Colossians 2:1-8

Good evening, everyone. I hope you're all having a good week. Today we want to start the second chapter of Colossians. I'm just going to give a brief repeat of introductory of a section here of Colossians. And then we'll get into the second chapter. Paul, while he was in prison in Rome, he wrote to the Colossians to combat the Gnostic heresy that was affecting the church at that time. In verse 9 of chapter 1, we see that Paul prays that the brethren may grow in the knowledge of God's will. We can see that he says, for this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And then in verse 10, he prays that they may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing God, says that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God. And then a little bit later, in verse 15, Paul shows that Christ is just not one of the lesser created beings emanating from God because he's combating the idea of Gnosticism. And so he says, Christ is the very image, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. And so is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn as a spirit being that came from a man and became a spirit being.

And then in verse 16, for by him all things were created. So he clarifies that Jesus Christ created all things. Therefore, it makes it very clear that Christ existed before all things because he created them.

And then in verse 19, he adds up, for it pleased the Father that in him, in Christ, all the farmers should well. So that's very important. It pleased God that all these attributes, the entirety of all the Father's attributes, were dwelling in Jesus Christ. And Christ has therefore authority over all spiritual powers and angels and angelic dominions.

That's what it says here in verse 19. He should all the fullness dwell. And then consequently, in verse 20, it's Christ that reconciles everything. So it says here, and for by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things to himself. It's through what Christ has done through the blood of his cross, as we see at the end of verse 20. And so he's combating another Gnostic idea, which is docetism. Docetism is that Christ did not die. It is merely a human being, and he entered into the man Jesus, and then he left just before Jesus died.

And that is a docetic idea. And Paul is clearly saying Christ did die. He was a human being. He did come in the flesh. And a little bit later, in verse 23, he's saying we've got to continue in the faith. We must not be moved from the hope of the gospel. You know, this hope is the hope that we're going to be in the kingdom of God, that we're to be born into the family of God.

Let's just read verse 23. If indeed you continue in the faith, ground and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. So we must not be moved from the hope of the gospel. What is the gospel? Is the gospel of the kingdom of God? That we're going to be born into the family of God. And then in verses 26 and 27, he says this hope of this gospel is a great mystery.

A lot of people do not understand it before. And people, many people still don't understand it. It's all about who is God, his nature, and that we are to be part of the very God family. So this is a very great, indeed, a very rich hope, a hope of glory in God's family. So let's just read verse 26 and 27. Then the mystery, which has been eaten from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to the saints.

We in the church, we have this wonderful, wonderful knowledge, understanding, this great hope. And he says, to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is a mystery also among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So Christ in us, that means we become part of the body of Christ. And as Christ is a member of God's family, we're going to be a member of God's family.

So this is the amazing hope we have. And then Iphirah says in verse 2028, Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. That is the goal that you and I ultimately may achieve spiritual maturity.

That's the goal God's got for us to achieve spiritual maturity. And then in verse 29, to this end are also labor and striving according to His working, which works in me mightily. And so you and I, we both, we all have to put our best effort. We got to do our part, but it is God that does the working because He says, yeah, striving according to His working.

So it's God that does the work when we do our part. And so let's now progress forward after giving this little background. Let's move now on to chapter 2. Verse 1, For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. And so, yeah, we can see Paul had not been there. Paul had not been Colossae. He had not been in Laodicea.

As we mentioned before, these are two church areas very near each other, just a few miles away at that time, nowhere. And as we mentioned before, a minister or maybe the pastor in that area, Epathras, came to Paul in Rome while he was in prison. And he told Paul about this heresy that was happening there. And therefore, Paul says he had this great conflict, as it says here in verse 1. He says, what a great conflict I have for you.

This great conflict is that he was agonizing. He was struggling to and concerned about them and he was agonizing for them. And how would he bring them enough spiritual knowledge and maturity to help them combat this Gnostic belief that was affecting that region? And in fact, as we know, it was affecting a lot of areas in the modern, I mean, in the at that time, modern world, in other words, the Roman world where they lived. And so continuing in verse 2, that their hearts may be encouraged being met together in love.

And so he's a concern that he had to these brethren. And for as many as have not seen my face, have not seen my face, and it was many, that their hearts may be encouraged being met together in love. So that he wanted them to be bound in Godly love for one another and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ.

And so he's saying, you know, you want them to have full confidence and understanding of God's ministry. And he says both of the Father and of Christ. In other words, who is God, who's the Father, who is Christ? What is God? What is His purpose? Just this two weeks ago or so, I gave a sermon about the very nature of God, which reveals His plan of salvation. And this is a mystery that mankind does not even today, does not understand.

This mystery of God. And basically what it is, that you and I are to be in God's family. We are to be part of that God kingdom. And so God's nature reveals His plan of salvation. And so, and that part of that, how do we understand that mystery is through Christ. Because Christ came into earth, He became the firstborn, as it says, of all creation. You know, it was that was a human being and became a spirit being.

So He's the first one that pioneered that way for us to be in God's family. And so this mystery is actually revealed in Christ Himself. And that's why it says in verse 3, In whom are He done all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So this mystery is in Christ, He opened the way. Christ in us is the hope of glory. And in Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are, let's put it, part of that, are encapsulated, are part of what Christ is.

As we know, there's another scripture that says Christ is the end of the law, is the very purpose of the law. It is to Him, the full stature of Him, that we've got to become. Now, this is important in the context here that Paul was fighting these Gnostic teachers. These Gnostic teachers taught about that spiritual knowledge was only available to those who were of this spiritual elite.

And Paul is now contrasting that all spiritual truth doesn't come through this elite and these aeons. And I mentioned that in a previous study, and I'll talk a little bit more about that today, of the Gnostics belief. And Paul is contrasting that all spiritual truth comes through Christ. And so, we are human beings, the Father is there, and there's only one mediator. There's only one way, and that's Christ. Not what these Gnostics were saying, all these other levels of demons and things like that, the aeons and levels of different spiritual beings and things like that.

None of that. And that's why he says here in verse 3, it's in Christ, in whom are either all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So he again is contrasting in this context against this false teaching of the world.

Now, maybe this is an appropriate time to briefly talk about this mystery, this mystery, because he's talking about the mystery of God. But the mystery that is in the world, which was then a mystery and even in the Bible in Revelation 17, as I'll show you a little later, it's talk about this mystery Babylon, this great mysterious religion.

And this is called the Babylon Mystery Religion. Now, some of you may or may not know there was an evangelist many, many years ago. He was Dr. C. Paul Meredith, and he wrote a thesis, a very long thesis towards his master's degree. And the thesis was about the Babylonian Mystery Religion. You actually can get this thesis of ease. It's actually on the website. It's in eight parts. And you can find it in the HWA Library under Satan's Great Deception. That is the title.

And it's got one PDF there with all eight parts that covers it in a lot of detail. But basically, let me just summarize what this whole pagan religion background is. One of the three sons of Noah was Ham.

And Ham had a child named Kush. Now, Kush married Semiramis and had a child named Numborod. Now, Numborod founded a kingdom which included various cities, and one of them was Bible. You can read more about this in the Bible in Genesis, if I remember correctly, chapter 10. Now, Numborod began to be a mighty man of sin, a murderer of innocent men.

And according to Adam Cloch's commentary, he was a rebel before God. And he was the principal instrument of the idolatry that afterwards prevailed in that family. Let's call it the family of Kush. Now, Numborod killed his dad, Kush, and married Semiramis, his brother. Now, they established a, let's call it, between inverted commas, a competitive religion, a competing religion. They, that is, this religion, which then developed after the flood, was basically a carryover of the way of Cain.

Now, Cain, as you and I know, was the son of Adam that killed his brother Abel. So the way of Cain was a religion that existed before the flood. So Numborod and Semiramis then developed this practice of this competitive religion. Let's call it that. But Numborod ended up being killed by Shem, and that's according to tradition. Shem is one of the other three sons of Noah. Apparently, according to this tradition, the body of Numborod was then cut into pieces and sent all over the world. And then from there, some pieces were worshipped, like, for instance, the phalis was worshipped and became the symbol of life, fertility, and good fortune.

So once again, Numborod was killed. Now Semiramis became afraid to practice the religion that way. So she established a mystery religion with symbols for other things. And so many symbols developed. One of them, for instance, is the Evergreen tree, symbolizing, in a sense, the rebirth of Ruborod as her son, Tammuz.

So all these symbols became established, and various symbols became established. And then only the so-called initiated, the ones that had that secret knowledge, knew what they meant. And therefore, it became a mystery religion. And symbols were used to hide the true meaning.

So basically, all is just a development of pagan religion. Now, in different countries and in different nations or cultures, these personalities had different names. For instance, in ancient Egypt, it was Osiris's body that was cut, and his wife was Isis. But what we find today is that so-called Christianity as a mixture of this Babylonian mystery religion, which was then, during the time of the Greeks, reformed through a process called Gnosticism. And various other pagan ideas have infiltrated and developed over time. And so, as I mentioned, I would read Revelation 17. So let me go briefly there to Revelation 17, starting in verse 1. Revelation 17 verse 1.

It says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven balls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, and I will show you the judgments of the great hollet. So, now we have a hollet who sits on many waters. And verse 15 describes a little bit more who these waters are.

But so this great hollet is basically a religious system involved in the politics and governments of the world. And this is obviously at the end of time, so it's a religious system today involved in governments of the world at this end time.

Whilst we, in the Church of God, we represent the kingdom of God and we are not involved in the politics of this world.

So continuing in verse 2, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication. So this hollet was involved with the leaders of the earth, and so they committed fornication. So this religion was deeply involved in politics, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So they were led astray, they were deceived when you're drunk. You don't think straight. So basically it means that they were led away with this, let's call it spiritual immorality, idolatry, let's call it that. And they were led astray. And verse 3, so we carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman, so this is this great hollet, sitting on a scarlet beast. Now this beast at this end time is the final revival of the Roman Empire, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And so then again, one can study starting from Daniel chapter 2 about the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, and then Daniel chapter 7 that explains that further.

And then we can then identify who those different kings are until we get to the end time, the little toes, the ten toes, and also the seven heads and the ten horns that this church sits on, because the previous three kings would have passed when this church comes to be. And so we see this is the final revival of the Roman Empire.

And then continue now in verse 4, the woman was a radiant purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and fullfiness of a fornication. In other words, in her hand we had all these false doctrines and teachings, which basically are all the way from the Numerod and Babylon and the old Babylonian Empire, which were being tweaked and adjusted with Gnosticism to what we have today.

And then in verse 5, in honor, forehead, and name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Olives. So is there a mother church with daughters that sprang out of her in, quote-unquote, protest? Of course there is. And so here is the Mother of Olives and of the abominations of the earth.

And so we have this Babylon the Great. Now, again, when we read the Book of Revelation, there are different ways that the Book of Revelation refers to Babylon. And obviously we can tell by the context. We are going to read the context to determine. But one way is this false religious system that is being promulgated, as we see in Revelation 17. Also, it's a city where this false religion is headquartered, which today is Rome. And also it's various political ideas, the political system, which also based upon Babylon. And last but not least is an economic system, an economic approach, completely a financial system that is around this wrong way that is not God's. So this mystery religion goes back all the way to the Marad in Semiramis. And Semiramis, as we mentioned, perpetuated it through various symbols. And it was carried down and adapted or spiritualized or reformed through the Gnosticism and the Greek philosophies. And then it came into the Roman Empire. Later it became the Holy Roman Empire. And the so-called Christianity today, it's got just basically what all that comes from, all the way from Babylon, Babylon the Great, the mystery. And so, and even today, as we go back and we study in the early church, we can see how some of these beliefs were mingled with the truth and how the mother and child symbolism was brought through Mary and Christ, and how people then worship the mother Mary, and how another pira came out to be, which when we read the book of Acts, we can see it started from Simon Magus. So there's a whole system there that has developed and has gone down through today. So just like at the time of the Colossians, the same sort of ideas and concepts are still being perpetuated. And so we have Yah in verse 4 of Colossians chapter 2. It says, it says, now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. And so Paul was very concerned about these people in Colossae and Laudasia to be deceived by all these pagan ideas, and these nasty ideas that were being propagated. And indeed today we have the same situation. And therefore we've got to be careful that we're not deceived by these persuasive words of these people preaching other ideas and other Christs. Compare that with verse 8. It says, beware, lest anyone cheat you. So he was concerned about people being deceived, people being cheated. Look at also verse 16. He says, so let no one judge you. And also look at verse 18. He says, let no one cheat you of your reward. So he's concerned about people being deceived. So we go back to verse 4. He was concerned about people being deceived by persuasive words. You can see this concern in various verses in the same chapter. So the point he was saying is, don't let these false teachers deceive you.

And then in verse 5 he says, but though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. And so even though he was saying to the Colossians, even though I'm not their present, I have not met you, I have not been with you.

So I'm absent. I am with you in spirit. I am with you in spirit and looking forward, rejoicing to see your good order.

In other words, well, good order is a military term, basically being ready to fight. But the good order implies, more along the lines of you sound doctrine, that you are in good order, you are in sounding doctrine, sounding spiritual knowledge, sounding understanding. So I look forward to see you being steadfast in your faith in Christ as he stares at the end of verse 5. And verse 6, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. In other words, we are to live, to walk as Christ did. Our way of life must be patterned after Christ. And this, brethren, is something that we need to meditate. Are we walking as Christ did? Are we living as he did? Look at 1 John chapter 2, verse 6. Let's have a look at that. 1 John chapter 2, verse 6. It says, But he who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. So if we say we live in Christ, we are true Christians, we are to live like he did. And that's just not saying, Lord, Lord Jesus, I love you. But there's a lot deeper about it that we all should meditate about and see how we need to be walking, how we need to be talking, how when we find difficulties and struggles, how do we respond? And how do we handle? Also in Galatians chapter 5, verse 25. Galatians chapter 5, verse 25.

It puts it in a slightly different way, saying, walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5, verse 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And that means we are not walking in the flesh. We're not thinking about the things of the flesh. We're thinking about the things of God. And we're walking according to God's Spirit, according to the way God's mind reminds us things in our minds. We look at it and we strive to walk that way. And so back to Colossians, but let's just look at Colossians chapter 1, verse 10. Colossians chapter 1, verse 10. And it says that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. That's what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do. So let's continue now in verse 7 of Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 7. So let's just finish rereading verse 6. So walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Standing in the faith and abounding in it with thanksgiving. Now, in Colossians verse 2, the same chapter, chapter 2, verse 2, it says that your hearts may be encouraged, being fully in love and attaining to all reaches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God. In other words, we've got to advance to full maturity, being lit in love. This is being lit together in love. Look at chapter 3. In chapter 3, we look at it starting, still in Colossians chapter 3. Verse 10 says that we ought to put on the new man, and so we ought to put on the new man. And then it says, renewed in knowledge according to the image of him. And then it says, who created him. And then we'll go forward to verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on.

And this is what we need to be putting on to be like Christ. Ten mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering. In other words, being patient and suffering long, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

And so this is not an easy job. It's a big, big responsibility. But the one I wanted to focus is verse 14, which says, But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. The bond of perfection, the the the glue that leads us to complete perfection is outgoing concern for one another. And so when we are reading verse seven of Corossians chapter two, it says, Rooted and built up in in and established in the faith as you have been taught, bonding in it with thanksgiving. How do we bond in it? In love. That's what I say is in love. We need to walk in Christ and it says established in the faith and a bounty in it with thanksgiving. And so that is standing and growing in that maturity, as we read in verse two, being met together in love. Colossians 2 verse 2, we need to be met together in love. We need to be bonded together in love, as we saw in Colossians 3 verse 14. And so going back to verse seven, we need to be rooted. That is well but good rooted, grounded in Christ and established in the faith. And as we walk in Christ, God is love, Christ is love, and that's what we're going to be. We're going to walk in that, stand in that. That is the, let's call it the glue that keeps us together. And we get do that, we need to do that with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving for what? For the great plan that God has for you and I, which he is for you and I to be his children in his family. There's a great glory. That's the hope of glory. And so he is, again, as he's combating this Gnosticism, is focusing on what the aim is that we need to be like God, like Christ. Christ is who we need to be following, is our pattern. We need to grow in the full stature of Christ to a perfect man. That's what he's focusing on. We need to walk in faith. We need to walk in Christ. That's what he's saying. And he's basically contrasting against this Gnosticism, which is things of the world. Because look at it. Beware, verse 8, beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of man, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. You see, he is warning the Colossians, and I think I believe it is a warning to all of us, not to follow traditions of men of the world. Because he says, lest they cheat you, lest they plunder you, unless they make you their possession. And then he says, through philosophy. Now, philosophy, this is, if I'm not mistaken, the only place in the New Testament in the Bible where he uses this Greek word, philosophy, Greek 5385, which is philosophy is basically devoted to the pursuit of wisdom. Now, there's nothing wrong with being devoted to the pursuit of wisdom, but the point is, when it is philosophy twisted, as it says, with empty deceit according to the tradition of men. In other words, it's not true wisdom, not true godly wisdom, but it's the wisdom of the world. And James talks about that at the end of James chapter 3, the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of God. Also, look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 20. 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 20. 2nd Timothy chapter 6 verse 20. 2nd Timothy chapter 6 verse 20.

2nd Timothy chapter 6 verse 20.

The Greek word for the basic principles of the world is the Greek word 4747, stoichiion, or sometimes mentioned as or translated as rudiments of the world. It's also made reference to it in Galatians. So it's these basic principles, these basic elements. According to Strong's lexicon, it is anything from which the others or things belonging to some series or composite whole. take their rise or appear. So it's anything that that it comes from under subcompoundments.

In other words, the elements from which all things have come. And if you look at it physically, it's the material things that the material things that make up like subcompoundments that make up components. But in a heavenly term, or could it, and particularly in this pagan belief of Gnosticism, it's the heavenly bodies, either as parts of the heaven or as elements that go from the earth all the way to the heaven. And basically is the different planets and things like that, which is what people would call today like astrology, which all these elements of things of the world.

So, so really, when we look at it, these elements can be looked at as physical elements, physical elements or physical things on the earth. As an example, when it refers to elements that will melt is in 2 Peter 3 verse 10, 2 Peter 3 verse 10, where it says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat of the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

So it's the same Greek word, the elements, yah, in 2 Peter 3 verse 10, stoiachhen, which is basically the physical elements, physical things that will melt. But in Galatians 4 verse 3, Galatians 4 verse 3, let's just look at Galatians 4 verse 3, it says, Even so we, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. Those elements, same word, was the basic religious paganism or training or background of the world that we have had.

And so using, let's call it, rules of eremonutics, we got one of them being context, it talks about when they were children, when they were immature. And in verse, even in verse 2, it says, Until the time appointed by the Father, in other words, they had not reached the time in which the Father had called them and led them to conversion and repentance.

And so until that time, before conversion, they were in bondage. In bondage to what? Well, it depends. For instance, if they were Jews, they may be wearing bondage to the pharacycle rules and add-ons to the law. But if they're Gentiles, they were in bondage to the various religious pagan ideas. In other words, these rudiments, these elements of the world, they came from God? No.

It says from the world. That's where those elements or those ideas came from. So basically, what we're talking about is this false religion, this Babylonian paganism, the so-called competitive religion, which basically originates from Satan and his deceptions leading to the old Nirmarad and Samaramas that I mentioned before, the actual Babylonian pure paganism, and then through Gnosticism, it actually affected religion, affected pagan religion, affected Jewish religion, and all that came to what we have today. So going back now to Colossians 2, verse 8, says, Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.

In other words, be careful that you don't be involved in that false ideas of Gnosticism. For instance, one of them is going to heaven. And so their ideas go from earth to heaven through various aeons, various emanations or spiritual beings or spiritual entities that as you move closer and closer to God, they become more and more, let's call it righteous.

And the ones that are lower, they're less righteous or more evil. And all these are just pagan ideas that this Gnosticism and this philosophy has. So that compares what the Bible says. What does the Bible say? There's one God, and here we are. And for us to go to the Father, we are to go through one. There's only one way, and that's Christ.

And even, for instance, in some other religions, you say, oh, well, you're going to go through all these saints and you've got all these levels of saints and you've got to pray to these saints and things like that.

And so in verse 8, Yahweh is saying these are things of the world, basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

You see, as you do that, and you tie that with verse 18, in verse 18 says, Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels. And that's basically demon worship. And then in verse 20, look at verse 20, Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, the same word, stoiachon, it's these rudiments of the world. Why, as thou living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations? What regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. And so these were all docetism ideas that were Gnostic ideas. And verse 22, which all concerned things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of man. So it's all of man. And so in verse 8, once again, it concludes verse 8 says, And not according to Christ. To us in the church, Christ is the art stick, not human philosophy. So next week will then continue from YAH, from verse 9.