I remember years ago, as I was in prayer, I heard these words — “As the Church began, so will it end.” At the time, I thought those words meant something else. But after having my eyes opened to the truth of the gospel of grace that Paul preached, I understand clearly what those words meant. For this is the Scripture that explains it (Col 2:6-7) — “6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in THE faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Paul makes it clear to us that as we have received Jesus in becoming Christians, we are to walk in Him. In this way, Paul says, we are rooted and built up in Him — we are rooted and built up in Christ by receiving (or believing), not by doing. Then he adds the words, “and established in THE faith” (I capitalize the word “THE” for emphasis). Established means one is strengthened in what he believes. At first glance, one would think that he is established by what he believes — “established in faith”, but he’s talking about “THE” faith. THE FAITH is referencing the finished work of Jesus — what He obtained for us by His faith. Paul is telling us that as we walk like we did at first in becoming Christians — which was believing in and receiving Christ — we are rooted and grounded in Him, and established in the faith (the finished work of Christ). And because of this, we erupt in thanksgiving to the Lord. Paul explains to us the simplicity of living the ideal Christian life. It’s not about our works and what we can do for Him; it’s about us receiving from Christ.
In this chapter, Col 2, Paul addresses some popular religious conspiracies that people held then, and sadly, many still hold on to today (This lesson will be more effective to you, if you look up the corresponding verses on each point).
Conspiracy #1 — “We can never be completely confident in knowing God’s will for our lives”, see v.2-3. People have gotten the wrong idea about God’s will. I remember going to chapel services, when I was going to Bible College, that beckoned students to come down to the altar, cry out to God, to find His will. Many Christians think that God’s will is something very difficult for us to find. Some even go to extremes thinking that it involves us seeking Him in every little detail, so that we don’t venture outside it when we go to the Grocery Store (We don’t want to go to the wrong one.) But we need to know that Jesus and what He did for us in His finished work is God’s will. Paul said later in the next chapter that “Christ is our life”, see 3:4. That means that whatever we may do or wherever we may go in life, we are slap-dab in God’s will (This was Paul’s idea in 1 Cor 10:31!) Paul says in v.2-3 that because we are in Christ, we can be fully assured in understanding God’s will. Paul wants us to have the full assurance of understanding His will which is in Christ.
Conspiracy #2 — “We need to balance law and grace”, see v.6. We talked about this one already. But people teach that parts of the law, like the “Big 10” or tithing, etc, need to be kept by Christians. They go on and say, “That we can have structure in our lives and know what we are to do in living godly lives.” But as I mentioned before, the way we first began in Christ, is the way we continue in Him. Look at some of the things that Paul said about the law:
It’s the ministry of death (2 Cor 3:7).
It’s the ministry of condemnation (2 Cor 3:9).
It’s the ministry of bondage (Gal 4:21-31).
Its purpose was to strengthen sin (1 Cor 15:56).
Its purpose was to silence people’s mouths (Rom 3:19).
Its purpose was to make the whole world guilty before God (Rom 3:19).
It sounds like we should go anywhere near the law; much less use it to bring structure to our behavior, or use it to curb sinful activity from our lives, right?!! Yet, there are religious conspiracies being propagated throughout the church world, telling Christians to obey certain Old Testament laws. It’s easy to see from what Paul said about the law that this kind of religious propaganda keeps people in bondage.
Conspiracy #3 — “We need more of God or Jesus”, v.9-10. I remember I used to hear it repeated all the time in certain church-circles, “More of Him and less of me.” Sounds good and wholesome, but it goes completely against Paul’s gospel of grace. Many churches across our lands are telling its people this kind of message. Telling them to come down front to the altars and cry out to God for more of Him and less of you. Some Christian circles go a bit further into teaching that one doesn’t get all of God at the new birth (or when he became a Christian), but he must have continual encounters with Him, to have Him filling your life (Please, I’m not devaluing people — just religious conspiracies that people believe). But according to Paul, Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead (fully represents who God is), and we are complete with that fullness!
Conspiracy #4 — “We need to invite Him into our presence”, v.9-10. These 2 verses in Colossians 2 are so important for us to know, I’ve used them for 2 different religious conspiracies (#3 and #4). This conspiracy is widely taught by many today, and at the beginning of many church services, people invite the Holy Spirit into their midst. This sounds so spiritual and wholesome — even humble — so, how could this be wrong? Primarily, because it is not a polite thing to do; seeing all that our Father has He’s done for us to make His presence a permanent reality in our lives. Just think about this. My child, whom I love with all that I am, coming to me, and asking me, “Dad, please come into my presence?” I would think something was wrong with my child, because she freely has my attention whenever she wants it. How much more, because of the finished work of Jesus in making us God’s children, does His fullness freely dwell in us 24/7/365? This means that wherever we go, we are carrying His presence with us.
Conspiracy #5 — “We have 2 spiritual natures”, v.11-12. There is a big misunderstanding circulating in many churches that say that Christians have 2 spiritual natures — a sin nature and a Righteous nature. I can see where this misunderstanding comes from, because of the struggle we all have at times. But let us not confuse our behavior with our identity. Personally, I have counselled many over the years that hang on to this kind of religious conspiracy. Some of them even want to use Scripture, like Romans 7, to confirm their struggle with sin. But we are told clearly in v.11 of Col 2, that we have “put off the body of the sins” through the spiritual circumcision of Christ (The term BODY means the whole or entirety of something, like one’s “BODY of work”). Then in v.12 it reads that we “were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead”. The entirety of sin, the sin nature, has been put off and cut away, and we were clothed with His Righteousness. Until Christians learn the truth of their real identity in Christ — that they are as Righteous as He is, and sin is no longer a part of them — they will always struggle with sin. Just a side note about v.11. The words of v.11 read, “putting off the body of sins”; where “PUTTING” looks like a continual action, but the word Paul used is a noun, and it’s better seen as the word “PUT”.
Conspiracy #6 — “We need more of God’s forgiveness”, v.13. This religious conspiracy comes from relating God’s forgiveness with our own form of forgiveness. It’s only natural for us, when we have harmed someone, to ask them for their forgiveness — that brings healing and restoration. But God’s forgiveness is not our forgiveness. God’s forgiveness has never been based on WORDS, it has always been based on BLOOD. And that’s why we see in the Old Testament, that an animal’s blood has to be shed for their forgiveness. The same thing happened in the making of the New Covenant, Jesus came and His blood was shed at the cross.
But I want to bring to your attention the 2-fold reality of God’s forgiveness seen in v.13, “He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses”. Not only did God forgive us of ALL trespasses (sins) — past, present and future, but He completely changed our lives because of it — He made us alive together with Him! This is why in Heb 6:1, God’s forgiveness is considered, by the writer of Hebrews, to be an elementary teaching that we must move on from if we are to reach maturity. Until we have His eternal forgiveness cemented in our psyche, so that it’s common sense for us to think that way, we can never move on to greater maturity in Christ. Look at this confirming verse from Paul in another writing of his (Rom 4:25) — “(Jesus) was delivered up because of our offenses (this gave us God’s eternal FORGIVENESS), and was raised because of our justification (this gave us complete CHANGE).” We are so much more than forgiven sinners, we are forgiven saints — so, let’s move on to maturity!