Colossians, Part 3

Well, good afternoon to everyone. We are in the Book of Colossians, and the last time we got down to somewhere around chapter 2, verse 15. But it's been a month and a half or more since we had Bible study. So what I thought I would do is give you a brief review, and it'll be very brief because we don't want to take up all the time on the review. You might remember that the Book of Colossians was one of Paul's prison epistles. He wrote it while he was in prison in Rome, somewhere between 59, maybe 61, 60, 62 AD. There was a problem in Colossae, and the local pastor came to Paul in Rome to ask for his help. And Epaphas asked Paul to be able to help, and so Paul wrote this letter. And there was a problem with false teachers coming in. And many of these false teachers were Gnostics, and they were teaching a philosophy called Gnosticism. Gnosticism had the idea that the physical is bad, evil, and that the spiritual is good. Although you find within the Gnostics there were two different camps. There were those who were what we call Epicureans. Since the flesh was no good, it didn't matter what you did. It wasn't any... wasn't going to be held against you anyway. And then those who believed in self-denial, and that their idea of what humility is. And we'll see today as we go through the Scriptures that a lot of people have an idea about what humility is. It's total opposite to what the Bible says. So, the Apostle Paul wrote this book to try to help straighten out some of the problems and difficulties.

Chapter 1 places a great deal of emphasis on Jesus Christ and the fact that He is much greater than the angels. The Gnostics thought that Jesus Christ was one of a series of emanations from God, what they called the Pleroma, which had to do with the fullness of God. And so they thought that Christ was maybe a great angel, but He was created. And so they looked upon Him as a created being. But in Chapter 1, Paul goes to great lengths to show that Jesus Christ is far superior to all the angels.

You can roll them all up into a ball, and He's still greater than all of them. So, the emphasis is on that, and it's proven by many things. In Chapter 1, verse 14, Paul shows that all of us have redemption and forgiveness to sin through His blood. Now, that also goes against Gnostic teachings because they didn't think that Christ actually would reside in the flesh. And one of the teachings of Gnosticism was the Doestetic idea that Christ never really came in the flesh. In other words, He was not God in the flesh. He was not a human being. He just came down on Him as a dove when He was baptized, and before He was crucified, He left.

So they had all of these different ideas about it. But here, very clearly, it shows that Christ shed His blood so that we could be forgiven. Verse 15 shows He has preeminence over all the creation. So, He's over everything. And then verse 16, all things were created by Him, and we find all things, including everything visible, everything you can see, everything invisible, which would include the angels. All powers, all laws, all principalities, everything were created by Him. So, therefore, He's greater than all of them.

Verse 17, He's existed forever, and He sustains the whole universe. So, again, it illustrates how powerful and great He is. Verse 18 says that He's the head of the church, but He's also the firstborn from the dead. So, He was the first one to go through the process of salvation, in that sense, as a human being, and to be born into the very family of God. Then verse 19 sort of caps it all off by saying that the fullness of God dwelt in Him.

And the word fullness here, again, is Pleroma. And so, in Paul's definition, what Pleroma was, and their definition was different. They thought Pleroma summarized all of the angelic hosts and everything that they did, all of their emanations. And here, He's showing that Christ has the fullness of the divinity, the Godhead, in Himself. As verse 9 of chapter 2 says, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

So, He was a human being, but He was God in the flesh. And so, He was the Son of Man and the Son of God. He was both. Now, you find then that God put within Him His complete divinity. Now, in verses 26 through 28 of chapter 1, you find it talks about the mystery of God, and that this mystery has been hidden from the ages. You find that most people, well, the unconverted do not understand this mystery, but that it is God who reveals the mystery, and that all knowledge is contained in God.

You don't need special knowledge of the Gnostics. See, they claim that they had special knowledge that sort of overlaid the Christian ideas, and that without it, you would not have access to God. So, He's clearly demonstrating that's not true. Now, in chapter 2, He explains how our sins are forgiven in Christ. He starts out again by showing that in Christ and God, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, not in the Gnostics, not in some secret society or some special group, but only in Christ Jesus. And then He begins a series of warnings to the Church. In verse 8, He says, beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit. So, He's talking about these philosophers, according to the traditions of men.

See, not according to God's Word, but traditions of men, according to the basic principles of this world. So, He's talking about the basic philosophies of this world, not according to Christ. And then, in verse 10, we find that in Christ Jesus, we're complete. We don't need anything else. We don't need Gnosticism. We don't need their special knowledge. We don't need angels. We don't need to go through a series of angels to get to God.

Christ is our High Priest. He's the one who intercedes for us. And we can have access to God through Him. He's the Head of all powers. And that would include the angels. Verses 11 through 13, we find that we have sinned. We have to repent. We are spiritually to be baptized and spiritually circumcised. Now, we spent quite a bit of time, the last time, on verse 14. Let me just read verse 14 to refresh your memory.

Because verse 14 is a verse that is used to say that the law has been nailed to the stake or to the cross. Therefore, the law has been done away. First of all, it says, He has wiped out the handwriting. The word handwriting, again, is chiographon. It's a written IOU. It's the same thing as we'd have an IOU. If you bought a truck from somebody or an item and you owed them money and you didn't have a formal contract or agreement and you just rode out, Joe Bloble bought my 1924 Ford pickup and he agreed to pay me $500.

He put $450 down. He owes me $450. You sign it. It's an IOU. Well, this is exactly what this is talking about. It is a written record of debt or IOU. Our debt, we owe our lives because of our sins. We've sinned. We've broken God's law. And he goes on to explain that. That Christ has wiped out the handwriting or the IOU due to something or of requirements. The word is dogma, due to dogmas or dogmatism.

That was against us. Now, included among dogmas would be the traditions of men, philosophies of men. And what you find, because we at one time followed the traditions of men, instead of following God and obeying Him and His word, we followed our own ideas and Satan's direction that we then incurred the death penalty. So, by keeping man's rules and regulations and traditions, we're breaking God's. And by breaking God, you sin. So, it says he wiped out and we need to realize the handwriting. Of can be due to requirements that were against us. See, which weren't for us, which was contrary to us. And he's taken it, what? The handwriting out of the way. And he's nailed it, our debt, our IOU, what we owe to the cross. Now we come to verse 15.

And this is basically where we got down to the last time. And when he did this, notice it says, Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Now, Jesus Christ triumphed over all of the angelic powers. The word here in verse 15, it says, Having disarmed principalities. The word here means, Having put off from himself, and it is an expression that means complete removal. He has wholly put off from himself, spoiled or disarmed principalities and powers. He triumphed over Satan, over the spirit world, the demonic kingdom. And he also loose Satan's grip over us as far as death. The UNI can now not fear death, that we have the hope of the resurrection. And so we don't have to be afraid of that. So he completely disarmed principalities and powers. And I want you to notice, he uses the analogy of a Roman general after a war entering in triumph back into Rome, bringing the defeated army before him or with him, displaying them to everyone, and showing, you know, bringing their wealth and everything they had, and bringing it back to Rome. So this is what he did. He made a public spectacle of them. That's what the Roman generals used to do. They'd bring their leaders, many of their warriors back to Rome, and they'd make a spectacle, a public display of them, and show Rome's might and how they had conquered them. Here's the same thing, choosing that same analogy, to picture what Christ did to all principalities, all powers, spiritual and physical. Now we come to verse 16. Well, let me just mention the various Gnostic ideas about this verse, verse 15. In the Gospel of the Egyptians, which is a Gnostic text from the HaG Hamadai Library, the cross is portrayed in a similar setting to what we find here in Colossians 2.15. And supposedly, the Gnostics said that Jesus nailed 13 great aeons to the cross, or great spirit beings. These were the evil angels of creation. They kept man in bondage. So they said that, you know, He nailed those who created the earth. Of course, the only problem with that is Christ created the earth, as it says back here in chapter 1. He created all things. And John 1, 1, 1 and 2, 3, you know, says the same thing. The Gnostic theology, this is the equivalent of the destruction of the Hebrew religion, the law of the Old Testament. And for them, the cross became a symbol of liberation from the Old Covenant and the law of God. Sounds very much like modern theology, doesn't it? For they think that Christ came and He nailed everything in the Old Testament to the cross. And therefore, they don't have to keep it anymore. Now that brings us to verse 16.

Verse 16. Now, I decided today not to use our PowerPoint. I gave you all the outline, our handout the last time. I'm sure all of you have it right there. To be able to refer to I did quote some scriptures that are not in the outline, but basically most of these points are there for you in the outline. In verse 16 it says, therefore, now I want you to notice, therefore is a continuation of a thought. In other words, because Christ has done this, He died for our sins, He wiped out the debt against us, the record of our sins, and He nailed it to the cross, and He triumphed over all of the principalities and power. Therefore, He goes on to say, don't let or let no one judge you in food or in drink.

Or in regarding a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Now, the problem, as we will see, if I could summarize what the problem is, and we'll go back and I'll prove it to you, they were being judged for eating and drinking. In other words, for feasting.

They would feast and eat on the Sabbath like we do. I don't know if they had potlucks, but they would sometimes eat, and especially on the Holy Days, being feast days, they would eat. The main point of verses 16 and 17 is that the Colossians should not allow these heretics to judge them on their eating and drinking practices when it came to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath. And this is what they were doing. Now, the word judge is the Greek word krino, and it is the word that is used, translated, sometimes judge, sometimes condemn. And it means to separate, to distinguish, to discriminate between good and evil. When you judge something, you're discriminating normally between, is it right or wrong? Should I do it or not do it? Is it good or evil? In the New Testament, it means to judge, to form, or give an opinion after separating and considering a particular case. So you render a judgment based upon the information, or it's based upon God's word, God's law, is right or wrong. Now, when it says in food or drink, as it's translated here, this is an inaccurate and misleading translation, rendering of the Greek words. A better translation is eating and drinking.

So now we begin to get more of a feel for the verse, that we are not to let anyone judge you, for what? For eating and drinking. Now, there are those who use verse 16 to say it's talking about unclean meats, unclean foods, and so nobody is supposed to judge anybody for what they eat, so therefore you can eat anything. Now, that's not what it's talking about, as we'll see. But a better translation, again, is eating and drinking. So the two practices that were under attack were eating and drinking. What if you go out for the night to be much observed? You have in your home, go out to a restaurant, wherever it might be, and you have a very nice meal, maybe it's an expensive meal, and you drink a nice bottle of wine. And there would be some who might say, well, first of all, you know, you are being extravagant. Why didn't you just eat a hamburger and give the money? Which you can't do, because it's not to be much observed, but, you know, eat a hamburger and give the money to the poor. Or, you know, they would condemn you, or, you know, they would condemn you, or make fun of you. Or say, you shouldn't drink, and you'd be judging you. The act of eating and drinking in the process of worship is what is being referred to here. Feasting by the Gnostics would be considered indulging the flesh, and therefore would be sinful. It would be sinful to do that. This is not talking about unclean meat, but eating and drinking or abstinence. Asceticism is basically what he is trying to knock in the head here. As we'll find as we go through the rest of this section, Paul very clearly brings out what some of their ascetic practices were, what some of their ascetic ideas were.

Paul has here in mind the ideas or the ascetic practices of the Gnostics. So, the question was decidedly not clean unclean meats, but asceticism versus Christian rejoicing and feasting. Now, he goes on to say, With regarding a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

Now, the word regarding in the Greek is me-ros, M-E-R-O-S. It's a noun, not a preposition, and it means to cut in portion. If you me-ros the steak, you cut it in portion. I mean, you chop it up. Me-ros is nearly always translated as part or portion elsewhere in the New Testament. So, basically what we find is only a portion of the festival's new moons or Sabbath were being questioned. So, it says, Therefore, don't let anybody judge you or condemn you in eating and drinking portion of a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath. See, that adds a great deal of clarity when you come to understand what it's talking about. What was being questioned was how these days were being observed.

The conflict in Colossae was the manner in which members were celebrating there.

And so, therefore, there were these critics who were standing back and saying, Well, you shouldn't do it this way. And I've noticed down through the ages, ages, last few decades, that there have been many critics who criticize the Church, criticize God's people, and how we go about trying to observe the Sabbath. In fact, I've talked to different people who will tell you, Well, you're breaking the Sabbath because they had their own ideas how the Sabbath should be kept. Or the Holy Days. They had their own ideas how the Holy Days should be kept.

And yet, here you find they're specifically zeroing in on the eating and drinking. So, let me read verse 16 again, and sort of paraphrasing what we found out. Don't let anyone judge you or condemn you. In eating or drinking, portion of a festival of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are something, verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come. But the substance is of Christ. Now, King James Version says, but the body is of Christ. This is the substances of Christ, and almost all your modern translations will put in the word substance.

Now, I want you to notice very carefully, in the Greek, verse 17, the word, R, R, R, R is R. Now, what I mean by that, R is present, active, indicative. That means it's present tense. It's not past tense. It doesn't say which were a shadow of things to come. It says, which are a shadow of things to come. To come is a present participle.

So, it's talking about present events and future events. The point is, the tenses rule out the interpretation that the Sabbath and Holy Days became obsolete with the coming of Christ, because he's talking about the eating and drinking portions of a festival, new moon, or Sabbath, which are a shadow. It didn't say which used to be a shadow, which were a shadow. At one time, they foreshadowed something, but he says they still are.

Now, how can something cast a shadow unless it's there? Unless it's there. You have a big tree outside, and every day it casts shadows. We've got part of our backyard we'd like to plant a garden in. We're having difficulty because the trees cast shadows until noon and cover the whole backyard. So, it casts a shadow. Now, if I really wanted a garden, I'd spend a couple thousand dollars and get somebody in there, cut four or five trees down, and we no longer have a shadow there. Because why? Well, there's no longer a tree there. If there's no tree, there's no shadow. So, the fact that it says, which are a shadow of things to come, it means just that. What are they a shadow of?

Things to come. So, they foreshadow events yet to unfold in God's master plan. That's basically what it's talking about. So, verse 17, instead of saying, well, you know, the Sabbaths are only shadows and therefore, you know, they shouldn't be kept, very clearly he says that they still are foreshadowing something. Things to come. But the part that really throws people, and this is what you find that most people latch onto, is they say, but the substance is Christ.

Now, the way that's explained is that Sabbath, Holy Days, new moons, they're only shadows. But the real substance is Christ. And so, the real thing is Christ. As long as you have Christ, you believe in Christ, you've got the substance. The rest of this is just shadows. And shadows come, shadows go, and you know, they try to explain it in that way. Is substance here a good translation? You'll notice in your margin, my margin here, I have a new King James Version. Verse 17 has number one. It says, literally, body. And the King James Version translates this as body. The word in the Greek is soma, S-O-M-A, and it means body.

Soma is never used in the entire New Testament for anything other than body. Either a literal body, physical body, usually human, or to the corporal body of Christ, which is the church. So, basically, the word is always, not basically, it's always used as body.

In chapter 2, verse 11, it talks here about the body of sins of the flesh. Soma, verse 23, talks about the collecting the body, and it's referring to the body. There are all kinds of places that you could turn to.

Now, the problem here is the verb is not supplied in this sentence. As you know in Greek, sometimes, many times in Hebrew, the verb is not supplied, and you have to supply it. So, you have to read the context. You have to understand the true meaning of what the verse is talking about, and then you supply the verb to go along with it. The translators add the word is. So, if you put the word is in here, the word is is not in the original. The original just says the body of Christ. Now, they supply, they say, well, that doesn't make sense. So, they put the word is there, and so they translate it, the body is of Christ. And so, they say, well, substance sounds better. So, they put substance in there. You know, the substance is of Christ.

Mr. Armstrong, decades ago, felt that the word should be lit because he could look in the Bible and see that the expression body of Christ referred to the church.

Let me just read you a few places. I mean, we all know this, but Romans 7, 4, Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. That's his literal body. Verse 16 of 1 Corinthians 10, the cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 12, 27 says, You are the body of Christ, referring to the church, and members in particular. Ephesians 4, 12, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. If you insert is in here, you destroy the meaning.

What he is saying is, let the body of Christ judge you, or guide you in how to observe these days, not the critics, not the Gnostics. It's what is called in the English language an elliptical clause, meaning that the first part supplies the second part. Let me give you a paraphrase of what I mean. Don't let any man judge you for eating or drinking, or for any portion of your observance of a festival, New Moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of future events in God's master plan, of which Jesus Christ is the central figure, but let the body of Christ do what?

Judge you. See, it's elliptical. Let the body judge you. Let the body of Christ be your judge in these matters. So who should tell you how to keep the Sabbath? Who would be your guide on how to keep the Holy Days? Somebody out here who's unconverted, who doesn't understand God's law, who doesn't have God's Spirit, who's sitting there as a critic and trying to judge you and tell you what to do, or should God's church, you know, the ministry in the church after decades and decades of keeping the Sabbath and being guided by God's Spirit, understanding God's law, tell you and guide you and show you how to keep the Holy Days. So again, verses 16 and 17 are not doing away with the law. It is simply saying how we should keep these days, not to let the critics, not to let others judge you, condemn you, criticize you, that God's Holy Days and Sabbaths are a shadow of future events, and the body of Christ should judge you. And so, I mean, that's what it's talking about. That's the very clear meaning of these verses. And it's amazing that there are a number of modern scholars who are beginning to understand this and write about it.

Luther was one of the first to write against it. And then there were others. Basically, what you find is much of modern theology is based upon Luther's interpretation of the Bible, Scriptures, how he felt about it. And there are a number of modern theologians who are beginning to see that that's not exactly right, and they're beginning to correct it. Okay, with that in mind, let's go on to verse 18 and realize we'll take that along the cover of those two verses. Verse 18, let no one defraud you of your reward, taking delight in false humility.

So notice, there is a false humility that people can have.

As sometimes you hear people say, I'm humble and I'm proud of it. And, you know, they'll use the term humble or humble. Notice, it says, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he is not seeing vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

New Revised Standard Version translates his verse, Do not let anyone disqualify you, that's what defraud is talking about.

Disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions puffed up without cause by human way of thinking. Notice, a human way of thinking. Now, and it says, let no one, notice verse 16, therefore let no one, same expression, verse 8, beware lest anyone cheat you. So, this is a series of warnings that he's given. It's not changed the theme. It's the same people, beware of them, don't let them judge you, and here, don't let them disqualify you or rob you. The word actually means rob you of your prize.

It is, the word actually in New Testament means to decide or give judgment against you. It is a word that was used of the acts of an umpire. An umpire is one who has to judge. In baseball, an umpire judges. You're safe. You're out. Strike! You know, and you know, he's making judgments. He's calling the game. An umpire, when it comes to business practices, maybe labor management, is settling disputes and judging right or wrong, one way or the other. Well, the same is true here. And normally, it was also a word that was used in athletic contests to one who made judgments and handed out the prize. So this is why he's saying, don't let anyone defraud you of your reward. Our reward is to be in God's kingdom.

The point he's making is that Christ wiped out our debt of sins. He disarmed principalities and powers by his death. Angel worship and all of that has nothing to do. See, the Gnostics believe that there were these angels, and you had to climb the ladder of emanations to work one way up to God. So according to the Gnostic angel worship was appropriate. And he's saying here, it's unappropriate.

Self-abasement is talking about false humility or punishing of the body. Notice verse 23, same chapter. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, neglect of the body, but are of no value against indulgences of the flesh. You can beat your body as much as you want to. You can go without. You can starve yourself to death. You know, you can, as you find there are some religions today where people crawl miles on their knees to kiss an idol or to, you know, Easter comes around and they get somebody to nail nails through their hands so that they can emulate what Christ went through. And they think that God is pleased with punishing the body, going without false humility and neglecting the body. He isn't. Then it talks about the worship of angels. Worship of angels is idolatry.

Worship God in Him only. You know, it doesn't say worship God and then you can worship angels and you can worship, you know, whatever. I'm intrigued by the fact today that there are hundreds of books out on angels. Everybody talks about angels, you know, my angel, and they talk about having, you know, angels, the occult, the rosecrusions, the Eastern religions, you know, all of these are involved with angelic worship. You have to realize that they all have their roots from the same source. But what you find, as he says here, don't go down that line. Don't let anybody deceive you or defraud you of your reward. And that's exactly what he's talking about. What should you and I do? Well, we find that we have died with Christ from the basic principles of this world. So we don't have to go along with the traditions, the principles of this world. Verse 19. See, those who do this are not holding fast to the head. That's Christ. He's the head. Church is his body from whom all the body. So you and I as part of the body, part of the church. And again here, choosing body in reference to the church. From whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase which is from God.

Now, 1 Corinthians 3 shows that God gives the increase. Somewhere about verses 7, 8, 9. God is the one who gives us increase or gives growth. Growth comes from him.

And so, if we are going to grow, we have to stay in the body. We have to look to the head, to Christ, who is our Savior, who gives us his Spirit, who lives within us. He's the one who is going to ultimately give us salvation, eternal life. He's the head of the church. Ephesians 1, 22 says, has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. So Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And how do we grow? Well, notice Ephesians 4, verse 15 and 16.

Now, verse 20.

When you and I were baptized, brethren, we died from the basic principles of the world. This again is the Greek word stoichiia, and it means the basic elementals, elemental principles of this world, and can include the angelic host. The same thing is mentioned in verse 8. Same thing back in Galatians 4, verses 3 and 9. I gave you Don Ward's handout and write up on the elementals. So he's saying, therefore, because of all we've read so far, if you died with Christ, that's what we did when we were baptized. The old man died. He's dead. What did we die from? Well, from the basic principles of the world, basic traditions of this world. Why is though living in the world—we know when we're baptized that we're no longer to be a part of the world, but we live in the world. We're still in the world.

So why is though living in the world—do you subject yourselves to regulations? And again, the word here for regulations is dogma. It comes from the word dogma. Notice the new Revised Standard Version, translation. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as though you still belong to the world? Why are you still living like you're in the world? Notice if you died to these things, why are you still following them? Following those basic philosophies, why do you submit to regulations?

And the Greek word is dogmatizo, a decree, a command, enjoined, laid down by ordinance.

So again, Paul has in mind there following these ascetic type of teachings. Now, what kind of asceticism is he talking about? Notice verses 21. Let's read this whole section together.

Why do you subject yourselves to regulations? What kind? Don't touch. Don't taste. Don't handle. Now, on the Holy Days, they were touching, tasting, and handling food, drink, and so on, which all concerned things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of man. He's not talking about his law. He's talking about them going without strict ascetic practices and approaches according to the commandments and doctrines of men.

Now, these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom. They appear wise in self-imposed religion, false humility, neglect of the body. Notice in the margin, neglect of the body is severe treatment, asceticism in the margin, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. You can do those things until you're blue in the face, and they will not help you overcome sin. They will not help you overcome your lust. They will not help you to overcome a carnal mind. So, these verses point out the futility of asceticism, which is an attempt to achieve holiness by rigorous self-neglect, self-denial, and even self-mutilation and inflection. And that's not the way to achieve holiness. Neglect of the body is a strict ascetic approach. Men-made regulations have to do with not marrying, not eating, not handling certain things, not after the commandments of God, but after men, after the tradition of men. So, they have an appearance of wisdom. Like a lot of things that human beings do, people look on them with awe and think that they're wise. And asceticism is powerless to restrain sin or to bring one to God.

Human effort, no matter how great, cannot save you. It's only if you have God's Spirit, have been forgiven, are part of the body, and are looking to the head for your strength and power. Gnosticism and its ascetic practices are worthless.

So, that brings us to the end of chapter two. And to our first split Bible study, we will stop there and we'll come back for chapters three and four.