Colossians 2:8-15
Here is the Word .doc for the following lesson. Colossians Study 8
Mastery
Thus far in the epistle, Paul has made only feigned references to the insidious nature of the heresies facing his readers. Let’s consider a few of them.
“asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ” (Colossians 1:9, NIV)
“He is the image of the invisible God… all things were created by him and for him. ” (Colossians 1:15–16, NIV)
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ” (Colossians 1:19, NIV)
“God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. ” (Colossians 1:25–26, NIV)
“My purpose … that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ” (Colossians 2:2–3, NIV)
Each of these verses, singularly and as a whole build a big and beautiful picture of an all powerful and sufficient Saviour and Lord. And if the letter ended here, the Colossians would’ve been as blessed to receive it as we are to read it now. All that has been written thus far can stand on its own as the greatest and fullest descriptions of the supremacy of Christ in all of scripture. But there is more. And the more we read, the more we are given to understand that Paul’s choice of words are quite intentional with respect to the troubles that are being faced by his first century readers. The great truths that they have been instructed in are going to make an equally great difference as to how they react to their present difficulties. That which he has said so far, about the person and work of Christ, are going to have very practical repercussions as they face their trouble. Speaking of practical.
A real pet peeve of mine is when I hear of a Church that advertises the idea that they preach “practical or relevant messages”. I always want to ask “what the heck other kind is there?” Of course I know what they mean when they say that. They mean they are going to take a contemporary topic that strikes their fancy, back their way into an unrelated piece of scripture and proof text it til they’re all quite certain that the Bible was written for the expressed purpose of addressing their particular situation. In the end, most people want to be told to do something, and more importantly, told exactly what to do. This is why we hear bandied about the phrase that “The Bible is an instruction manual for living”. I believe this to be an incredibly vile characterization of God’s revelation of Himself. As if we hold in our hands the equivalent of the setup directions for our new gas grill. The Bible is the very breathe of God put into words for the purpose of revealing the resplendent person, nature and work of the Godhead. Having already condescended Himself to be understood in written form, we do a great disservice to Him in our efforts to further condescend Him to the disinterested and unbelieving. For the child of God, the greatest desire that we should approach the Word of God with is that we might know Him. And having known Him, loving what we know and desiring more and more and more.
As we have said many times through this series in Colossians, knowing God more intimately is our desire. And we recognize that none of us live in a vacuum, Oreck, Hoover or otherwise. We all live, breathe, eat, love and hurt in a real flesh and blood dying world. Existentialism is not what we are after. We do not strive after God to think upon Him only. We follow after Him as a means to an end. And that end is Him. A true understanding of our Holy God, far from being “puffed up knowledge”, is the most practical and relevant thoughts that we can think.
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took 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 2:8–15, NIV)
I want us to focus upon a single word here in our text tonite. And that is the word captive. In vs.8 it appears as a verb that carries with it the traditional definition of “carrying off as booty or as a prisoner in wartime” or “to control completely, to take control of, to make a captive of”. I would argue that captivity is not the question for us, but our captor. For all men serve someone.
“knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ” (Romans 6:6, NAS)
“For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, ” (1 Thessalonians 1:9, NAS)
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? ” (Galatians 4:9, NAS)
“But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. ” (Romans 7:6, NAS)
Freedom is really an allusion. The vilest reprobate will declare his freedom from within his chains of sin, but he is totally and completely unable to see and savor that which is most to be desired, namely God. And for all of our talk of being “free in Christ”, we understand, or at least we should, that we are his slaves. How’s that for a paradox for you? We are free to see, savor and yes, serve Him. We were unable to do this until God enabled us to. So you see, slavery is not the problem, at issue is the master. Put another way, whose slave are you?
Slavery is a distasteful and repugnant word to us. In our own country’s experience it brings to mind images of auction blocks, shackles, whipped backs and the like. Families bred, split up and sold off to the highest bidder all for the sake economic stability. The avoidance of the term slave extends throughout most all of our English translations of the Bible. In our effort to avoid the discomfort associated with the word, we have lost the impact of understanding our status before God is that of property. He owns us.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. ” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NAS)
“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. ” (Revelation 5:9, NAS)
And no passage of scripture makes this point any plainer than that spoken by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount.
““No one can be a slave to two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be a slave to both God and wealth. ” (Matthew 6:24, literal translation)
Whose slave are you?
Warning vs.8
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. ” (Colossians 2:8, NIV)
This is the beginning of the warnings against the false teachings that have been making their way through the Colossian and surrounding churches. Verse 8 serves as a general “shot over the bow” for all the specific manifestations of this teaching that will be discussed in more detail to come. At issue here is wisdom, and more specifically what kind of wisdom, which is to say, its source. The word philosophy, as it appears it our text, comes from two Greek words, phileō, “to love,” and sophia, “wisdom.” There is nothing wrong with wisdom. In fact, far from it, wisdom is spoken of repeatedly in scripture as something to be greatly desired.
“How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. ” (Proverbs 3:13, NAS)
“Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. ” (Ecclesiastes 7:19, NAS)
It is upon Paul’s lips each time he reveals the contents of his prayers.
“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ” (Colossians 1:9, NAS)
“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. ” (Ephesians 1:17, NAS)
But just as much as true Godly wisdom is to be sought after, false wisdom is to be rejected.
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. ” (1 Corinthians 1:17, NAS)
“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. ” (James 3:14–15, NAS)
You see, the door swings both ways. And the wisdom you submit to will be your captor. Paul characterizes the wisdom of the false teachers as vain, empty deceptions. He goes on to further define their wisdom in the following ways.
- It is according “to the traditions of men” So much of human’s religiosity is cultural, not biblical (cf. Isa. 29:13; Col. 2:23). Often we pass on what we have received without checking the Bible for ourselves! Just because people have believed something and handed it down through the years does not make it true. Tradition usually serves merely to perpetuate error.
- It is according “to the basic principles of this world”, ceremonialism, meats, drinks, washings, asceticism and pagan symbolic mysteries each typify very crude carnal activities which will be brought out in the verses to follow.
Those that pursue this brand of wisdom will be in the words of Paul to Timothy:
“holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these…led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ” (2 Timothy 3:5,7, NAS)
The warning is plain. Do not be held captive by worldly wisdom.
The instructions are equally plain. Be held captive by Christ’s wisdom.
The next seven verses are set as an explanation as to why. Why is Christ better? Is it just Paul’s opinion? Does that brand of wisdom just happen to work better for Paul?
The Reasons
Now that it’s time to explain why Christ is better than the wisdom and philosophies of the world, I want you to understand that Paul returns to his Christology of 1:15-20. Who said theology isn’t practical. Far from being impractical, it is indispensable. Now that Paul turns the Colossians attentions towards the problems they are facing at home, he presents that which he has already taught them as the solution. Each of the answers the Paul presents in these seven verses are responses to questions posed by the heretics in their midst. The fact that Paul restates 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God”, by saying “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ” means that this fact has been questioned by the false teachers. Possibly a reference to vs.18 where a “worship of angels” is mentioned. Do not however get the impression that Paul is in a debate class with the heretics. That somehow each of them is offering their equally valid positions for consideration. The presentation of Christ in these seven verses is meant to utterly decimate the arguments of this and every other false wisdom, 1st century or 21st.
- Christ Is God vs.9 — “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ”
There is no divinity that exists outside of Christ. This is why not only salvation cannot be found outside of Him, but true wisdom does not exist outside of Him. - Christ Fills Us vs.10 — “and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ”
The verbal form of the noun fullness from the previous verse is used to describe our union with Christ. He who is the absolute, sovereign Lord over all people, powers and property, remember 1:16 “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ”, has fully completed us. John MacArthur says it this way.
At salvation, believers become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4) and are made complete. Believers are spiritually complete because they have fellowship with God. They are morally complete in that they recognize the authority of God’s will. They are mentally complete because they know the truth about ultimate reality. To maintain that those who were made complete in Christ still lacked anything is absurd. Those who are “partakers of the divine nature” have, through “His divine power,” been “granted… everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). All true believers are complete in Christ and do not need the teachings of any cult or false teacher. - Christ Releases Us vs.11 — “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ”
Proper interpretation of this verse is rooted in the OT understanding of the rite of circumcision. A biblical view recognizes the physical act of circumcision as an outward demonstration of an acknowledgment of a need for cleansing from sin. All that man produces is sinful and his greatest and most visible perpetuation of that is by means of reproducing the sinful species. Thus the part of the anatomy God choose to demonstrate the sign. The fact that this act was not saving but only symbolic is made abundantly clear in the OT itself. “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. ” (Deuteronomy 30:6, NAS) The outward act was meant to show forth an inward heart.In stark contrast to the powerless act of outward circumcision, Christ has cleansed us of our sinful nature and loosed us from the bondage and chains of sin that we had so long dwelt in. We have been made free from sin to serve the Living God. But if Christ has truly “put off our sinful nature”, then why do I continue to do what I do? Paul laments with us in Romans 7.
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ” (Romans 7:15–23, ESV)
The “new creature” as Paul calls us in II Corinthians is still robed in unredeemed flesh. So we wage our war against the flesh, but we do not war with our flesh. The battle we fight is done through the empowerment of Christ
- Christ Empowers Us vs.12 — “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. “
Paul steps out of the OT symbol of circumcision to the NT symbol of baptism. In a similar manner, baptism serves as the outward manifestation of the inward union with the sufferings, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the believer it is how we assert death to the old man and newness of life to the awakened man that God has empowered to serve Him. - Christ Cleanses Us vs.13-14 — “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. “
While we were yet dead. Not hurt, nor sick, nor diseased, nor merely impaired, but dead. It was in this condition that God came upon us. It was in this condition of deadness that God looked at us. Wallowing in the vileness of our rebellious acts and the uncleanness of our sinful passions. It was there that God, owing nothing to the dead rebellious sinner, made us alive. He took all the violations of the many citations, laws, statutes, edicts and commands that we had broken and all the many debts we had accrued because of our transgressions against him and cancelled them. All this that stood against us Paul says was nailed to the cross. John Piper asks “How was this damning record nailed to the cross? Parchment was not nailed to the cross. Christ was. So Christ became my damning record of bad (and good) deeds. He endured my damnation” - Christ Triumphs vs.15 — “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
In a use of very vivid language Paul tells us of Jesus Christ’s humiliation of his enemies by explaining that he has disarmed, or more literally, disrobed them publicly. The illustration of the Roman victory parade is used as imagery. This is when a triumphant general would march through the city streets towing the defeating and bedraggled foes of his conquest behind him.
Paul’s presentation is complete. The question of who is your rightful master is plain and unambiguous. Let’s read it one last time so as to not miss the overwhelming flood of exultation for Christ and his work.
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. ” (Colossians 2:8–15, ESV)
To worship such defeated and humiliated beings would be the height of folly. Christ is the Master and Lord. In light of this we are to, in the words of Paul from 1:10, “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”