Keeping the Truth
Colossians 2:8-23
Satan’s top priority is to subvert and pervert the truth about Jesus Christ. Satan loves confusion and delusion. Paul warned the church at Colossae about being deceived by false teachers. Knowing and keeping the truth about Christ is essential to bringing glory to God.
A warning (v. 8). Paul warned about philosophy and empty deception. The word translated captive (v. 8) literally means to be carried away like the spoil or booty of war. Paul cautions the Colossian believers about being tricked into falsehood. By philosophy, Paul is not referring to wisdom and knowledge in general. He is referencing a particularly pernicious philosophy being propagated by someone in Colossae. This philosophy was the tradition of men. It originated with men and was passed on by them. It was not from Christ. The teaching of the Gnostics was according to the wisdom of the world, not according to Christ. Jesus Christ is the standard by which all systems and philosophies are to be measured. The Bible is our authority for evaluating belief systems.
The truth (v. 9). Jesus Christ is the standard to measure all philosophy and knowledge. In Jesus is “all the fullness of Deity.” There is nothing deficient about Him, and nothing needs to be added to salvation. Jesus is fully God in bodily form. Here, Paul asserts the incarnation of Jesus in a physical body. Christ supplies all we need for salvation. In Him we are complete. He died, was buried, and raised to life on the third day. Jesus was dead, but God raised Him up. Our condition before salvation could not have been more dire. We were “dead in [our] transgressions.” There is nothing dead people can do to help themselves. Dead people cannot make themselves alive again.
Can the dead decide to be alive? Can the dead choose to live again? No. As a result of sin, we were completely void of spiritual life. Yet, “He made you alive” (v. 13). The dead were brought to life. He has forgiven all our transgressions. Verse 14 states: “Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Christ has canceled the legal document listing our debt of sin. The Greek word for canceled was used in secular literature for blotting out something in a document. He literally wiped it away. How did He do this? He did it by allowing Himself to be nailed to the cross as the payment for our sins.
When false teaching infiltrates, oppose it with the revealed truth about Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). There are no new doctrinal inventions that need to be added to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Melton– Lessons by Frankie Melton, pastor of Heath Springs Baptist Church, Heath Springs. He has a B.A. degree from Charleston Southern University, and a Ph.D. and M.Div. from Southern Seminary.