Colossians 2:12-23

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Colossians

Rusty's Notes

COLOSSIANS 2
12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

• It is illustrative of resurrection, indicating the end of the old life and the start of a new life in Christ.
• Baptism is the outward sign of inward grace.
• When someone dies, the next step is burial, and similarly, baptism is the next and essential step for converts.
• The figurative meaning is “to be identified with.” For example, the Jewish nation was “baptized unto Moses” when it went through the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1–2).
• This identification means that whatever happened to Christ also happened to us.
• When He died, we died with Him.
• When He was buried, we were buried.
• When He arose again, we arose with Him—and we left the grave clothes of the old life behind (Col. 3:1–14).
• It was the power of God that changed us, not the power of water.[1]

13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.

• Paul refers to life prior to faith and baptism, when we lived without the control and empowerment of God.[2]

14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.

• Satan and his forces thought victory was theirs, but Jesus turned the tables on them and stripped them of their power to accuse and to control.[3]
• This new life came when God forgave us all our sins for He canceled the written code.
• Before God’s written Law, His “written code,” people stood condemned (cf. Rom. 3:19), so it worked against them and opposed them.
• Since people cannot keep the Law, it is like a bill of indebtedness.
• An invoice or a document telling us we owe something to God.[4]
• So people, unable to pay the debt, are criminals.[5]
• But in Christ the Law is fulfilled (Rom. 8:2) and done away with (Gal. 3:25; Heb. 7:12).
• Legalism assumes a contractual relationship whereby in one’s thoughts God can be bought by human effort.[6]
• Legalism is wrong because believers are dead to the Law, in Christ.
• Jesus not only took our sins to the cross (1 Peter 2:24), but He also took the Law to the cross and nailed it there, forever out of the way.[7]
• He fulfilled its demands in His life and by His death, and Christians are in Him.[8]
• The law is silenced because Christ has died as a substitute for sinners.
• We “are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).[9]
• God, through Christ, has forgiven our sins and ends the legal case against us.[10]
• CASE CLOSED!

16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.

• Some members of the congregation were critical and dominating. Paul addressed this first because of the persuasive power of these attitudes.[11]
• This warning exposes the danger of the legalism of the gnostic teachers in Colossae.[12]
• At Colossae the Jewish nature of the philosophy predominated. It seems, therefore, that the question dealt with matters of Jewish law, that is, the eating of clean and unclean meats as forbidden or condoned in the Old Testament.[13]
• Their religion was tied to the calendar.
• “judge” - “to determine value.”
• Don’t let anyone determine your values for you by what they are saying about you or to you.
• Christ alone has already determined your personal value which allows you to live in freedom.
• The flesh is weak when it comes to doing spiritual things (Matt. 26:41), but it is very strong when it comes to practicing religious rules and regulations.[14]

17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.

• A shadow is less significant than the object which causes it.
• A shadow is temporary, lasting until the substance arrives in view.
• A shadow is inferior in that it imperfectly resembles the object.
• No one prefers the shadow to the substance.[15]
• The believing Gentiles in Colossae never were under the Law of Moses since that Law was given only to Israel (Rom. 9:4). It seems strange that, now that they were Christians, they would want to submit themselves to Jewish legalism![16]
• The false teachers in Colossae were claiming a “deeper spiritual life” for all who would practice the Law.[17]

18 Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind.

• “Let no one disqualify you.” – Johnny Football sat out a half… but still won the game.
• Warren Wiersbe says, “The contestant does not cease to be a citizen of the land, but he forfeits the honor of winning a prize.”
• “ascetic practices” – Legalism of the Law.
• Ascetic - practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline (an ascetic monk or an ascetic diet).
• An ascetic practices rigorous self-denial and even self-mortification in order to become more spiritual.
• The ascetic hopes to sanctify the soul by his discipline of the body, and it is this heresy that Paul attacked.[18]
• “worship of angels” – we only need Christ.

19 He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.

• “head” - the use of this metaphor shows Christ’s superiority over the law or human traditions.[19]
• The Christian is to be energized and empowered by Christ the head so that genuine spiritual growth can take place.[20]


• In Colossae, don’t allow people to place a yoke/restriction upon you.
• In Corinth, they were saying that “we are free in Christ, we can do whatever we want.”
• In our church culture today, the legalism is not about food restrictions or days of worship.
• It plays out in what the “service time” looks like.
• Our church culture judges us based upon where we attend, what we wear, what traditions we practice, what translation we use, what we sing, what style we sing, who we align with and how we interpret the Scripture.

 

• Leavener – everything we can do to break down each of these non-essential thoughts about doing church in this culture.
• There are two extreme sides, the Colossae side and the Corinth side.
• You are free to do that, but there is a great reward that you are missing out on.
• And in all honesty, you cause consequences upon those who are in your community… because we are identifying with each other.
• At Leavener, we choose to identify with each other by hanging out together… no bumper stickers.
• Because of our hanging out together, we get tagged in our culture with what everyone is sewing in our community.
• “Oh, you are one of those Leavenerites!”
• If you hang out here with me at the pub… you get tagged with, “Oh, you go to church at a bar!”
• I take on very few battles anymore about this type of judgment because I understand the only judge I have is Christ alone.
• As a shepherd of this flock, I am used to protect, but I trust that Christ is our center.
• The more I trust Christ, the less I have to protect.

20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”?

• “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch” - slogans from the false teachers
• The problem at Colossae was the people willingly embraced a system of thought contrary to Christianity.
• The system was enslaving.[21]

22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.[22]

• The people who practice asceticism have a “reputation” for spirituality, but the product does not live up to the promotion.[23]
• 1 Cor 10:23 where Paul cited a slogan from the libertine party in Corinth: “All things are lawful” (NASB). They realized their Christian freedoms and flaunted them before other Christians.
• Again, Paul agreed with the truthfulness of their position, but modified it.
• He agreed as a general reference point that “all things are lawful.” He modified their position, however, by saying that “not everything is constructive.”[24]
• Paul is saying you are free to practice these legalisms because they seem practical and full of wisdom but they are definitely not going to help you understand the freedom that Christ intended for you to live in on a moment by moment basis.
• The power of Christ in the life of the believer does more than merely restrain the desires of the flesh: it puts new desires within him.
• He does not need law on the outside to control his appetites because he has life on the inside![25]

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:11). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Col 2:13). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[3] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 49). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[4] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 48). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[5] Geisler, N. L. (1985). Colossians. (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds.)The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 678). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 263). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:11). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Geisler, N. L. (1985). Colossians. (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds.)The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 678). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:11). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[10] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 49). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[11] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 266). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[12] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:16). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[13] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 268). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[14] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:16). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[15] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians,
colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 268). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[16] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:16). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[17] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:16). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[18] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:20). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[19] Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Col 2:19). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[20] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 273). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[21] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 275). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[22] Christian Standard Bible (Col 2:12–2:23). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[23] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:20). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[24] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 276). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[25] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:20). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.