Col. 2:1-191For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; 2That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. 6As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting 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; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16Let 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: 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18Let no man beguile you of your 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, 19And 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. (Colossians 2:1‑19)
In the first chapter the apostle had unfolded the glories of Christ, and referred to the glory of the mystery Christ in the saints "the hope of glory.” These are the two great themes of the epistle: first, the fullness of our resources in Christ, the Head of the church: secondly, Christ in the saints, actually in the coming day of glory, and morally in their passage through time.
In the second chapter the apostle gives us warning and instructions. He warns us against the different ways in which the devil seeks to draw the saints away from Christ (and man the expression of Christ in the saints). He instructs us as to the provision that God has made in order that, on the one hand, we may be preserved from these snares, and, on the other hand, express Christ in our lives.
The introductory verses disclose to us the Jeep exercises of the apostle's soul. He saw clearly that the enemy was seeking to turn the assemblies at Colosse and Laodicea from Christ, and that unless they were established in the great truth of the mystery of God, they would be carried away by these evil devices.
It is instructive to notice the character of his exercises. In the first place he was deeply anxious that the saints should be found in a right spiritual condition. Instead of being depressed by the attacks of the enemy, he desires that they might be comforted, or "encouraged." Instead of being thrown in to strife and contention by the devices of men, he desires that they may present a united front to the enemy by being "knit together in love." It would be very difficult for the enemy to gain a footing in a company of saints who were knit together in love.
Moreover, he is anxious for this right spiritual condition, not simply as having in view Christian service, however important that is, but, in order that they may have a true understanding of spiritual truth. It is only as the assembly is in a right condition-united in love that it can grow in the knowledge of the truth. Evidently, while there was much in the Colossian assembly for which the apostle can give thanks, they were defective in the truth of the mystery of God, and thus were in danger of being carried away by the enticing words of men. Therefore the apostle desired that believers might enter into the riches of the truth of the mystery; that they might have the full assurance of understanding that comes from the full knowledge of the mystery of God. This great truth tells believers that they are taken out from the Jews and the Gentiles to be united to one another and to Christ in glory by the Spirit, thus forming a new company that is beyond the reach of death, above the power of the enemy, that is in the world but not of it, that is passing through time but belongs to eternity, that is formed on earth but destined for heaven. Men, with their science and philosophy may lay claim to heights of wisdom and knowledge, but in the mystery of God there is found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Moreover, the apostle desires that the saints may enter into the truth of the mystery in order that they may escape the snares of the enemy, for he immediately adds, "This I say, lest any man should beguile you." Thus he desires a right spiritual condition that we may be able to understand the spiritual truth of the mystery, and escape the spiritual wickedness.
Having expressed the deep exercises of his heart, the apostle passes on to expose the different wiles of the enemy and to instruct us how to escape being beguiled and enticed away from Christ. There are four great dangers against which we are warned: firstly, enticing words (v. 4); secondly, rationalism (v. 8); thirdly, ritualism (v. 16); and finally, superstition (v. 18).
It will be noticed that none of these evils are the gross things of the world, but rather things that would appeal to the intellect and the religious side of Man's nature, therefore things that are a special snare to the Christian.
V. 4. The first warning is "that no one may delude you by persuasive speech." This is a warning against error presented in an attractive form by the aid of human eloquence, or by being presented in Christian terms mixed with a measure of truth. Never was this warning more needed than in our day when the world is flooded with popular religious books, containing the deadliest error, expressed in choice language, hidden under attractive sentiments, and presented with a veneer of Christianity.
V. 5. The apostle was the more anxious for the Colossian saints inasmuch as he could rejoice over them, seeing they were an orderly company, steadfast in their faith in Christ. Nevertheless he felt, that unless such enter into the knowledge of the mystery of God they would not be able to stand against the wiles of the enemy. While we gladly own that, as sinners we are saved by grace, we have to admit how slow we are to recognize the further great truth that, as saints, we are united to Christ in heaven Who is the Head of the body the church, and the center of that vast new creation according to the eternal counsels of God.
Knowing only the grace of God that brings salvation, and failing to enter into the counsels of God for the glory of Christ and the blessing of the saints, the vast bulk of Christians have fallen a gray to the snares of which the apostle speaks.
However much the enticing words of men might seem to open before us a vista of larger blessing, deeper knowledge, and greater usefulness, the effect would be to lead souls away from Christ. At once, therefore, the apostle turns our thoughts to Christ. He exhorts us that, having received Christ as our Saviour and Lord, we should walk "in Him." We are to walk in dependence upon Him, guided and kept from every snare by the grace and wisdom in Him.
Moreover if we are rooted in Him as the source of all our blessing, let us seek to be built up and established in our souls in the truth in Him, and thus assured or confirmed in the faith. This confirmation in the faith is the result of holding to the truth as we have been taught in the apostolic teachings. That which we have been taught in Scripture is not to be held half-heartedly. We should seek to abound in the truth with thanksgiving.
Alas! too often saints show how little they are confirmed in the faith, as they have been taught in apostolic writings, by lightly abandoning under the enticing words of some leader all they have professed to believe. How needed the warning, "Lest any man," whatever his gift or sincerity, "beguile you with enticing words." Whatever we hear, come from whomsoever it may, we are only safe as we test it by "the faith," as we have "been taught" in the Word of God.
Rationalism (Col. 2:8-158Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting 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; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:8‑15))
In the eighth verse the apostle warns us against a second great snare-the snare of rationalism, or the effort to explain all things by human reason in order to exclude revelation. The apostle says, "See that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit" (N. Tn.). Philosophy is the love of wisdom, but the wisdom of men by which man seeks to search out and explain all things under the sun. Alas! human wisdom leaves out God and leads to "vain deceit," such as evolution, which would fain have a universe without God, and modernism which would have a form of Christianity without the Christ of God and the atonement of the Bible.
The apostle meets this snare of philosophy with a three-fold condemnation. Firstly, he says, it is "after the teaching of men," rather than the revelation of God. For this reason it shuts out faith. The teaching of man is never faith. To receive statements because men make them, even if the statements are true, is not faith. "Faith is the reception of a divine testimony by the soul" (J.N.D.).
Secondly, philosophy is according to the elements of the world, and therefore can be appreciated by the world. Being appreciated by the world it leaves its votaries in the world. In contrast to philosophy, Christianity calls a people out of the world for heaven.
Thirdly, philosophy is "not after Christ." It leads to speculation: it never leads to Christ. For this reason, apart from every other consideration, philosophy stands condemned by Christianity, which is marked by faith, draws people out of the world, and gathers them to Christ.
V. 9. Having warned us of this snare the apostle at once brings before us the great positive truths that would preserve us from being turned aside by the emptiness of human wisdom. First, he turns us to Christ-"In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Instead of the misty speculations of men, we have God perfectly revealed in all His fullness in Christ. There is not a single attribute of the Godhead that is lacking in Christ. Moreover, it is in Him "bodily." Christ has taken a body and become manifest in flesh, so that the fullness of the Godhead could be presented in a way that can be known by the most simple of men. It may require a giant intellect to understand even the terms in which philosophy struggles to express its speculations; simple fishermen of Galilee can see the fullness of God in Christ, and thus enter into truths that lie outside the comprehension of the greatest natural intellect. One has said, "To faith which saw through the veil of His humiliation when here, there was not a trait in His character, an act in His conduct, or an expression of the feeling of His heart going out to the misery around Him, that was not the revelation of the Godhead" (J. N. D.).
Secondly, the apostle says, "Ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power." Not only is God fully revealed to us in Christ, but believers are fully presented before God in Him. All the blessing that God has purposed for believers, and that Christ's work has secured for believers, is set forth in Christ, Himself, in His place in the glory above every principality and power. Our portion and position, as set forth in Christ, is complete. All the philosophy, and teaching of men can add nothing to the fullness of the Godhead revealed in Christ, or to the completeness of the believer's portion as set forth in Christ.
What is the righteousness we have? It is seen in Christ to be a suitability to God's holy nature so complete that it makes us meet to be partakers of the portion of the saints in light, even as Christ is in the light. What is the life we have? Christ in the glory is our life: it is set forth in Him. What is the relationship into which we are brought? It is set forth in Christ; His Father is our Father, and His God our God. What is the glory that is secured for us at the end of our journey? It is set forth in Christ. The glory which He has as Man has been given to us. We are complete in Him.
Having stated the great truth of the fullness of our blessing, as set forth in Christ, the apostle proceeds to show the way God has wrought to meet, and deliver the believer, from all evil within, and every enemy without, in order to bring us into this wonderful place of blessing in Christ. He passes before us this great work of God by referring to circumcision, burial, resurrection and quickening.
Circumcision, or the cutting off of the flesh, tells us that in the death of Christ, the flesh, with all its evil, has been put off in God's sight. This is something that has been done by God without the intervention of man. It is not question of attainment of Christian experience, though it surely had to be realized and involves experience in its realization by the believer. For if we own the flesh has been dealt with and condemned at the Cross it must be a settled thing with us that the flesh is not to rule in our lives.
V. 12. From circumcision the apostle passes on to speak of baptism setting forth the great truth that we have been buried with Christ in order that the "old man" may go out of sight. It sets forth entire separation from the "old man"—that life, with al' the characteristics, that marked us as natural men. Abraham says. Let me "bury my dead out of my sight." That which is dead is to be out of sight. If true to our baptism it would be difficult for the world, or the saints, to tell what manner of men we were before our conversion. The "old man" that has been crucified with Christ would be out of sight. In chapter 1 we are exhorted to "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." We are to walk in the sight of the Lord seeking His approval, not seeking to be prominent before men or courting the approval of the world, thus keeping ourselves out of sight, we should become true witnesses to Christ.
From baptism the apostle passes on to refer to resurrection. Baptism separates us from the world, and the man that lived in the world; resurrection brings us into the light of another world. God has raised Christ from among the dead, and through faith we know that we are made companions of Christ risen, and that if the world is closed behind us heaven is open before us (Col. 3:1-41If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1‑4)).
Vv. 13-15. Moreover, believers are quickened. There is a positive work of God in the soul whereby believers are made alive with Christ in a life that is free from sin and death. The body is not yet quickened; for that we wait; but we have a life which enables us to enjoy things above and walk in communion with Christ on our way to heaven.
We thus learn that all that is in us that would hinder our living the life of Christ has been dealt with. The flesh has been condemned by the circumcision of Christ in death; the old man has been buried with Him. Heavenly things come into view by His resurrection, and we are quickened with a new life that can enter into and enjoy the heavenly things.
Further, we learn that, not only the evil within has been dealt with, but, every opposing power without has been met. As to our sins, they have been forgiven. As to the ordinances of the law, that made demands upon us that we could not meet, and required a righteousness that we could not supply, we are delivered from them by the Cross. Every spiritual force against us has been triumphed over.
In the following verse the apostle warns us against a third great snare to which the saints are exposed-the Judaizing evil. In that day there were those who professed to add to the Christian life by the insistence of Jewish ordinances as to what we eat and drink, and the observance of certain days as holy days, such as the new moon and the Sabbath. This snare to which the Colossian saints were exposed has developed into the ritualism of our day. With one verse it is condemned by God as a return to the shadows of a past dispensation. In those days the ordinances of Judaism prefigured the substantial realities found alone in Christ. Alas! Christendom has fallen into this snare; and, in turning back to the shadows, has largely lost the Substance.
Finally, in verses 18 and 19, we are warned against a fourth snare-the worshipping of angels, and the intrusion into things we have not seen. This is the superstition of the flesh that loves to pry into the unseen, and dabble with the unknown. It might have the appearance of humility that is willing to submit to spiritual beings; in reality, it is only flesh indulging its own will. It has been truly said of the angels, "They have to do with us, but not we with them. Our business is with God.”
The apostle exposes this evil as being the pride of a fleshly mind pretending to penetrate into the secrets of heaven. Moreover, he warns us that it involves the setting aside of Christ, the Head of His body. To bring angels, or any other creature, whether the Virgin or saints, between our souls and Christ is to deny our direct union with Christ. He is the head of all principality and power, and as Head to the body He directly ministers all spiritual nourishment through the spiritual help supplied by the members of the body. Thus spiritual growth of the soul is maintained and the body of Christ increases with the increase of God, apart altogether from angelic ministry, which, in Scripture, is always connected with the guardian care of the natural body.
The apostle has thus passed before us four different snares which make little appeal to gross carnal flesh, but are very attractive to religious flesh. One thing marks all these snares, they do not lead to Christ.
Error wrapped up in enticing words beguiles souls from the steadfastness of their faith in Christ (v. 4, 5).
Rationalism, with its philosophy and vain deceit, after the teaching of men, is "not after Christ" (v. 8).
Ritualism, with its ritual and feast days, occupies with the shadows and not Christ (v. 17).
Superstition, with its intrusion into things unseen, sets aside Christ, the Head (v. 18, 19).
Enticing words may easily play upon our ignorance, rationalism may appeal to the intellect, ritualism to the emotions, and superstitions to the imagination; but none of these things will reveal Christ to the soul or form Christ in our lives. They do not lead to Christ.
To meet all these evils, and preserve us from them, the apostle presents Christ. Our having received Christ, He is the power for our walk (v. 6); we have everything in Him (v. 9); we are identified with Him (v. 11-13); we derive all nourishment from Him (v. 19).