Series: New Testament Overview
Category: Core Seminars, Forgiving Others, Loving Others, Personal Holiness, Sanctification & Growth, Work of Christ, Conversion, Faith, Grace, Justification, Regeneration / New Birth, The Gospel
Detail:
Good morning and welcome to the New Testament overview core seminar! This morning we’ll be looking at Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
Last week, we looked at the book of Ephesians and were reminded that we have received supernatural grace for the glory of God and should therefore live in supernatural unity to the glory of God.
Before we begin our discussion of Colossians, could we go around and have everyone introduce themselves again . Say where you are from, how long you’ve been in DC, and a favorite verse or passage from the book of Colossians (if you have one), or a favorite verse from our study of Ephesians last week.
I hope this class will help you to see what God has done for us in Christ and how we should bring glory to God by living in light of that. That is the message of Colossians: God reconciles us to himself through Christ alone. And those reconciled to God through Christ live new lives for Christ . Before we look more, please join me in asking God for his help.
Colossians: New Life in Christ
Background & Date
It seems that Paul wrote and sent Ephesians and Colossians together. There is considerable thematic overlap between the two letters. Indeed, one commentator said: “To read the two letters side by side is to be struck over and over again by close similarities of argument and wording,” though he notes that Ephesians lacks the Christological poem and the specific attack on false teaching that are present in (and important to) Colossians. In addition, Paul mentions Tychicus at the end of both letters as the one who likely delivered them. Ephesians was the general letter (remember that Caleb mentioned last week that our Bibles have a note indicating that it might not have been actually written to that particular church), while Colossians deals with many of the same themes in the context of the needs of one particular church. Unlike Ephesus, Paul never visited Colossae, even though it was only 100 miles east of Ephesus. Nevertheless, Paul was instrumental in that church’s founding, through the conversion of Epaphras , who he then sent with the gospel to Colossae. Like the letter to the Ephesians, it appears that Paul wrote this while in prison in Rome, around 60AD. (4:3, 10, 18).
Purpose
Unlike the letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian Christians to counter a very specific heresy . It seems that some were teaching these young Christians that life and wisdom were found through the powers of our own human faculties. In chapter 2:8, we read: “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.”
At the heart of much of this false teaching was the idea that the gospel of Jesus Christ is simply a great start. The idea was that Jesus is the beginning, and there are other ways to receive “fullness” in the Christian life. This was to be received by something extra: specially revealed wisdom, or perhaps through the Jewish law, or maybe through angelic encounters.
In response, Paul wrote to remind them that the life of the Kingdom is found ultimately in Christ, and Christ alone. In Christ we find new life. Through Christ’s death we die to our old lives, and through his life we are given new life. Our new lives are characterized by transformed relationships with God and with others. And as a result, the life of the Kingdom is a cross-centered life —from start to finish.
Outline : First, we’ll do a quick overview of the different sections in the letter, and then we’ll circle back to focus on some of the themes that we see as we go through.
Introduction : (1:1-14)
Paul introduces himself, tells the Colossians the reasons why he thanks God for them, and then tells the Colossians how he prays for them. What are some of the things that we see Paul thank God for or pray for?
In that prayer, we see Paul state his aim for the church early on in the letter. He prays that they would “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; being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (1:10-12).
He says something similar in chapter 1:30: “Him (Christ) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
Aside : It is a good practice to pray for others and then encourage them by telling them what you are praying for them. The membership app or directory is a good tool for that. I also found D.A. Carson’s book Praying with Paul to be helpful in thinking about how to pray for others.
Christ, our reconciliation to God : (1:15-2:23)
Then in 1:15-20, Paul moves into the meat of his letter, with one of the most amazing portraits of Christ that we find anywhere. What do these verses tell us about Christ?
At the end of that Christological poem, Paul says that Christ has reconciled to himself “all things.” In verses 21 to 23, Paul makes it clear that the reconciliation includes the Colossian Christians. The primary implication of who Christ is for the Colossians: their reconciliation to God. They were “alienated and hostile” to God, but Christ has reconciled them “by his death,” to present them “holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” Praise God! These two truths—who Christ is, and who we are as a result—are the theological core of this book.
Then, Paul steps back for a moment, 1:24-2:3, to consider his own work to support those great truths. Paul is on mission for Christ. Though he has not met the Colossians, you see his heartfelt, deep desire for the Colossians. He wants them to reach maturity and persevere to the end.
Beginning in 2:4 and on through the end of chapter 2, we see the alternative picture of reality that is enticing the Colossians, the warning that Paul wants them to hear. This enticing alternative stems from “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to the Christ” (verse 8). It is consumed with tradition—religious festivals, new moon celebrations, Sabbath days. It delights in false humility (verse 18) and the worship of angels and a celebration of that mystical experience. It is ascetic (definition: voluntary and sustained practice of self-denial to achieve a higher spiritual state), imposing strict rules on the body (verses 20-23). Tellingly, Paul observes, in verse 23: “These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”
This false teaching was a three-pronged attack on the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
Judaizers (2:16-17, and maybe 11-13 focusing on circumcision): There were Judaizing and Gnostic tendencies to deny the finality of Christ’s work.
Gnosticism : taught that the world was created by an inferior god, that the material world is evil, and (in some cases) that asceticism should be practiced.
Angels (2:18-19): They were preoccupied with angelic experiences; denies the preeminence of Christ.
Asceticism (2:20-23): And asceticism (or severe self-discipline) denies our need for Christ.
Our new lives in Christ : (3:1-4:6)
In chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, Paul discusses how we should live as Christians. As in Ephesians (and elsewhere, with Paul), the indicative (who we are—what God has done for us) precedes the imperative (what God calls us to do). He gives us the implications of the true gospel that do in fact result in changed lives, restraining sensual indulgence. He describes how we should live: in community, at home, at work, in the broader community.
Notes and greetings :
Major Themes
Now that we’ve overviewed the letter, let’s turn to the major themes of the letter.
How exactly does Paul address the false teaching that is threatening to turn the Colossians away from Christ to the wisdom of this world? There are two big things that I want you to notice.
First, the Christian’s new life comes from God through Christ alone. (The source of our new life.)
In Christ we have received new life. Before (2:13) “you were dead in your trespasses.” But now “God made [us] alive together with him , having forgiven us all our trespasses.” Before (3:1-4) your minds were set on “the things that are on earth.” But now your minds and hearts are set “on things that are above.” Before (1:21) we lived life as enemies of God, alienated from him, but now, we are “above reproach before him” (1:22). This new life changes the way we relate to God and to other people. But if we focus on right living and forget source of our new life, we’ll eventually find ourselves on the side of the false teachers. We’ll find ourselves teaching that salvation can come through our own power instead of Christ’s (2:16-20).
And second, the Christian’s new life is displayed in relationships with other people, to the glory of God. (The purpose of our new life.)
As a result of the cross, not human wisdom, Christians’ lives are changed. It may be that your mind used to be set on partying on the weekend or expanding your portfolio and building your own little kingdom. Now we have new priorities: loving others sacrificially, spreading the gospel, pleasing God.
Let’s look at these two main points in more detail.
From God Through Christ Alone
First , our new life is a gift from God. Paul thanks God for the Colossians’ faith, knowing that God is the author of it (1:3). He prays: “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:12-14). In his prayer he acknowledges that God rescues, strengthens, qualifies, and redeems us.
Let’s note two additional things about God’s gift of new life to us.
Second , God gives us this new life through Christ . “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” Paul writes (2:9). “And you, who were dead in your trespasses . . . God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (2:13). Christ is the source of our life and his death and resurrection is the means by which God applies that life to us (1:21-23). Paul writes “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (3:3-4). This is what baptism symbolizes, and why baptism is the public sign of our profession of faith. Paul writes, “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” (2:11-12).
Baptism: Incidentally, Colossians is one of the clearest places in the New Testament where we understand what baptism means. People often contend that baptism is a continuation of the Old Testament’s covenant of circumcision, so it should be applied to our children regardless of whether they are trusting Christ. And sure enough, in 2:11-12, Paul does indeed parallel baptism with circumcision. But notice how he takes pains to show that the circumcision he is referring to is not physical circumcision. It’s not “done by the hands of men,” but it is a circumcision of the heart. And just as circumcision of the heart was a reference to faith in the Old Testament, so baptism today is only for those who have experienced that same faith.
Third , if God gives us this new life through Christ , we should also note that God gives us this new life through Christ alone . No other person, achievement, idea, or human effort will avail us. And this idea of salvation through Christ alone is critical as Paul defends the gospel from these false teachers. The Colossians evidently were being led astray by relying on ritual, asceticism, angel worship, and fashionable philosophy (2:16-18). These are serious temptations. As I read earlier, Paul acknowledges that “such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom,” but “they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (2:22-23). That provides a very good litmus test not just for the Colossians in evaluating the options before them, but also for us as we evaluate different strands of teaching in our own day.
Beware of Christianity plus something else . There are a lot of formulas for how to augment the Bible with something else. Lots of Christians feel the pull to rely on Jesus plus something else for salvation, whether it is philosophy, asceticism, other religions, or elaborate ceremonies and rituals. The problem is that the something else ends up becoming more important than Jesus. The book of Colossians is a good place to go to reflect on the sufficiency and supremacy of God’s work in Christ. Praise God for the simplicity of the Christian faith! What are the kinds of things we might be tempted to look to instead of Christ?
There isn’t anything wrong with simply studying other world religions or philosophy. Such study can help us become better evangelists and apologists for the faith. But these things should never become substitutes for Christ, or even necessary additions to Christ. Paul strongly cautions the Colossians always to remember that Christ alone is fully sufficient to bring us to “fullness” and to give us “new life.” In fact Paul gives one of the strongest statements of Christ’s supremacy and sufficiency in all Scripture in 1:15-20:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities –All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Nothing and no one can compare with Christ!
For God and Others
That was the first thing I wanted you to notice: Our new life comes from God through Christ alone. And the second: This new life is lived for God’s glory and according to his purposes. God is not only the source of our new life—God’s character is the model and his will the guide for our new lives.
As I mentioned earlier, Paul prays that the Christians in Colossae would live “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” (1:10-12). Our lives are to be worthy of God and pleasing to him, which means that our lives should be marked by increasing knowledge about God, thankfulness for all that he has given us, and patience with the trials and temptations of this life. Paul reiterates this theme in 2:6, where he writes that the truth of the gospel “which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.”
Paul tells the Colossians that their new life in Christ should have real implications for how they live and treat each other. Because their lives are hidden with Christ in God, they should set their minds on spiritual, heavenly things—not on earthly things. So the Colossians should put off certain things and put on others. Because “you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (3:9-10). He expects them to “put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices” (3:8-9). In their new life, they are to live differently. Our new life starts with a new heart, with new attitudes, with a new approach and a new way of thinking about and responding to the world. The conclusion to this general section about our new lives ends with a fairly all-encompassing call: “And whatever you do, in word of deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (3:17). What are some of the things that Paul tells them to put off and put on?
Practically speaking, this new way of living shows itself in our relationships with other people. In chapter 3 Paul gives guidance to different groups of people in certain key relationships: familywork . Start with family. “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (3:18-21). Our new life in Christ should be evident first in how we treat our family members. This can be especially challenging because our family members are precisely the people we often take for granted. It can be tempting to treat one’s home as the place where we no longer have to be polite or kind, where we are allowed to “relax.” If we’re being blunt, we could say that we treat home as the place to be selfish with our words and our time. But Paul is very specific: The home is a primary place where we live out our new lives. Note that while the roles differ—wife, husband, children—the theme is the same: love.
We also live our new lives in the workplace. Paul gives guidance to “bondservants”—which parallels loosely with our concept of “servants”—and to “masters.” “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality” (3:22-24). Now modern employees in this country typically have far more rights and privileges in the workplace than ancient servants did in theirs. Yet Paul was telling servants in the ancient world to “obey” with “sincerity of heart,” and to “work heartily.” If they, with far fewer rewards, were to work with sincerity and hard effort, how much more should we? This can be difficult, because complaining about our jobs is regular content of our small talk at parties and lunches here in Washington. Yet Paul reminds us that we should be grateful to work and should be careful to honor God with our labor. We should eagerly seek to please our employers, genuinely from the heart. We shouldn’t do just enough to get by, or only perform when the boss is watching. I think Paul is saying that we should take pride in our work, even enjoy it! Because our work is service to Christ ultimately, and not for men. Finally, Paul adds a word for employers. “Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” Those in authority should image God with their own authority.
As Paul is winding down his short letter to the Colossians, he counsels them to think about their interactions with non-Christians too: “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (4:5-6). This new life should simply be a way of life evident in everything we do, in all that we say, to every person we meet and with whom we interact.
So our new life should show itself in our relationships with our family, in the workplace, and in all of our interactions generally.
Perseverance : Because our new life is so important and so all-encompassing, we must strive to endure to the end. “He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister” (1:22-23). We must persevere to the end to receive the fullness of our new lives with him in the new creation. That is why Paul prays that the Colossians would have “all endurance and patience with joy,” (1:11). We know that our perseverance is guaranteed by God who enables us to live through his Spirit (1:29—Paul is struggling with the energy God gives), but we also must strive every day to live out this perseverance.
And all of this, if we understand it correctly, is impossible if we don’t understand the Christ and the gospel laid out in the first half of the letter. So as you study this book, spend good time considering and meditating on Paul’s words in the first chapter. Consider this God-centered, God-powered, God-glorifying gospel that we have received, and then—only then—read on and contemplate how it should evidence itself in your life.
Conclusion
Paul’s letter to the Colossians teaches us that in Christ we have received new life. We are dead to our sins and made alive through him. And Christ alone is sufficient for our new lives. He is the “image of the invisible God” in whom the fullness of God dwells. Everything else pales in comparison to the absolute supremacy of Christ. Sophisticated philosophy, angelic encounters, beautiful rituals, ancient traditions, supposedly secret knowledge, New Age spiritualism, and anything else falls short. Christ is King.
And our new lives in Christ bring new relationships. We relate in a fundamentally new way to God. We have peace with him, seek to grow in the knowledge of him, and obey his will for our lives. We relate in a new way as well to our families, friends, colleagues, bosses, and neighbors. We are no longer marked by “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” but by “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” And we are called to persevere in this new life to the end—with God’s help through his Spirit. That is the message of Colossians.
This new life, from first to last, is marked by the grace that we have been shown in and through Christ. He is the all-sufficient King who has reconciled us to God.
