Chapters 7, 8, and 9 in Lucas
Over the last few weeks we’ve seen how the book of Colossians stands against various cults. We’ve briefly discussed Christian Science, The Secret, and Conversations with God as examples of teachings opposed by Colossians and the Gospel of Christ. We’ve also discussed the fact that Paul’s presentation in his epistle to Colossae is positive rather than negative. What I mean by this is that Paul presents the truth rather than specifically identifying the false teaching at hand. This week I want to start with a brief reference to what may be the current false teaching(s) most closely aligned with the heresies coming against the young church at Colossae.
I don’t know how many of you have paid any attention to the singer called Madonna. She has been pretty high profile for a long time and is a little hard to ignore completely. As Tom Cruise has been a high profile proponent of Scientology, Ms. Madonna has been a high profile proponent of a form of Jewish Mysticism called Kabbalah. Maybe you remember her (and others) wearing a red string bracelet that keeps you free from the negative effects of “envious stares and looks of ill will” (whatever those effects are). You can get a bracelet for $26 bucks and the particular form that is popular in Hollywood seems to be very commercial but Madonna is the material girl so maybe that is appropriate. You can also get candles for prosperity and sex as well as rocks with one of God’s 72 (according to their count) names for various purposes.
The home page for Kabbalah.com has the following intro for one of their articles. It states, “If an angel came down and whispered into your ear, ‘Change these few things, and you will get everything you are looking for,’ what would you do? Naturally you would change.” Well no I wouldn’t and neither would anyone who really knew the Gospel. If you were a Christian familiar with the scripture that states, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:8-9; NIV) you would test everything with Scripture. The Kabbalah is quite different from the Gospel we have received. Just like “The Secret” that we discussed last week, the Kabbalah is presented as hidden information that you can use to have a happy and successful life.
I’d especially warn you against being lured by these views of religion as a “method” and as a “commodity” that you compare like cars or TV sets to see which will make you happier. It is completely inconsistent with the teaching of Hebrews 11 which after covering the successful stories … says “Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:36-40; NIV).
Success does not equal spirituality. Obedience to God by doing His will in the way He wants it done at the time He wants it done and only for His glory is a good thing and a work of Grace. The World will not necessarily consider you a success when God is pleased with your life. You are supposed to put His opinions first.
Colossians 2:1-3
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (NIV)
As we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses in our struggle to be pleasing children living before God … it is a good thing to know that Paul is struggling for us who have had no opportunity to meet him personally. I hope we can tell him someday that we heard what the Holy Spirit was saying through him. I do find the book of Colossians an encouraging epistle that makes me thankful for what God has done in my life.
Notice again that Paul is stressing the fullness of our revelation in Christ and that “the mystery of God” is Christ. We know Him in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If I needed a red string to protect me from mean looks from people who don’t like me then He would have told me that. Christ did teach about turning the other cheek and loving those who don’t love you but nothing about doing it with red string wrapped around you.
The Gospel delivered to you is complete and it is a full revelation of the mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory (or hope of being judged righteous). Paul also prays that we would have the full riches of complete understanding. In another place he commands us to study so we wouldn’t be ashamed as we discuss the Gospel.
Colossians 1:4-7
I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (NIV)
False religions can sound good and appeal to needs in our lives. When seeker sensitive methods of evangelism were popular I always wondered when you were supposed to deal with the hard stuff. For example, things like taking up your cross daily and crucifying the flesh and being joyful in trials seem to be hard to spin. We need order and firm faith because we are in a spiritual war. We will be in this struggle until we see Christ. False religion very often will offer you a way out of struggle by presenting itself as a method for acquiring what you want. They serve the flesh. Sometimes they serve the flesh overtly (like candles for sex and prosperity) and sometimes it is subtle (like promising purification apart from Christ and on your own terms).
Colossians 1:8-10
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (NIV)
The heart of philosophy that is “hollow and deceptive” is a reliance on human tradition and the basic principles of this world. The Kabbalah is steeped in human tradition with layers of rabbinical teaching and embellishment set upon embellishment for thousands of years. While the “versions” change they all struggle to establish a link back to early teachings to hold onto the illusion of secret traditions handed down through the ages. In other words, they do exactly what Paul is telling us to avoid. The basic principles or elements of this world may very well be a direct reference to common Kabbalah teaching that God has 10 emanations including the “elements” of fire, water, and wind for influencing the world. This may reflect a significant Assyrian influence and is summarized in a short pamphlet titled “Sefer Yetzirah”. This philosophy would of course make you wonder that if God has 10 emanations how many would Christ represent? How could one man represent fire, water, or wind? The false teachers in confusing the Creator with the creation would likely have taught that Christ was only a partial revelation.
Paul puts an end to this teaching by saying that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” The statements that we have fullness in Christ and that He is head over every power and authority also stands against Kabbalistic teaching in a genre of writings known as Heichalot (Heavenly Palaces) that purportedly teach how to ascend to heaven and how to draw down angelic spirits to help. The Gospel tells us that we don’t need to magically ascend through heavenly palaces and we don’t need angelic intermediaries since we have the One who is head over every power and authority.
It is hard to say how old various teachings are in all the incarnations of Kabbalistic teaching. They have not been consistent down through the ages further complicating the issue. In any case, we face old heresies again and they seem to be similar to those our brothers and sisters in Colossae faced.
Colossians 1:11-12
In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. (NIV)
Paul is probably not opposing a teaching here like the one we discussed in his epistle to the Galatians in which the teachers were telling them they needed to be circumcised. Here it looks like Paul is simply continuing his explanation of what Christ has done. It would be important for the Colossians to know that they, like us, had been circumcised by Christ, as signified by baptism, and raised up by faith to live for Him. The false teachers were probably teaching a gradual and progressive purification through various rituals and Paul needed to remind the Colossians, and us, that justification before God is a finished work symbolized by our baptism and we are enabled by faith to lives pleasing to Him.
Once again in passing … this is why I believe that believer’s baptism is appropriate and consistent with Scripture although I know that I have many brothers and sisters who think otherwise. I suspect that not too many members of the DMSSC think otherwise.
Colossians 2:13-15Christ has done it all and to Him and Him alone you are a debtor. We were dead as a result of both our past sins and our sin nature. We are in need of a salvation with a double imputation (at least we’ll get that concept memorized by the time we finish this epistle). We need to be forgiven of our past sins and have a cure for our sinful nature. God made us alive in Christ with a nature that desires to be pleasing to God. We still struggle against our old nature but now we are alive in Christ. Our forgiveness is complete. He took it away and nailed it to the Cross. Christ took the wrath of God for the believer’s sins.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (NIV)
Just in passing (again) … do you see how foolish it is to argue about who is responsible for the death of Christ? We’ve 2000 years of arguments over Jewish versus Roman responsibility. I’m responsible along with all my brothers and sisters in Christ. God did it for us so that we who deserved nothing but destruction could be His children.
The work accomplished on the Cross was God’s triumph over the powers and authorities that owned us and kept us dead in our sins and sinful nature. We were completely lost and without hope because we were sinners and, as a result of our sin nature, we continued to sin because we wanted sin and not God. The Bible says that before God’s work in salvation our minds were set in direct opposition to God.
Coram Deo
We shouldn’t be able to read Colossians without a renewed desire to live with a deep fidelity to the Gospel. I pray God would stir up our hearts to remember His work and to keep it clear and central in our minds.
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