All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95), published by The Lockman Foundation

Do you ever feel as though you need to learn or do something special in order to get closer to God, or to be more pleasing to Him? That trusting in the Lord Jesus, and obeying His commands, isn’t enough to please Him? How about all the latest and most groundbreaking ideas about how to live a good life, and become more successful? Ever think that adopting those things will make you a better Christian? Well, think again. All we need to do is believe the gospel, and live out its implications for us. But thankfully, believers in the Lord Jesus have been faced with such distractions and false ideas since the beginning of Christianity.

This was the case with a group of Christians in the city of Colossae, to which Paul wrote while he was under house arrest. They were being told that they needed to add certain religious rituals, like circumcision, to their lives, so that they could become acceptable to God. Also, they were being confronted with various philosophies that argued such rituals would make them better Christians. But Paul would have none of it. He wrote to the Colossians to tell them that such traditions of men were contrary to the teaching of Jesus, and contrary to their identity in Christ. In one section in the letter, he describes their full and complete standing in God’s presence as accepted simply based upon their faith in Jesus, and all He’s done for them. This is the passage we’ll look at in this lesson.

He’s just said that he struggles in prayer for their unity and knowledge, and he rejoices to know that they have a firm faith in Jesus. Nevertheless, he needs to warn them that the false ideologies and teachings they’re entertaining are contrary to their identity in Christ, and contrary to how they first began to know and obey Him. That’s why in the middle of chapter 2, he gives them a concise summary of what happened to them when they trusted Jesus to save them from their sins, and give them peace with God. Basically, he’s here showing that everything that’s true of Jesus in His humanity, is true of them as well. So, He’s one with God for them, He died for them, He rose again for them, and He conquered their spiritual enemies for them. There are six main things he tells them in this passage that relate them to Christ:

  1. Walk in Christ as You’ve Received Him (vss. 6-7)
  2. Watch Out for the Philosophy and Principles of the World (v. 8)
  3. You’re Whole in Christ (vss. 9-11)
  4. You’re Heavenly with Christ (vss. 12-13)
  5. You’re Holy through Christ (v. 14)
  6. You’re Victorious through Christ (v. 15)

Having seen the main topics that Paul addresses in this section, let’s read what he writes before explaining his meaning in detail:

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,. And in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were cead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all uour transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and he has taken it out of the way, having mnailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed th rulers and authorities, Hw masde public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

First, we’ll study how Paul calls the Colossians to live as the one struggling for their spiritual growth in prayer.

Walk in Christ as You’ve Received Him

In the first exhortation he gives them, Paul is basically telling them to get back to basics, since they’ve foolishly added some practices to their lives in an attempt to become more acceptable to God. Thus, he reminds them of how they first became Christians, and says that this is the very same way they ought to conduct their everyday lives. So first, he orders them to “walk” in the same way they “received” the Lord, whom he names “Christ Jesus,” or literally “the anointed Jes”s”. Then, he describes how they’ve already come to understand walking rightly, and reminds them of this instruction.

So, how did they “receive” the Lord? In the way that John describes in John 1:12 –

“But to as many as received Him, who believed in His name, to them He gave the right to become children of God . . .”

Hence, to receive Jesus is to “believe in His name,” or to trust in who He is, and what He’s done for sinners. And if this is the way to receive Him, then this is also the way to walk in Him. And notice that Paul describes this walk as being “in Him,” or one with Him. By “walk,” Paul means a repeated, consistent, and progressive pattern of daily living, and by it being “in Him,” he’s saying that this lifestyle can only be led connected to Jesus through faith.

The second thing Paul does is to describe how the Colossians have already learned all this, and ought to remember it and live it out. He reminds them that through their faith, they already possess all the resources they need to walk in this way. They’ve been “rooted,” “built up,” and “established” in their faith in Jesus, because they were “instructed” to do these things. And because of these realities, they are “overflowing with gratitude”. In other words, their faith in Jesus is all they need to walk in a thankful way that pleases Him, and to continue to be “built up” in Christ. Now he comes to a dire warning about being led astray from such a simple and pure way of thinking and living.

Watch Out for the Philosophy and Principles of the World

Having just reminded the Colossians of the essentiality of faith in their everyday godly living, he now gives them a dire warning against teachings that contradict this way of life. And according to the rest of the chapter, he knew that they had been imbibing such false teaching. But in this verse, he summarizes the character of this teaching in four ways.

He begins by warning that they have a duty to “see to it,” or to “watch out” that they avoid being captivated, captured, or ensnared, through two ways of describing the same thing. The first name he gives to the false teaching of which he’s warning is “philosophy”. The word “philosophy” literally means “the love of wisdom,” but in ancient Greece, as today, is used to refer to the world’s avenue of vain speculation that seeks to discover the answers to life’s ultimate questions through mere human reasoning, apart from God’s special revelation in Scripture. Because such thinking is based on sinful humanity’s attitudes and perspectives about the purposes for life, they come to conclusions that suit their innate rebellion against God and His standards for thinking and living. Hence, worldly, unbelieving, philosophy is ultimately fallible, foolish, and futile. Although it can arrive at some basic truths about the general nature of reality, it can’t provide truths that reveal God as He’s known through Christ, since it rejects such revelation. That’s why Paul immediately characterizes such philosophy as “empty deception.” That is, ultimately merely human and natural philosophy is a vain deception that leads people to false conceptions of reality, truth, and wisdom.

After explicitly naming the sources of false teaching he wants the Colossians to be on guard against, he next explains what their underlying sources of motivation and inspiration are. They’re first based on “the tradition of men”. The Greek word translated “tradition” literally means “handed down,” so Paul is here alluding to the unbelieving, worldly, and sinful attitudes and worldviews handed down the generations since people’s ancestors came out of the rebellious descendants of Noah. And we know that these traditions are sinful because they’re secondly “according to the elementary principles of the world”. The general idea of what Paul means by this is “the basic things of the world,” or the underlying godless motivations and affections that ground all of sinful humanity’s thinking. These could be aptly summarized through the three main avenues of sinful actions that John lists in 1 John 2:16, which are “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Given the fact that these principles come from the world, Paul writes that they are contrary to those which are “according to Christ”. Therefore, the Colossians must make every effort to avoid being ensnared by such ungodly and foolish thinking. He’ll next provide them with the foundational truths that will refute the philosophy he has in mind.

You’re Whole in Christ

In order to fortify against the vain philosophy and empty deceptions that the Colossians are in danger of succumbing to, Paul reminds them of their essential identity as Christians. As you read on, you’ll see that the specific false teachings he was warning them of asserted that they needed to add Jewish practices to their lives to get all of God’s blessing and acceptance, but here Paul assures them that they have everything they need for this status from Christ Himself, and they’ve already received it through faith. Hence, his first promise to them is that they’re whole as they’re in Christ.

But first, he reminds them of who Christ is, and what He has the ability to provide for them. As he’s done already, he declares that the anointed One is the bodily, physical, manifestation of “all the fullness of Deity” (v. 9). That is, He’s both fully man and fully God in nature. And since this is the case, and the Colossians are “in Him,” or spiritually united to Him in God’s mind, they’re “complete,” or literally “filled” (v. 10). Also, he adds that Jesus is not only God in human form, but also the “head” over every ruler and authority (v 10). Therefore, there’s no power that’s able to take away their completeness in Christ, or make Christ less than He is. He controls all the authorities in the universe.

To specifically counter the Jewish legalism and mysticism that was endangering these brethren, Paul assures them that they’ve been “circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh” through and in Christ (v. 11). How would this help them guard against the false teaching? Because apparently they were being told that the men among them needed to be physically circumcised, as the Jews were, in order to follow the Old Testament requirement for God’s chosen and blessed people. This was exactly what many so-called Jewish Christians were telling the Gentiles in the early assemblies, which led to such crises as the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. It was clear from the teaching of Jesus that no man needed to be circumcised to be pleasing to God, but some Jews wanted to impose this law on uncircumcised Gentiles, in order to make themselves seem inherently better than Gentile believers, and to exalt Old Testament law-keeping. Paul here says that the Colossians have something far superior to physical circumcision, and the only thing that’s necessary for acceptance with God. They’ve been spiritually circumcised by having the active power of their flesh removed.

What does Paul mean by “the body of the flesh”? This has a rich Old Testament background, as “the flesh” refers to sinful humanity. For example, in Genesis 6:12, Moses writes that “all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth”. So what is this body of the flesh? To find out, you have to remember that Paul next speaks of believers being “buried with Him in baptism” (v. 12). This is the body that he’s writing was removed. It’s the body that the Colossians once consisted of before that person died through faith in Jesus, and conversion to Him. Hence, by “the body of the flesh,” Paul means the old person that they identified with when they were unbelievers. That person is now removed from them in a fundamental way, although not in a perfect way. Nevertheless, because this polluted, depraved, and rebellious power and nature has been cut off from them, they’re now whole in Christ. But Paul will give more explanation for what this means next.

You’re Heavenly with Christ

The second truth that will prepare the Colossians to refute the false teachings that have been thrown at, and entertained by, them, is that they’re now living in a heavenly state and sphere. As he does in Romans 6 and Ephesians 2, here he reminds his brethren that they’ve experienced the same fundamental changes in condition that Jesus did in His life until now. Because they’re “in Him,” they’ve experienced all that Jesus has in His redemptive work, minus the wrath of God. And how did they experience what Jesus did? Through “baptism,” or literally, “immersion.” As he does in Romans 6, Paul uses the entrance ritual of baptism as a physical picture of what believers experienced in conversion. In other words, because 1st century Christians accepted baptism immediately after they believed the gospel, Paul can say that all a believer experiences at conversion happened for the Colossians during their baptism.

This is why through their baptism, the Colossians were spiritually “buried” with Jesus. Likewise, they were “raised up” with Jesus through their baptism, when they were lifted out from under the water, because they were spiritually experiencing Jesus’s resurrection through their new lives.

In verse 13, Paul summarizes a believer’s experience during conversion. He first declares that conversion begins when you’re “dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh”. This means that when a person is saved, they start off unable to do anything good that pleases God, and are unable to rightly respond to His actions toward them. Why? Because of our “transgressions,” or sins. The enslaving and corrupting power of our sinful desires make us utterly incapable of doing anything pleasing to God, as being uncircumcised was a sign of being cut off from God’s favor, blessing, and love during the Old Testament period. This is “the uncircumcision of your flesh” mentioned here.

Thankfully, although believers start off as rotting corpses in the filth of sin, God makes “you alive together with” Christ. Now, if being dead in transgressions means that a person is unable to do anything spiritual or pleasing to God, then being made “alive” must describe a person being changed such that he can obey and love God by trusting in Jesus. But why does God decide to make a person alive with Jesus, so that he shares in Jesus’ resurrection life? Because He also determines to forgive “all our transgressions”. That is, both being born again, or regenerated, and being forgiven, or justified, happen at the same time. The person whom God gives spiritual life, He also determines to treat as innocent and guiltless. But Paul needs to explain the basis on which God does this for believers.

You’re Holy through Christ

One of the most important questions asked in the Bible is, “why and how can a holy, just, and righteous God forgive corrupt, evil, and guilty rebels and sinners?” Paul answers this question in verse 14. He’s just said that when the Colossians were converted, they were spiritually resurrected from the dead, and had all their sins forgiven by God. And now Paul gets to how. He writes that God did this because He “canceled out of the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (v. 14). In this verse, Paul provides the reason that God is just in forgiving guilty and condemned sinners against Him.

The reason is because the guilty record, here called “the certificate of debt”, was “canceled out” by God, since it declared “decrees against us” that were “hostile to us”. How and why did God cancel out this debt that we owed for all our offenses and crimes against Him? Because He “nailed it to cross”. By saying this, Paul is imagining Jesus as identifying with, and bearing, the whole record of our sins, when He suffered and died on the cross. This is what Paul means when he says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf . . .” Put simply, God treated Jesus on the cross as if He had committed all our sins by making Him suffer the anguish of guilt, shame, and despair for three eternal hours. He did this so the justice and hatred due to us would be satisfied through the punishment of Jesus, who willingly gave Himself in our place. This is the amazing heart of the good news of salvation! And this is why God is now “just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus” (Ro. 3:26).

So, because Jesus let Himself be nailed to the cross in all believers’ place, God can now forgive all our transgressions, cancel out our record of debt, and forget the decrees for our punishment. And ultimately, He did this to defeat all evil, including the spiritual forces of darkness that attempt to lead humanity away from God’s goodness, and into eternal destruction.

You’re Victorious through Christ

The final reality Paul tells the Colossians in this passage is that they are victors and conquerors over all their spiritual enemies, since Jesus already rendered them powerless over believers. He speaks of this in terms of “disarming the rulers and authorities” and putting them on “public display” by “triumphing” over them through Jesus. (v. 15)

To understand what Paul’s saying here, we need to remember the background situation of humanity’s whole predicament. The Old Testament doesn’t describe the sinfulness and guilt of mankind as progressing in a vacuum, but in relationship to the influence of evil spiritual beings. These are the “rulers and authorities” of this verse. We see this from the beginning, when it’s the Satan-empowered serpent that deceives Eve, and leads our ancestors to sin against God. Then, it’s “the sons of God” that take human wives in the days of Noah, and corrupt humanity even further. Also, it’s the demons, Satan’s hordes, which inspire idols and false gods throughout history, so that people are encouraged and deceived into increasingly enslaving practices of idolatry. This is why Paul refers to some false teachings in 1 Timothy 4 as “doctrines of demons,” since they ultimately come from demonic influence.

Hence, before Jesus secured redemption, and obtained the authority to provide people with the presence of the Holy Spirit, demonic forces had almost universal and unrestrained control of people in the world. They were held captive to false religions, idolatry, and superstition. However, once Jesus provided the clear way of forgiveness and reconciliation with God, these forces were dealt a fatal blow, since now people could be born again, and know God in truth. This is how God “triumphed over them” through Jesus. And since believers share in Jesus’s resurrection life and righteousness through the Spirit, we too triumph over all the spiritual forces of darkness. And we have the power and privilege of providing the power that can set others free from the bonds of Satan and demons through the gospel!

Walk through Faith, and Watch Against Falsehoods

The main takeaways from this passage are pretty clear. As those who have received Jesus as our supreme Lord and Savior, we ought to walk by trusting in Him, so that we’re overflowing with gratitude.

But we must also be careful about the philosophies, ideologies, teachings, and human traditions, that we allow to be explained to us. Anything school of thought, perspective, or worldview, that is wholly based on human tradition apart from Jesus, and is founded on the basic worldly presuppositions of the world, ought to be compared to Scripture’s teachings, and refuted where necessary. We ought to continually strive to align all our beliefs, attitudes, and practices with the teachings of Jesus and His apostles, so we’ll be made more like Him.

Further, in order to avoid false notions of ourselves, we should constantly remind ourselves that we’re whole, of a heavenly nature, holy and blameless before God, and victorious over all the evil forces of the world. Most especially, we ought to always give thanks to God for forgiving all our sins and canceling all our debt from our sins through Jesus’s death.

How can you think and act more consistently with your completeness, heavenliness, and authority today?

In the next section, we’ll think about Paul’s specific warnings against legalism, ritualism, mysticism, and asceticism.