHILOSOPHY (For the Head)Laodicea was near to Colosse. I have been to Laodicea but not to Colosse. Yet I stood on the high point of Laodicea and looked across the Lycos valley. There alongside the mountains at the gates of Phrygia, which lead into the Orient, were the ruins of Colosse. It was a great city, but it was not nearly as great as Laodicea. In Laodicea was one of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation; it was the church that is described as being lukewarm. “Conflict” is our word agony. MacPhail calls this a prayer of agony. Paul saw that there was a grave danger in Colosse and in Laodicea, and it caused great conflict in the heart of the apostle. They were in danger of going off in one of two directions. There is still such danger, and we need a lot of agonizing prayer for the church today. This explains why we find the Laodiceans’ lukewarm condition in the Book of Revelation: they had lost sight of the person of Christ. Christ is the answer to man’s head; He is also the answer to man’s heart. “For as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Colosse is located about 100 miles inland from ancient Ephesus. When Paul came through that area (which he did twice), he did not come down to Colosse and Laodicea. Even when he attempted to go down into Asia on his second missionary journey, the Spirit of God forbade him; so he turned and took the northern route. Then when he came on his third missioanry journey, walking over the land, he again took the northern route, perhaps because he was already familiar with it. It is clear that he had not been to these cities because he writes, “and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” This might be interpreted to mean that many new believers had come into the church since he had been there and that they had not seen his face. That meaning is highly unlikely; I think it means that Paul had never been there.

Colossians 2:2

“That their hearts might be comforted.” Heart indicates the entire inner man. That means the whole propulsive nature of man. He is praying that their hearts, their humanity, their whole persons might be comforted. “Being knit together in love” means compacted in love. Love will draw them together. After all, a church is not united by gifts or even by what we term today as spirituality. The bond that unites believers is love. It is the cement that holds us togetherit is the Elmer’s glue of the church. “Unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding.” Full assurance is an interesting expression; it literally means “to be under full sail.” It means that believers should be moving along spirituallythey should be moving along for God. “To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.” I grant that is a rather awkward expression, and a better translation would be: “the mystery of God, even of the Father, and of Christ.” Better and easier yet might be, “the mystery of God, even Christ.” I think that is the correct meaning of it. What is “the mystery of God, even Christ”? The church is the mystery, for it had not been revealed in the Old Testament. God was going to save Gentilesthat had been made clear in the Old Testament, and He did save them. But on the Day of Pentecost God started a new thing. He began to call out a group of people into the body of believers, baptized by the Spirit of God into this body. This is what Paul is explaining in 1Co_12:12: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” You see, Christ had a physical body while He was here on this earth, and He has a spiritual body down here today.

That body is the body of believers that have trusted Him, and the body is called Christ." That is why the Lord said to Saul of Tarsus. “Why are you persecuting me?” (see Act_9:4). Saul was persecuting Him personally. The church is Christit belongs to Him. “The mystery of God, even Christ.” In 1Co_12:13, Paul goes on to say of the church: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. We have all been baptized into Christ. We have all been made to drink into one Spirit. That is what brings the unity into the church. We are never commanded to make a unity of the church. It is impossible to join some organization and to expect that organization to bring about church unity. The Holy Spirit has already made that unity. He puts all believers into one body, and we are told to keep the unity of the Spirit. Our problem today is that we are not keeping the unity of the Spirit.

Colossians 2:3

All that we need is in Christ. If only we could learn that! He is the reservoir of all knowledge. In the science building where I went to college there was a motto on the bulletin board. It hung there the whole time that I was in college, and it made a great impression on me. I’m afraid I remember it better than I do the sciences that I studied there. It said, “Next to knowing is knowing where to find out.” I love that. I willingly admit that I don’t know everythingI’m sure you have found that out by now. But I know where to find out, because I know Somebody who does know. Christ has been made unto us wisdom. We need to rest in that. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Himhow wonderful this is!

1. Now Paul will discuss the error of enticing words.

Colossians 2:4

He is going to deal with the matter of philosophy and enticing words. Philosophy and psychology have been substituted for the Bible, and this is the thing that is enticing to so many young preachers in our seminaries today. I am amazed to find that some of these men with a Ph.D. degree from a seminary know so little about the Bible! They know all about Bultmann and Kant and Plato, but they don’t seem to know very much about the Word of God. That is the great problem of our day. There was that same danger in Colosse and also in Laodicea. I think that is what actually killed the church in Colosse, and it made the church in Laocidea the weakest of the seven churches in Asia Minor. It was in the worst spiritual condition, and yet the people thought that they were well off. These cities were wealthy. They boasted of their wealth and affluence and also of their knowledge, but they were blind to their true spiritual condition. Paul says, “Don’t let any man beguile you with enticing words.” Beguile means “to victimize.” Enticing words are a lot of oratory or sweet-talk. I heard of a theologian who uses big words and tries to be very deep in his thinking. He was talking to a group of men for about half an hour. Another man walked up to the group and asked one of the men on the outside of the circle, “What’s he talking about?” The fellow answered, “He hasn’t said yet.” That is the problemhe never would say. All he did was talk with enticing words. I know a dear lady who attends a certain church because, as she says, “I just love to go there because the preacher uses such flowery language and he makes me feel so good all over.” That is the danger today. A great many people love this pretense toward intellectuality among preachers rather than the simple Word of God. I started preaching before I went to college, and then in college I was exposed to liberalism because I went to a liberal college. That was all I knew at that time; I was not grounded in the Word of God at all, even though I had had a wonderful pastor. I thought I wanted to be an intellectual preacherI thought that would be great. I thank God that that was knocked out of me in my second year of college. I became concerned with teaching the Word of God. Paul warns us to beware that they will beguile us with enticing words and will victimize us. Their words cause many people to follow a certain individual instead of the Word of God. Like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, he starts playing, and the unwary start following.

Colossians 2:5

At this time the word that was coming back to Paul was that this church was standing. “Beholding your order.” Order is a military term, and it means “to stand shoulder to shoulder.” That is what believers ought to be doingstanding shoulder to shoulder. Instead, many today are trying to undermine or take advantage of another believer. Oh that we could stand shoulder to shoulder with one another! Stedfastness means “to have a solid front, to be immovable.” The literal translation would be “stereotype,” or the opposite of movable type. Paul writes this same thought to the Corinthians: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1Co_15:58). The Colossian church had a reputation for stedfastness, and Paul wanted them to continue like that and not be led away by the oratory of some.

Colossians 2:6

What does it mean to be saved, to be a Christian? Well, I have a letter from a man who tells me that I am not saved because I have frankly admitted that I am not perfect, that I do not keep all the Ten Commandments. He says that I am not saved until I do. My friend, salvation is to receive a person, and that person is Jesus Christ"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord.” “So walk ye in him.” Now that you have received Him, walk in Him, walk in the Spirit. Walking is not a balloon ascension. A great many people think the Christian life is some great, overwhelming experience and you take off like a rocket going out into space. That’s not where you live the Christian life. Rather, it is in your home, in your office, in the schoolroom, on the street. The way you get around in this life is to walk. You are to walk in Christ. God grant that you and I might be joined to Him in our daily walk.

Colossians 2:7

“Rooted” means rooted like a tree, and a tree is a living thing. And we are to be “built up” as a house. A house is not a living thing, but it requires a tremendous foundation. Paul tells us in Ephesians that the foundation is Jesus Christ. Having received Christ, we are to walk in Him. Doing what? Being rooted, drawing our life from Him as a tree, and built up in Him, your faith resting upon Him. That is why he adds, “and stablished in the faith.” A better translation would be “by your faith.” Faith is the means by which you and I lay hold of Christ. 2. Now Paul moves on to discuss the danger of philosophy.

Colossians 2:8

“Beware"Look out! Stop, look, and listen! “Lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.” If you were to follow the history of philosophy beginning with Plato, including many of the church fathers, and coming down to more recent times (including Kant, Locke, and Bultmann, who seems to be the craze with some theologians right now), you would find that none of them have a high view of the inspiration of the Word of God. They are looking for answers to the problems of life, but they will not be found in philosophy. A true philosopher is a seeker after truth, but truth is not found in human wisdom. Christ is the answer, the answer to philosophy. Paul wrote, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom …” (1Co_1:30, italics mine). But false philosophy is like a blind man looking in a dark room for a black cat that isn’t therethere is no hope for its search for truth. Paul warns the Colossians to beware of this. “After the tradition of men.” You may remember that the Lord Jesus condemned the religious rulers in His day because they taught the tradition of men rather than the Word of God. Very frankly, this is one of the reasons I have turned to the teaching of the total Word of God. It is so easy to lift out some peculiar interpretation of some particular passage and then ride that like a hobby horse. I believe in prophecy, but there is more in the Word of God than just prophecy. Some preachers dwell on the Christian life. That certainly is in the Bible, but there is more than just that. This is why I think it is so important for us to study the total Word of God. “After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” The Greek word for “rudiments” is stoicheion, which means “that which is basic,” the ABC’s. Some people try to build their Christian living on some worldly system that seems so simple. Our base is not philosophy or a worldly system; our base is Christ. Now Paul will speak of Christ:

Colossians 2:9

In Him dwelleth all the pleromathis is a clear-cut statement of the deity of Christ. It could not be stated any stronger than it is here. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godheadnot just 99.44 percent but 100 percent.

Colossians 2:10

You “are complete in him.” “Complete” is a nautical term, and it could be translated in this very vivid way: You are ready for the voyage of life in Him. Isn’t that a wonderful way of saying it? You are ready for the voyage of life in Christ, and whatever you need for the voyage of life you will find in Him. This is where we say that Christ is the answer. What is your question? What is it you need today? Are you carried away by human philosophy? Then turn to Christ. Are you carried away by enticing words? Are you carried away by the systems and traditions of men? Turn to Christ.

Colossians 2:11

Paul is telling them to get rid of that which is outward. The real circumcision is the New Birth. He explained this to the Galatians: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Gal_6:15). You and I become new creatures when we come to Christ and trust Him as our Savior. We rest in Him; we are identified with Him.

Colossians 2:12

Lord Lyndhurst was the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain and possessed a sharp legal mind. He made this statement: “I know pretty well what evidence is; and I tell you, such evidence as that for the Resurrection has never broken down yet.” The death and resurrection of Christ is an historical fact. When Christ died you and I died with Him; He took our place. And when He was raised, we were raised in Him, and we are now joined to a living Christ. It is so important for us to see that we are joined to a living Savior. It is so important to keep in mind that no outward ceremony brings us to Christ. The issue is whether or not we are born again, whether we really know Christ as Savior. If we do know Him, we are identified with Him. Identification with Christ is “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,” which is a spiritual circumcision. When you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit baptizes you into the body of Christ. It is by this baptism that we are identified with Christ, and we are also “risen with him"joined to the living Christ. “Through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead"salvation is accomplished by the resurrection power of God. It’s not some philosophy; it’s not some gimmick; it’s not some little system; it’s not the taking of some course that will enable you to live for God.

Colossians 2:13

Salvation is not the improvement of the old nature; it is the impartation of a new nature. Remember that Paul had to deal with two systems of Greek philosophy which were very popular in his day. They were diametrically opposed to each other, but they both came out at the same end of the horn. One philosophy was Stoicism, and the other was Epicureanism. The Stoic taught that man was to live nobly and that death could not matter. The idea was to hold the appetites in check and to become indifferent to changing conditions. In effect they said, “Be not uplifted by good fortune nor cast down by adversity.” They believed that man is more then circumstances and that the soul is greater than the universe. It was a brave philosophy, you see. But the problem was how to live it. It was like the people who say that they are living by the Sermon on the Mount when actually they are many miles from it. The Epicurean taught that all is uncertain. “We know not whence we came; we know not whither we go. We only know that after a brief life we disappear from this scene, and it is vain to deny ourselves any present joy in view of the possible future ill. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The interesting thing to observe is that both these systems attempted to deal with the fleshthat is, the old nature that you and I havenot the meat on our bones. The old nature works through our old habits, old desires, old testings and temptations. How are we going to bring that under control? There are all kinds of gimmicks and systems that are set before us today to enable us to live the Christian life. I know people who have been to Bible conferences where the Christian life is taught, and at home they have a drawer filled with notebooks. But they are not doing so well in living the Christian life. Why not? Because we need to recognize this one important thing that Paul is saying here: we are joined to the living Christ. Now, if you are joined to Him, my friend, you are going to live as if you are. How close are you to Him? Do you walk with Him? Do you turn to Him in all the emergencies of this life? Is He the One who is the very center of your life? 3. As Paul turns now to the error of legality, we will again find that the answer is to come to the Word of God and through it to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A glory gilds the sacred page, Majestic like the sun. It sheds a light on every age; It gives but borrows none.

Colossians 2:14

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.” This old flesh of ours has been condemned. When Christ died, He died for you and me; He paid the penalty for our sin. When the Lord Jesus died, Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross: “This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (see Joh_19:19). He was being publicly executed on the grounds that He had led in a rebellion. This was, of course, not true, but that was the charge against Him. When the people standing there read that sign they understood that He had been disloyal to Caesar in that He had made Himself to be a king. To them that was the reason He was dying on a cross. But when God looked upon that cross, He saw an altar on which the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was offered. God saw another inscription there high above the inscription that man had written. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” What did God write on that cross? He wrote the ordinancesHe wrote the Ten Commandments. He wrote a law which I cannot keep, ordinances which I am guilty of breaking. When Christ died there, He did not die because He broke them; He was sinless. But it was because I broke them, because I am a sinner, and because you are. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom_3:23). Therefore, my friend, if God has saved you and raised you from the dead and joined you to a living Christ, why should you go back to a law that you couldn’t keep in the first place? You can’t even keep the law today in your own power and in your own strength. You see, the law was given to discipline the old nature. But now the believer is given a new nature, and the law has been removed as a way of life. Let me give you an illustration. A man once came to me and said, “I’ll give you $100 if you will show me where the Sabbath day has been changed.” I answered, “I don’t think it has been changed. Saturday is Saturday, it is the seventh day of the week, and it is the Sabbath day. I realize our calendar has been adjusted and can be off a few days, but we won’t even consider that point. The seventh day is still Saturday and is still the Sabbath day.” He got a gleam in his eye and said, “Then why don’t you keep the Sababth day if it hasn’t been changed?” I answered, “The day hasn’t changed, but I have been changed. I’ve been given a new creation. We celebrate the first day because that is the day He rose from the grave.” That is what it means when he says that the ordinances which were against us have been nailed to His cross.

Colossians 2:15

The spiritual victory that Christ won for the believer is of inestimable value.

Colossians 2:16

CHRIST, THE ANSWER TO RITUAL (For the Heart)A believer is not to observe ordinances that are only ritual and liturgical; they have no present value. God did give certain rituals for the people in the Old Testament. So what has changed? Paul explains that they were merely “a shadow of things to come.” We get our word photograph from the Greek word used here for “shadow.” All the rituals of the Law in the Old Testament were like a negative or a picturethey were just pictures of Christ. Now that Christ has come, we have the reality. Why should we go back and look at a picture? I remember that during the days of World War II, I performed the wedding ceremony of two wonderful young people here in Pasadena. (We knew a number of young men who went to war, and some of them gave their lives.) This young fellow was sent oversees, and while he was gone, his young bride carried the biggest purse I have ever seen (and I have seen some big ones). In that purse she carried a huge photograph of him. Most people carry a little bitty picture with them, but not this girl; she carried a photograph that you could have hung on the wall. She was everlastingly drawing it out and showing it to people. She’d say, “Isn’t he handsome?” (Between you and me, he wasn’t what I would call a handsome boy. He was a wonderful boy, but he was not handsome.) Then the day came when the war was over, and he was coming home.

She went all the way to Seattle, Washington, to meet him. Now what do you think she did when she saw him coming down the gangplank? She hadn’t seen him in a couple of years. Do you think she took out that picture and looked at it? Do you think she looked at the picture and said, “Isn’t he wonderful?” I don’t think she even had that picture with her! She saw him and when she saw him, she didn’t need a pictureshe threw her arms around him. Many of us need to get off the merry-go-round of attending seminars, adapting gimmicks, jumping through everybody’s little hoop, and taking a shortcut to the abundant life. Have we really arrived? Some think they have. Let’s stop carrying around a faded photograph when we have the reality"Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 4. We come now to the warning against mysticism.

Colossians 2:18

This is another point at which people get off the track. Paul is here condemning the Gnostics who made a pretense of wisdom. And we have today in our church circles a great many folk who assume a pious superioritythey are what I call “spiritual snobs.” It has been my experience that these people generally are very ignorant of the Bible. “Intruding into those things which he hath not seen"that’s a pretense, putting on, acting like you have something that you don’t really have. “And not holding the Head” means that such people have a loose relationship with Christ. In other words, their head is not screwed on as it should be, by the way. 5. The final warning is against the error of asceticism.

Colossians 2:20

Here again, when Paul says “if ye be dead with Christ,” the translation would be better as, “since ye be dead with Christ.” In other words, since you have died when Christ died, do not return to pre-cross living. I think, very candidly, that this is a terrible problem. There are people who follow some passing fad in the church. A few years ago the fad was that women couldn’t use lipstick (and some of them sure looked pale). I remember when I was teaching in a school that wouldn’t permit the girls to wear lipstick, a girl came to me and asked, “Do you think it is all right to use lipstick?” I answered her, “There are a lot of these folk around here who would look better if they used a little lipstick. God wants us to look the best that we can. Even when we have little to work with, we ought to do the best we can with it.” What we are dealing with here is “the pride that apes humility” that Juvenal speaks of. It is the pride that says, “I deny myself, and I don’t do these things. Just look at me, I’m really sprouting wings, and I shine my halo every morning.” “Not in any honour” means it is not of any value. My friend, that is asceticism that is no good. God wants you to rejoice in Him; Christ wants you to be close to Him. And if you’re going to walk with Him, my friend, you are going to have a good time!