Colossians 1:24 - 2:11

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Colossians

Rusty's Notes

• We left off in Paul’s letter with home focused on the centrality of Jesus Christ.
• Jesus is the foundation of everything we believe which impacts what we do.

 
PAUL’S MINISTRY
COLOSSIANS 1
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings

• For the sake of the Gospel… not something evil.

for you,

• You = Gentiles – the very word that got him in this situation of being arrested.

and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church.

• All Paul has done in his ministry years has been for the Church.
• The very body/people that he destroyed as a Pharisee.

25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

• What is this mystery?
• That the Jews and Gentiles are one in Jesus.
• The difference between the Old and the New Covenant.
• During the Old Testament, a Gentile had to become a Jewish proselyte in order to share in the blessings of Israel.
• But in the New Covenant, Jews and Gentiles alike are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.[1]
• Romans 10:11–13 - For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, 12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.[2]

27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

• God's glory lives above and beyond any type of description or definition.
• You cannot accurately and fully describe in words the glory that Scripture declares.
• "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?" (Isaiah 40:12).
• Go to your sink, turn it on, and see how much water you can cup in the palm of your hand before it starts spilling out.
• Then, consider that your God can hold all of the liquid in the universe and not spill a single drop!
• Where we chase after glory can vary, but one thing is for certain: this hunger for glory will never ever be satisfied by created things.
• Even if you could experience the most glorious situations, locations, relationships, experiences, achievements or possessions in this life, your heart still would not be satisfied.
• Creation has no capacity whatsoever to bring contentment to your heart.
• Only God can satisfy our hunger and give peace and rest to our hearts.

 

• Mayor Fadness had a breakfast on Wednesday concerning mental health in our community.
• It was actually stated that we don’t have an answer for the root cause of mental health.

 

• The reality is that we can't actually solve our own glory dysfunction.
• Many have tried; none have succeeded on their own.
• Our only hope is for the God of glory to invade our lives and rescue us.
• But not rescue us from culture or media or government – no, he needs to rescue us from us.

 

• This is why Jesus came to earth, lived righteously on our behalf, died for our dysfunction, then rose again conquering sin and death.
• In amazing grace, Jesus willingly came on a glory rescue mission, and because he did, there's hope for us.
• When we admit to our glory thievery and when we cry out for help for our dysfunction, we can finally be free from the never-satisfying quest for worldly glory and live forever in the light of the satisfying glory of God.[3]

28 We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom (the right use of knowledge), so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

• Galatians 3:8 - Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.[4]

29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.

• It is hard work to walk by the Spirit.
• How do you even do that?
• Trust what you know… not what you feel?
• Feelings in your gut aren’t always true.
• Whose strength is it any way?

 
COLOSSIANS 2
1 For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling (praying) for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person.

• Prayer is not our trying to change God’s mind.
• It is learning what is the mind of God and asking accordingly.[5]
• It is a similar response for us as to the families in Texas this week.
• We are here and what are we able to do for them?
• It is Memorial Day, and what are we able to do for the families of the war dead?
• We never forget… and we pray.

2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ.

• The ultimate goal, for Paul, was to “know the mystery of God, namely Christ” in the fellowship of the church[6]
• “I want” – Paul is stating his purpose which comes from his heart. His passion.
• Paul speaks of intimate relationships and a unity which binds together those who walk in the truth[7]
• Think about the legalism and interpretation issues that were a part of Paul’s background.
• If you stay focused on the Truth… rather than the issues… you will have unforced unity.

3 In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

• Wisdom implies the ability to defend what we understand.
• Knowledge suggests the ability to grasp truth.
• All of these terms were also used by the gnostics.[8]
• The false teachers focused on wisdom; Paul focused on Christ.[9]

 
CHRIST VERSUS THE COLOSSIAN HERESY
4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable.

• Theologically, he was concerned that the Colossians not be deceived by “fine-sounding arguments.”
• The real threat was that they might be deceived by a fast line or by smooth talk.
• The church had to learn to see beyond the fine-sounding language of the heretics to the empty and damning arguments they were presenting.
• Thus, it was to grow in the knowledge of Christ to avoid the deceitful traps of heretical arguments.[10]
• Super Summer training for our students.

5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

• Paul is so taken up with his pastoral task that he is with them ‘in spirit’.
• This means much more than ‘I am thinking of you’ for he feels he is one of them.
• Paul is united with them, committed to them, and commends them.[11]
• “Order” describes the arrangement of the army in ranks, with each soldier in his proper place.
• “strength” – “steadfastness” pictures the soldiers in battle formation, presenting a solid front to the enemy.[12]

6 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.

• Picture of tree?
• A thankful spirit is a mark of Christian maturity. When a believer is abounding in thanksgiving, he is really making progress![13]
• I’ll hang around that person all day long!

8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.

• “captive” – pirated
• Paul’s ‘Beware’ alerts them to the seriousness of their situation and their need to be attentive to the possibility of their being misled through a false pursuit of wisdom and knowledge.
• Paul saw this influx of heresy as a planned, organized attack against Christian theology.[14]
• Paul is not speaking against philosophy in general, just the kind that contradicts the gospel message.[15]
• Here is a clue to the Colossian heresy. It included philosophy, traditions of men, science of the day, and worldly thinking.
• Paul is warning them about the kind of teaching that does nothing for the soul and negates the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is ‘not according to Christ’.
• The Colossian heresy promised much but because it was man-made it would not deliver. [16]
• True Christian philosophy “take[s] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5)[17]

9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ,

• Apart from Him is emptiness.
• The very nature of God is fully present in Christ.
• The fullness refers to the completeness of the divine nature, but it does not mean that Christ is all there is of God.[18]

10 and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

• “filled by Him” – made complete
• This is not “positional”
• When Christ is in you (1:27) there is no room for another on the throne of your heart.[19]

11 You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

• In the Old Testament, circumcision was the outward sign of the covenant made with Abraham and the seal of membership of the covenant people of God.
• The ‘spoilers’ said that converts must be circumcised, as it was essential to salvation.
• Gnostic legalism said that the Jewish Law would help the believers become more spiritual.
• If they were circumcised, and if they watched their diets and observed the holy days, then they would become part of the “spiritual elite” in the church.
• Unfortunately, we have people with similar ideas in our churches today.[20]
• But Paul taught that believers need not be circumcised in the flesh to be complete in Christ, as he fulfilled all the Old Testament’s types and shadows, making Judaism obsolete (Eph. 2:14).[21]
• God continually expresses concern for circumcision of the heart (Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Rom 2:29 – “On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly,  and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter.”[22])[23]
• Their sinful nature (NIV) (“the body of the flesh”) was decisively put off by Christ’s death and resurrection.
• The word (flesh) usually identified the moral principle which characterizes humanity.
• Thus, the statement here refers to putting off the fallenness that guides people naturally,[24]
• What people were in Adam—sinful, fallen, and corrupt—was destroyed by Christ.
• Now “in Christ” a believer is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
• And having a new Head a believer has a new authority for his life—not the Law of Moses but the life of Christ.[25]
• The NIV translation may confuse the English reader by calling the state of pre-Christian existence a “nature.”
• In fact, the term “nature” is an awkward one since it seldom communicates effectively.
• If the term “nature” means a characteristic way of acting, the translation “nature” is correct.
• At conversion, a believer begins to act a new way, giving evidence of a new nature.
• The term, however, is confusing because of the way it is often used by modern Christians.
• Many refer to an old nature and a new nature which are co-resident within the believer.
• Such an understanding confuses this passage.
• The old nature has been put off at the believer’s circumcision, and it is no longer present.[26]

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 122). Victor Books.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Ro 10:11–13). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] https://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/the-doctrine-of-glory-article?gclid=CjwKCAjws8yUBhA1EiwAi_tpERnCUSkwXBgbjyVkocW_FbVrR5Yr5QCcBKy88wfggxQpAviqBmvUJRoCQ10QAvD_BwE
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Ga 3:8). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 123). Victor Books.
[6] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (Vol. 32, p. 245). Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[7] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 37). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 123). Victor Books.
[9] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (Vol. 32, p. 245). Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[10] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 246). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[11] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 40). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[12] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:4). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[13] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:4). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[14] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 252). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[15] Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Col 2:8). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[16] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 42). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[17] Geisler, N. L. (1985). Colossians. (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds.)The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 677). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[18] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 255). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[19] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 43). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[20] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Col 2:11). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[21] McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon. Opening Up Commentary (p. 45). Leominster: Day One Publications.
[22] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ro 2:29). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[23] Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Col 2:11). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[24] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, p. 258). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[25] Geisler, N. L. (1985). Colossians. (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds.)The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 677). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[26] Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The New American Commentary (Vol. 32, pp. 258–259). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.