Why Look for Anything Else?
We live in an age that is well supplied with impersonators, pitch men and con artists. And we have learned to tolerate them. Sometimes, we even laugh at some of their simple-minded deceits.BY RAY C. STEDMAN Colossians 2:8-15
But what is happening to many people today is not funny at all. A Christian friend of mine told me just the other day that his son, who had been raised as a Christian, has lately been involved in a cult that claims to open human minds to divine powers. Highly intelligent and well educated, he has dedicated his life to propagating the error of that cultic group.
This is not an uncommon experience at all. Many, many people are getting involved with all kinds of spiritual activities that are not of God. They are playing with fire. That's why I think Colossians 2:8-15 is highly relevant to our own time.
This passage first warns us not to be taken by wrong teaching. It then goes on to explain why a person who has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ should not be enticed by any false teaching to begin with. Let's study these verses closely.
Verse 8: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."Like the Colossians, we all should see to it that we are not taken captive by false teaching. Actually the word is "kidnapped". We are liable to be kidnapped by wrong philosophy or false doctrine. It could hold us hostage for years, if not for the rest of
our lives.Note that the weapon used by the enemy is "hollow" and "deceptive" philosophy. Many philosophies may sound good; many may have wide following. But, when compared with the reality of human existence, they are all far off the mark. They are without content; they only lead people astray.
Both capitalism and communism, for instance, are philosophies with no eternal value. John Kenneth Galbraith describes the difference between them thus: "Under capitalism, man exploits man; under communism, it is exactly the reverse!" We cannot find our security in either one of them.
The three main characteristics of a wrong philosophy are:
1. Human tradition. All wrong philosophies arise out of the thinking of men. They find a foothold in society, and then are passed along from generation to generation. They appear popular and have wide support mainly because hardly anyone dares question them.
One obvious example today is the theory of evolution. Although it is being challenged more and more on the scientific level in recent years, it is widely taught in school and is universally accepted. Since it was first introduced, it certainly has taken many people hostage, deceiving them into denying the existence of God, the Creator.
2. Principles of this world. The word for "principles" here, which is sometimes translated "elements", has to do with something that is rudimentary, simple and elementary.
But sometimes, it is also used with reference to an army of soldiers lined up in a row, as in a hierarchy. Some scholars believe, therefore, that Paul is referring here to the fallen angels. Note that he describes them in Ephesians 6:12 as the "principalities" and "rulers of the darkness" against whom we wrestle. In Galatians 4:9, he calls them "weak and beggarly elements".
Oftentimes, when a scriptural phrase has a double meaning, both meanings are intended. I believe that is true here. The wrong philosophy that Paul describes here fits the description of what he calls "doctrines of demons" in II Timothy. They are rudimentary truths, perpetuated by demonic powers among human beings. They tend to return people to childish actions and childish views of life.
This is characteristic of many of the cults and Eastern religions that are being offered today.
3. Not according to Christ. Heretical teaching always focuses on demoting Jesus, refusing to recognize the full revelation of His Being set out in the Scriptures. Every cult attacks the person or the work of Jesus, or both.
Then, there are those who regard Jesus as just one among several divine masters who come periodically into human affairs to teach us wonderful truths that we would never know otherwise, and which, if followed, will release within us great divine powers. This is the teaching of the New Age movement that we are currently being exposed to.
All Spiritual Blessings
When confronted with false teaching, most of us attack it and try to point out what is wrong with it. But Paul does not do that. He reviews for the Colossian Christians what they already have in Jesus:Verses 9 and 10: "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority."Everywhere in Scripture you will find this approach: We are to be "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2). When we focus upon Christ, then the mind and heart are both protected against the assault of an evil teaching.Here, the apostle reminds the Colossians that they already have everything they needif they have Jesus. Likewise, if you put your trust in Christ, then the fullness of the whole Godhead comes into your life.
So, Paul asks in effect: "What more do you need? What more can any new experience add to that? What philosophy can give you more than that which you have already received from being in Christ?"
But how do believers share in the fullness of God in Christ? Paul explains that it comes in four steps. First, they were circumcised by Him:
Verse 11: "In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ."That is an astonishing statement. Many scholars hold that Christian baptism has taken the place of the Old Testament rite of circumcision.
If we are born-again Christians, says Paul, we have been both circumcised and baptized. But this verse and the next show clearly that they are not the same. If we are born-again Christians, says Paul, we have been both circumcised and baptized.
Notice first of all that our circumcision was done by Christ. When our Lord was crucified on the cross with all our sin, we underwent what Scripture calls the "circumcision of the heart". And what happened when we were circumcised? The putting off of our sinful nature.
Verses 12 and 13a: "You were buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ."Whereas circumcision symbolizes the cutting off of our sinful natureor our dying to sin, as Romans 5 and 6 arguesby virtue of the death of Jesus and our death with Him, baptism stands for our new life with Him. When someone is immersed in the waters of baptism, he is not left there; he is brought out again to a new life.That is what baptism, the second step, symbolizes: the work of the Spirit in imparting new life from Christ, the human spirit made alive. This is the difference between a true Christian and a merely professing Christian. The true Christian has been made alive in Christ; He has a whole new basis for living.
Now, the third step in this process of sharing in Christ:
Verses 13b and 14: "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."Here, Paul speaks of the forgiveness of our sins, for which the law the "written code with its regulations"condemned us. That condemnation has been removed by the death of Christ on our behalf. He paid for all our sins, the sins we committed in the past, the sins we commit today, and the sins we shall commit in the future. Sin is no longer an issue in our relationship with God. It still affects our fellowship with God, but not our relationship.While we need to acknowledge our sin in order to enter into the benefit of that forgiveness, forgiveness is already there in the heart of God. What a wonderful truth! Paul sees it as having been "nailed to the cross," so it no longer can condemn us. To be exact, the law is not done away with; the condemnation of it is.
The last step is, we are freed from the power of these evil beings:
Verse 15: "Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."These are the rulers of darkness, the clever, malevolent, malignant beings who keep inserting into human thinking wrong ideas, dangerous thoughts, attitudes and teachings that set us at naught with one another. They make us go for one another's throat, keeping enmity and strife stirring in the human family.What has happened to them? Paul declares that when Jesus died, He seized these powers by the throat, chained them, and dragged them in triumph behind Him, like a Roman general marching through the streets of Rome, his chained captives walking behind in total subjugation.
That is why John can say, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." There is no need, therefore, to give way to evil teaching or evil temptations, for we have a Power and a Person within, who is superior to anything Satan can throw against usthe world, the flesh or the devil!
This, then, is the teaching of this passage. If we understand who we are in Christ, and what we have in Him, there is no need to be weak, faltering or failing. Nor do we need to look for anything or anyone else. In Christ, we can rise up and be the men and women that God intended us to be. o
Rev. Ray C. Stedman is pastor of Peninsula Bible Church, 3505 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306.