Year 2, Day 217: Colossians 2

Investing In One Another

As we carry on Paul’s thoughts in this opening paragraph of Colossians 2, we can really hear a sense of personal investment that Paul has for the Colossians.  Remember, these are people that he has never met.  This is a church Paul didn’t plant.  Yet, he feels a deep pain for the Colossians.  Paul wants them to remain faithful in the Gospel.  He wants them to remain steady and confident in the faith.  He wants them to be united together.  This is a great note of spirituality that we can carry through from yesterday’s study.  Spiritual people yearn for other people to remain spiritual whether you know them or not – even whether you like them or not.

Infiltration

Having attempted to genuinely convince the Colossians of His desire for them to remain faithful, Paul turns to the main reason for writing this letter.  Paul is concerned that there are false teachers infiltrating genuinely spiritual churches.  Paul has good reason to fear this.  The same thing happened in Galatia.  Paul watched the Galatian church forgo their foundation in God’s grace only to rely once more upon the idea that they can be saved through obeying the Law.

Look at the examples that Paul lifts up in this chapter.  Circumcision made without hands.  Buried in baptism, raised in faith.  Cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  Paul doesn’t come right out and say it, but he considers traditional 1st-Century Judaism one of the greatest threats to Christianity in his day. 

The direction of the threat may have changed, but the threat itself is still alive today.  1st-Century Judaism is no longer around to threaten Christianity.  However, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have people that put their faith in things besides Christ.  Some people believe that their attendance on Sunday will save them.  Some people believe that their baptism will save them.  Some people believe that their “choosing Jesus” will save them.  The truth is that all of these things – and more – are great, but they are all responses to what actually saves us: God’s grace through Jesus’ death on the cross.  Christ is sufficient; nothing else needs to be added as a requirement for salvation.

We should attend regular worship of God.  We should be baptized.  We should choose Christ!  But we do all these things as responses to what actually saves us, what He has done for us on the cross.

Stand Firm

Paul continues his caution for the Colossians.  He encourages them to let nobody judge them.  He encourages them to have an attitude in which the things they do they do for Christ and for no other reason.  He encourages them to refrain from the worship of distractions such as the worship of angels or saints or visions.

This is great advice for Christians of today, too.  How many religious people today genuinely worship angels, or saints, or the mother of Jesus, or people who have visions of heaven?  We have all kinds of people who desire to add something to their worship of God, when really our worship of God should be all that we need!  Why do we have any need for anything besides Christ and that for which Christ stood?

The last paragraph appears to be another stroke against the rules and regulations of 1st-Century Judaism.  Paul talks about the regulations of handling, touching, and tasting certain things and how the Colossians need not bow to such regulations.

Paul’s point behind all of this is subtle.  Notice that he is not saying that such things are inherently bad.  There is nothing wrong with deciding to not touch or taste a particular food or object.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with many of the traditions that we have.  But the problem is when we do them because we think that it is necessary for our salvation.  When we do that, we turn what would make a great response out of faith into something that takes the place of Christ.

In the end, this chapter really has me thinking today about why it is that we put anything in importance above Christ.  Why do we come into churches and demand that things be done a certain way?  Why do we assert that prayer must happen a certain way?  Why do we assert that people must teach a certain way except for a few crucial truths, or dress a certain way, or say the magic words, or whatever they happen to be for a particular denomination?  Should it not be enough for us to look for people who are in relationship with Jesus Christ and come along side of them and celebrate in their relationship with Jesus Christ?  Must we put other things ahead of our genuine relationship with Jesus Christ?

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