Colossians 2:6,7
IN Genesis, we read that Enoch and Noah walked with God. Elsewhere, the Bible speaks of God’s people walking in God’s ways, in God’s truth, in God’s law and so on. But what does walking with or in Christ mean?
Thousands of books, tapes, seminars and conferences have offered ideas, formulas and steps for the Christian to follow. But when all is said and done, many believers remain confused. Thankfully, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul has a way of simplifying profound truths in the epistles.
For example, when a cagey group seeks to bring down the Colossians through their shrewd arguments and talk of divine mysteries, Paul tells them that no one can improve on who Christ is and what He has done. And in that context, he makes this concise remark about walking with Christ:
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving (2:6,7).
I. You must be born again.
There is much presumption in Christendom. While millions have gone through motions of Christianity that led them to presume that they are believers, most do not yield the fruit of the Spirit. They work hard to be good people, but find no delight in their efforts. Why? Because they have never begun to live the Christian life in the first place. In short, they have never been born again.
Gospel delivered. Note that our text begins with the phrase “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord”. Meaning: Only those who have received Christ can walk with Him.
Let me hasten to say that the idea of receiving here has nothing to do with people making a freewill decision to receive Christ into their heart, answering an altar call to accept Christ, or any other action of man. While such teachings are popular nowadays, they are heretical.
The word “received” in this verse has a much more complex meaning. It begins with a particular message authoritatively delivered. For instance, Moses received the law from God and delivered it to Israel with all authority. He then passed it along to Joshua, who delivered it authoritatively to succeeding generations.
What is the authoritative message required? Answer: The gospel of peace that brings saving faith to those who hear. We read in Romans 10:14,15;
How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?…as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
In God’s salvation program, you see, hearing the true gospel—the glad tidings of good things—is a prerequisite to qualifying one to walk with God.
Message received. But hearing the gospel alone is not enough. Roman 1:16 states:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
Only to those who believe, it says here, is the gospel the power of God unto salvation. The relationship between receiving the Word and believing is best seen in I Thessalonians 1:6, “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.”
Nevertheless, no one can believe on his own, for Ephesians 2:8 insists, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” So, only those who have been given the gift of faith can receive the message and become born again.
Actually, our Lord Jesus Himself is the gospel. He is the Word of God, He is the Chief Messenger. All this explains why our text begins by describing believers as those having received Christ Himself. To have received the message is to have received Christ.
Threefold title. That this verse uses the full title “Christ Jesus the Lord” is something we should not gloss over. The name “Christ” identifies God the Son as the Messiah implicitly promised to Abraham, Israel, and Moses, and of whom Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other holy men of old prophesied.
The name “Jesus” was that given by the angel to Joseph: “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It stresses His humanity, as well as His priestly and atoning work. It was Jesus who both offered the sacrifice for our sins and became Himself the Sacrifice that bore the judgment of God for us at the cross.
The title “Lord” identifies Jesus as our sovereign king. He is master over our lives. Yes, God rules over the whole universe, but in a very special way He is the Lord over the lives of His people. Indeed, unless we submit to His Lordship, we cannot walk with Him.
With this understanding, we can paraphrase verse 6 this way: “As you have become saved by having received the gospel of Christ by God-given faith, so you should also walk in Christ by God-given faith.
II. You must have living faith.
About that walk, Paul then tells the Colossians in verse 7:
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Roots are absolutely essential for any plant to grow and bear fruit. If there are no roots, there is no life. To walk with Christ, therefore, we need to be firmly rooted in Him.
Our being rooted in Christ is alluded to in Romans 11. There, God likens the body of believers to an olive tree into which we have been grafted and of which Christ is the root. We read in verse 18: “thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” You see, it is Christ that gives us life, it is Christ that nourishes us with His words, it is Christ that comforts us with His promises, and it is Christ that empowers us to obey God.
Since the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit and the water that cleanses us, to walk with Him, we really must be well familiar with His Word.
Being built up. Believers, it says here, are not only rooted in Christ, but are built up in Him as well. This analogy recognizes first that we have a foundation that has been forever laid. Everything in the Christian life arises upon it. This foundation is never found inadequate. Attempts to build the Christian life upon anything else are futile.
The verb form used for “built up” implies an ongoing process. Do not think of the Christian life as a one- or two-story lodge. Think of it as a skyscraper that has unlimited potential since its foundation is the infinite sufficient Jesus Christ the Lord!
Who is doing the building? Christ Jesus the Lord, just as He is the foundation. Yes, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Another text that states this clearly is Romans 8:29: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
The Father will not be finished with us until all of us are a reflection of His Son Jesus Christ. That is what Christian growth is all about. That is what the whole process of sanctification is all about. It is the believer being conformed to the image of Christ.
Unshakable faith. But how do we get there? Verse 7 continues, “and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught.” The word “established” means being continually confirmed and solidified. Solidified in what? In your faith, just as you were instructed.
The word “faith” is sometimes used subjectively, referring to the believer’s God-given trust in Christ. For example, Jesus says to the woman with an issue of blood who has touched His garment, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague” (Mark 5:34).
But here that word is used objectively along with the word “taught”. It points to the body of truth in which we believe, the truth for which we are given instructions. Now, let us consider what God is telling us.
The Christian is to continually seek to grow in his understanding of divine truth. He is to be on the pursuit of a greater knowledge of all that is given in the Word. Can he strengthen his faith from teachings offered outside the Bible, like the books, tapes, seminars and conferences that I alluded to earlier? Not really.
You see, it is through the Word of God that we are taught how to establish our trust in the Almighty. Remember Romans 10:17? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Sometimes, God also uses trials to strengthen our faith. But even then, it is through the Word of God that He teaches us how to wait on Him and trust in Him.
III. You must pursue holiness.
While God is the One who has given us Christ and is helping us to be rooted and built up in Him, this instruction is not encouraging passivity. The passage begins by telling us to walk in Him. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” Meaning: To grow into spiritual maturity, the Christian has to pursue holiness.
Progress. Walking involves forward movement. In the Bible, the term “walk” commonly refers to the way the believer lives. It encompasses all aspects of his daily life—how he relates to others, how he responds to trials, how he makes decisions, where he spends his time, what he does with his material possessions, and so on.
Our text leaves no question that the believer is to relate everything to his relationship with Jesus Christ the Lord and with the Word of God. All his life is to be shaped by the reality that “I am His and He is mine.” Nor is there any question as to the manner in which he is to trust and obey, for as the believer received Christ by grace through faith, so is he to live daily by trusting in Christ. He is to be Christ’s ambassador on this earth; Christ’s light in this world. He is to draw from the deep wells of divine grace for whatever he faces. He is to rest in Jesus Christ and His sufficiency.
Yes, we must personally get involved in the action of our spiritual growth. We are told to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25), “walk in wisdom” (Col. 4:5), “walk in love” (Eph. 5:2), “walk in the light” (I John 1:7), and “walk in truth” (III John 1:4). All of these are actions of obedience on the part of the believer as he is guided by the Holy Spirit. Thus, we read in Philippians 2:12,13, “...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Gratitude. Our text concludes the instructions for our walking in Christ by saying, “abounding therein with thanksgiving”.
To be abounding with thanksgiving means much more than saying grace before meals or reciting a prayer before we go to bed. It means that our whole being is saturated and even overflowing with gratitude, being always conscious that we were sinners deserving to be condemned to eternal punishment in hell, but that we have been mercifully forgiven and have been graciously given Christ Jesus the Lord.
Conclusion. Someone says, “A thankless spirit betrays a life which is no longer focusing on the greatness of Christ.” I would say instead that a thankless spirit betrays a life that has no knowledge of Christ. Anyone who is not abounding with praise and thanksgiving to Christ and who does not express that thanksgiving by walking with Christ is badly deceived. May it not be so in your case.