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Colossians Commentary with Big Ideas and Preaching/Teaching Notes

Colossians Commentary with Big Ideas and Preaching/Teaching Notes

As far as we know, Paul never visited Colosse. We infer this from his
comments in this letter that he “heard of their faith” (1:4), that their
teacher was Epaphras (1:7), and that he had not seen them “face to face”
(2:1). Nevertheless, he speaks authoritatively to them as their apostle,
indicating that not only did he reserve this right as the apostle to the
Gentiles but that as the mentor of Epaphras he was indirectly the
Colossians’ mentor as well.

We are told in Acts 19:10 that Paul spent two years in Ephesus and that
“all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and
Greeks” and this likely included Colosse, Hieropolis and Laodicea, cities or
towns in the interior of Asia Minor. Epaphras probably heard the gospel in
Ephesus and went to what we may presume was his home town Colosse
to tell them how he had found the Savior. Paul, now years later, was
sending them this letter, to be shared with Hieropolis and Laodicea, the
three towns being relatively close to each other.

The problem they were facing was false teaching. We can reconstruct the
false teaching from what Paul says about it directly and indirectly how he
responds with the truth in contradiction of the teaching. Here are the
salient points of this false teaching:

Paul terms it “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human
tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world” (2:8)
It was critical of the diet of church members and of whether
or not they attended certain (Jewish?) festivals and observed new
moons and Sabbaths (2:16)
It encouraged asceticism (denying pleasures to the body), worship
of angels, and interpretations of visions (2:18)
There was possibly a singular, individual proponent of this teaching, the singular “him” (Greek) of “his sensuous mind” (2:18)
It forbid touching and tasting certain things as a means of being
godly (2:21-23)
Paul’s emphasis on Christ’s pre-eminence suggests that this false
teaching did not give adequate honor to Jesus (chapter 1)
Paul’s emphasis on being the true circumcision suggests there was
a strong Jewish slant to the false teaching (chapter 2)

Colossians 1:1-2

^1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ²To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. (NIV)

Paul’s apostleship was granted to him by God’s determination, a
determination that moved Him to have the Son, the Lord Jesus, confront
Paul in a vision of himself while Paul was going to Damascus to arrest Jews
who believed in Jesus (Acts 9). Jesus told Paul that he was crucifying him,
Jesus, but that he, Paul, would bear Jesus’ name before Gentiles and kings
as well as the children of Israel (Acts 9:15). Jesus made Paul, along with
the 12 apostles who were with Jesus from the beginning (Acts 1), official
holders of the information concerning Jesus and his teaching for handing
down to succeeding generations. The apostles performed this service by
planting churches all over the world and, equally important for us, by
writing Scripture to objectively commemorate their knowledge.

Paul is representing apostolic Christianity to these readers, whom he calls
“saints” and “faithful brothers,” a description that focuses on their holy
standing before God as those forgiven and cleansed by Jesus’ sacrifice, and
on their solid adherence to the true gospel. We may presume that by
brothers he includes female believers as well.

Paul sends grace and peace from the God the Father. “Grace” was the
typical way Greek writers greeted one another in letters and “peace” or
shalom was the way Jewish people greeted one another, but Paul likely
invests these common greetings with Christian content. Grace is God’s
unmerited favor granted because of Christ’s redemptive work and peace is
the resulting nature of the relationship now between those who have
believed in God. There is no more enmity but only gracious acceptance
in the Beloved.

Timothy is included in this greeting most likely because he is Paul’s
amanuensis or secretarial scribe, writing what Paul dictates, Paul writing in
his own handwriting only the concluding remark in 4:18 to give some
authentication. Timothy is not mentioned again, and Paul speaks in first
person throughout the remainder of the letter after his prayer report in
1:3-8.

———-

Teaching notes on 1:1,2

Big Idea: 1:1,2 What the apostle Paul, along with Timothy, desires for the believers at the church in
Colosse is the Father’s grace and peace.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
1) Apostolic Christianity always celebrates grace
2) Apostolic Christianity always leads to peace

———-

Colossians 1:3-8
³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— ⁵the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel ⁶that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. (NIV)

Wiles (Paul’s Intercessory Prayers, Cambridge 1974) has shown
demonstrably that Paul’s reports of how he prays for his readers are thematically tied to the
body of his letters. In them we get a preview of the topics he will address.
The first part of his prayer report, as usual, is what he thanks God for in his
prayers for the recipients. And he is thankful for their faith, love and
hope, the three qualities that characterize true believers. He
is not likely saying that they have faith in Christ and love
for the saints because they have the hope of heaven, but rather
he is thankful because they have the hope of heaven.

Paul could expand on each of these attributes, but he only expands on
faith in Christ Jesus when he says the readers heard the word of truth, the
gospel, the one that bears fruit everywhere it is preached, and that they
learned from Epaphras, who faithfully represents apostolic tradition, Paul
specifically. Paul is readying them for a treatise on the true gospel.

———-

Teaching notes on 1:3-8

Big Idea: 1:3-8 The reason for Paul’s gratitude to God in prayer for the Colossians is the report from
Epaphras, their teacher, that they have faith in Christ Jesus, love for all believers, and hope of heaven
consistent with the gospel they learned and that is bringing similar results everywhere.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
The preaching of the true gospel
leads to
1) Faith in the true Christ
2) Love for other true believers
3) Hope of heaven

———-

Colossians 1:9-14

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹²and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NIV)

What Paul prays for the Colossians is also in accord with the challenge
they are facing in false doctrine. But with “knowledge” and “spiritual
wisdom and understanding” he expects there will come a worthy walk that
bears the fruit of good works. This is what the false teaching claims it can
do for its followers, but Paul will expose that falsehood.

Paul also asks for God’s strength to help them endure in joy and stay
attached to the true gospel that alone gives us an inheritance with all the
saints in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God’s Son, Jesus, who
provided our redemption. God qualifies us for this kingdom. We are not qualified, as Paul
will show, by our feeble, worldly efforts at spiritual living, as the false
teachers suggest.

———-

Teaching Notes on 1:9-14

Big Idea: 1:9-14 What Paul and Timothy are consistently asking God for on behalf of the Colossian
believers is fuller knowledge of the gospel and experiential power from God that results in gratitude-filled lives worthy of God and the kingdom of His Son to which they have been transferred from the
darkness of their previous unredeemed and unforgiven lives.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
To stay true to the gospel of the
kingdom we need the prayers of
others for
1) Knowledge and spiritual wisdom
2) Fruit bearing walks that are worthy of the Lord
3) Divine power to persevere in joy and faithfulness

———-

Colossians 1:15-20

¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (NIV)

Paul now launches into basic apostolic teaching on the core tenets of the
gospel, beginning and ending with Jesus, his person and his work.

As to his person, Jesus is an exact replica of the Father and the most pre-
eminent being in the universe. Though the use of the descriptor
“invisible” of the Father might seem to suggest that it is in his visible
aspect that he is an exact representation of the Father, Paul, and all other
Scripture, rejects the view that a physical representation of God is given to
us as an aid to worship. Rather, Jesus is the image of God in the sense that
he is in every way just like the Father, though, as other Scripture would
show, unique in his personality. We are talking here about the attributes
of God.

A convenient and powerful description of God’s attributes is afforded us in
the Westminster Confession of Faith catechism referring to God as
“infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodness and truth.” Jesus fits this “definition” perfectly. And so, he is the
“firstborn of all creation.” We see from the use of this term in Scripture
that firstborn does not necessarily refer to birth order (Israel is called
God’s firstborn even though as a nation it was not God’s first “child,”
Jeremiah 31:9, and king David in Psalm 89 is made firstborn, defined as the
“highest” of all the kings). Rather, the intent of the word “firstborn” in
contexts like this is ‘the highest honored one’, the one who, like the
firstborn child in a family, was given extra honor and privilege and
responsibility for the family.

If, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, we focus instead on the birth aspect of
this word, we still do not get the result they get, that Jesus is the highest
created being in the universe. Being born is not the same as being
created. If we think of Jesus being “born” we must consider him as an
exact DNA-like replica of the Father, generated by the Father from all
eternity, there never being a time when he was not so generated. This is
usually referred to in theology as eternal generation and refers to the
Son’s personhood rather than nature. Though there is merit in this view it
is not being taught explicitly here. “Firstborn” is not being used here as a
reference to generation but to position, as is further explained in what
follows.

Jesus is the Creator to whom all must submit and who continues to sustain
the universe, holding it together. Likewise, this makes him the head of the
church. And in relation to the Church he is the first one raised from the
dead, the one whose resurrection is first and most honored, and the
evidence that his work of sacrifice was effective and that he was sinless.

We are speaking now of the work of Christ. His work was to make a
reconciliation of all rebellious creatures possible through his sacrificial
death on the cross. He makes that shalom possible by paying the price for
our sins, death, in our stead, just like the sacrificial animals of Jewish ritual
did, though they could not really take away sin. Only the “firstborn” of all
creation can do that.

———-

Teaching Notes on 1:15-20

Big Idea: 1:15-20 The character of the Son of God who rules this kingdom is the pre-eminent one over all creation and over all the church by virtue of being the exact replica of God in whom all God’s attributes dwell and in virtue of having reconciled to God by his sacrificial death for all those who
believe.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
Two core ideas of the gospel are:
1) The deity of Jesus
2) The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus

———-

Colossians 1:21-23

²¹Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²²But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (NIV)

The goal of Christ’s work on the cross as sacrifice is not just to forgive our
sins and give us a ticket to heaven. It is to present us holy and blameless
to God, no longer doing evil deeds. It is not just to remove our guilt. It is
to remove our sinful hearts. This is in accord with the provisions of the
new covenant, best explained in Jeremiah 31:31-34, where forgiveness of
sins and the writing of the law on our hearts is promised.

But this reconciliation is only for those who truly believe, and this belief is
evidenced in continuing in the faith and in adherence to the true gospel. If
they shift from the hope of the gospel Paul is a minister of, they give
evidence that they are not truly Christ’s disciples, not genuinely saved. It
would be as the apostle John described in his first letter: unbelievers who
once professed faith but depart from the faith go out from the believers
because they are not really “of” them (1 John 2:19).

Paul is really putting it on the line here. He wants to encourage them in
the faith and he rehearses the faith for them to help them, but in the end
he must warn them that how they respond determines whether they are
really in the faith at all. As Jesus taught, “You will recognize them by their
fruits” (Matthew 7:20).

———-

Teaching Notes on 1:20-23

Big Idea: The guarantee that these Colossian believers are reconciled to God by Jesus’ death is their perseverance in the doctrine and holiness of the gospel they heard from Epaphras via Paul.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
True doctrine and holy living are always
1) The evidence of true faith
2) The result of true faith

———-

Colossians 1:24-29
²⁴Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— ²⁶the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. ²⁷To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

²⁸He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. ²⁹To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (NIV)

Christ is still suffering through his church, and Paul is part of the Body called
upon to suffer for the sake of reaching Gentiles and Jews with the gospel.
This actually causes Paul joy to suffer this way. It is what Jesus promised
him he must do (Acts 9:16), it came with his stewardship given him by God
to make the gospel fully known, and it resulted in many coming to know
the risen Christ.

Paul’s message was a mystery, a previously unrevealed “secret” that God
made known with the coming of His Son. What was clearly revealed in the
Old Testament was that the Messiah would bring all nations into
relationship with God, not just Israel (see, for example, Genesis 12:1-3).
But what was not revealed was that Gentiles would come to God apart
from requirements to keep the Law of Moses, without, in effect, becoming
Jews, but simply by faith in Messiah. This was part of the new wineskins of
Jesus’ ministry, the new form faith would take (Matthew 9:17).

So now Paul is focused on proclaiming Christ and making sure everyone
who comes to faith is warned against ungodly living and taught to become
mature followers of Christ. This consumes all his energies but, in fact, the
energy he has comes from God.

———-

Teaching Notes on 1:24-29

Big Idea: The nature of Paul’s calling that God has given him energy to accomplish through preaching to
and suffering for the Gentiles is to bring the previously unrevealed truth to light that the Jewish
Messiah Jesus is the Gentile hope, as well, so that both Jews and Gentiles will become mature in their
relationship with Christ.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
1) We are called to be stewards of the gospel
2) We are called to suffer for the sake of His church
3) We are called to bring all to maturity in Christ
4) We are called to do this in His energy

———-

Colossians 2:1-5

^2:1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. ²My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. ⁵For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. (NIV)

The false teachers have made inroads at Colosse and Laodicea and though
these congregations were not planted by Paul they are still under his
purview and care. He is struggling on their behalf to insulate them against
false teaching. True teaching will lead to loving unity and full assurance in
the gospel.

Contrary to what the false teachers must be saying, in Christ are hidden all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There are no “secrets” out there,
special knowledge that needs to be discovered to lead us to holy living and
assured salvation. Their arguments may seem plausible, but they are a
delusion. The Colossians will cause Paul great joy if they see this and
maintain good order (right living) and firmness of faith (right doctrine).

———-

Teaching Notes on 2:1-5

Big Idea: 2:1-5 Part of Paul’s struggle on behalf of these Colossian believers and those in their immediate territory is for them to have a strong faith in the gospel as he has preached it so that they are not deluded with a false gospel.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
1) True doctrine never remains unchallenged
2) True doctrine always leads to unity and assurance
3) True doctrine centers on the truth of who Jesus is and finds him sufficient

———-

Colossians 2:6-15

⁶So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (NIV)

Paul begins rehearsing the gospel for the Colossians. It is the gospel that
saved them originally (see Galatians 3:1-5), and thus they must not depart
from it but continue in it like a tree rooted in the soil of Jesus, like a
temple built on him, the true foundation. They should abound in
thanksgiving that God rescued them with the truth.

The philosophy that was being offered them at Colosse was empty, not
full, like the faith, and captive-taking, not freedom-giving. This is
because it sprang from two useless and dangerous sources, human
tradition, what human beings have used to explain God’s world in
opposition to how He explained it, and the elemental spirits, the
demons who seek to keep people diverted from the truth.

The true gospel, instead, is based in Christ, the one in whom the “whole
fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Human religions spoke often of semi-
gods who only partly embodied the Creator. But Jesus is the Creator,
100% God and 100% man, not some semi-god. And so he is able to fill
us. The circumcision this false philosophy was requiring was done in the
flesh, in the body, but believers have received a circumcision of the
heart from Christ, the cutting away of that hardness which prevented
us from receiving the truth. Our baptism took care of this circumcising
by showing our burial and resurrection with Christ, his death to sin and
rising to life becoming ours by virtue of us being attached to him.

We were previously dead in our sins and incapable of holiness in our
“uncircumcision.” We still had the flesh nature hardening our hearts from
the truth. We couldn’t gain life except that God made us alive with
Christ and forgave all our sins. That record of debt we owed to God, the
record that the law condemned us with because we had failed to keep
its demands, Jesus nailed to the cross. And by doing that he effectively
nullified the elemental spirits, the demons, the rulers of darkness who
were keeping us from the kingdom of light, and exposed their
foolishness. They thought they had won when he died but his
victorious resurrection showed their victory celebration was
premature.

———-

Teaching Notes on 2:6-15

Big Idea: The gospel that Paul wants these believers to adhere to is the gospel that is freed from human
reasoning and demonic falsehoods, centered in the Messiah who is fully God and fully man, and the one that provides true circumcision of the fleshly nature, death to sin’s debt, and resurrection to spiritual life.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
(1) Reject a gospel that is centered on human reasoning and demonic falsehood
(2) Embrace a gospel that is centered on the God/Man Jesus
(3) Embrace a gospel that causes true freedom from the flesh and sin’s debt leading to spiritual life.

———-

Colossians 2:16-19

¹⁶Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. (NIV)

Paul is outlining some of the falsehoods propagated by the false teachers. We have already seen that circumcision is something they were requiring, making it seemingly apparent that this is a Jewish form of this false teaching. Here Paul adds that dietary restrictions are also part of the teaching as well as observance of the Jewish festivals, sacrifices (“new moon” was the first of the month sacrifice mentioned in Numbers 28), and Sabbaths. Paul asserts that these were never meant to be the substance of our relationship with God but were rather a shadow cast by the real thing, an anticipation of what was coming with Messiah. The kingdom changes everything. Old wine skins cannot hold new wine. New forms are necessary for the new order of things with Jesus’ coming. For these teachers to continue to require these shadows is to deny who Jesus is and what he has accomplished with his coming.

The false teachers further require “asceticism” (Greek, humility, but a false one in reality) and worship of angels. We don’t know exactly what this meant to them, whether adoration of the angels who appeared to them in visions of the afterlife or whom they had appealed to for help against demons, or something else entirely, but it was fundamentally contrary to the Scriptural injunction to worship God alone.

The word translated “going on in detail” has been variously understood as “claiming an inheritance via one’s visions of mystical experiences,” “initiatory entry into a mystery cult via visions of the mysteries,” or “going into detail about heavenly ascents experienced in visions.” In either case, what the false teachers were seeing, and encouraging the Colossians to experience, was leading them into demonic falsehood, the kind that led them to arrogant and sensual thinking.

The sum of these teachings appears to be the beginning of the evil one and his false teachers to infect Christianity with what became known as Gnosticism and mystery religion. Gnostics (from the Greek word for ‘know’) taught that salvation came from special knowledge revealed in mysteries. The idea that knowledge, even specially revealed knowledge, can save us, is a denial of just how sinful. Our problem is not lack of knowledge but a rebellious heart that will not hear true knowledge, a heart that represses the truth (Romans 1:18-20).

Another false philosophy of Gnosticism generally was that the material world was evil. This is why they upheld the idea of semi-gods. The true God could not create something evil, so He must have created lesser gods who did the creating of the physical world. And if physical stuff is evil, then we must abstain from certain foods, marriage and sexuality, and for sure give proper credit to these semi-gods (angels?).

The Colossians will be disqualified if they adhere to these false teachings. They will demonstrate that they no longer embrace the faith delivered to them by apostolic witness, and are therefore not true believers. If they are genuinely saved, they will hold fast to the Head, to Jesus. Relationship to him nourishes and knits together the whole body with divinely inspired growth.

———-

Teaching Notes on 2:16-19

Big Idea: The reason the Colossians should not submit to elemental spirits again and become disqualified from the Son’s kingdom is these things are shadows of the real thing in Messiah, come from an arrogant and sensuous mind, and fail to give the Colossians the healthy growth that comes from being connected to the head of the church, Messiah.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
Submitting to spiritual practices as the means to acceptance by God and personal holiness:
(1) Disqualifies you from Christ’s kingdom
(2) Is only a shadow of the real thing in Jesus the Messiah
(3) Comes from a sensuous mind
(4) Fails to provide healthy growth in connection to Jesus the head of the church

———-

Colossians 2: 20-23

²⁰Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ²¹“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²²These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. ²³Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (NIV)

If we are to ask how one deals with one’s sinful tendencies as a Christian there is an appearance of wisdom in the answer that we must harshly subdue our bodies and the body’s temptations to sin. We could do this, it would be argued, by denying the body any of its pleasures related to touching and tasting. We could employ fasting from food, from comfort, from sex, and from any other indulgences. This, in fact, is what to one degree or another all self-made religions have required. It speaks to the spirit of the world and its confidence in our own inward ability to make God sit up and take notice of us and reward our hard work and seeming self-denial. It satisfies our craving to stay in control of our lives and destinies and enables us to make sense of why God might love us and save us.

But it doesn’t work.

Refusing to indulge the flesh bodily, keeping ourselves from comforts to the body, does not quell the flesh spiritually, it does not quell our sinful nature. I am still very capable of pride, lust, envy, greed and malice no matter how much I mistreat my body. The key to holiness is not self-endeavor. Even if I were to cut off my hands or pluck out my eyes, though I might thus render my body incapable of doing outward sins, my heart is still evil and I can sin quite successfully, thank you, without my body. This is why Jesus approached the Law of Moses in his sermon on the mount as having its true focus on the heart and not just the external behavior.

———-

Teaching Notes on 2:20-23

Big Idea: The big problem with reconnecting to the ascetic worldly requirements of religion to which the Colossians died is though they appear to be wise they are actually valueless in stopping sin.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
If you want to be accepted by God:
(1) Don’t try keeping yourself from indulging your bodily desires…it doesn’t work
(2) Do try trusting in Jesus to help you be holy…and know that you are already accepted by God in Christ

———-

Colossians 3:1-4

^3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (NIV)

If denial of the body is not the way to holiness, what is? Seeking the things above is the way. Christ has been raised from the dead and seated with God at His right hand in heaven. He is and should be our focus, not earthly things like diet and discipline. This is not to say that the spiritual disciplines that we utilize are wrong, but they must be used correctly. They are not to be used to subdue the flesh by, for example, denying food (fasting) or company (solitude), but they are to be used to focus our minds and hearts on Jesus. I fast, for example, in order to spend time with the Lord because that is more valuable to me than eating. I spend time alone, not to avoid temptation, but to have time to focus on prayer and reading God’s word and being with Him.

When Jesus died, because we are “in” him, we died also. Our life has been hidden or couched in his life. He is the “secret” to spiritual growth and godliness being a reality in our lives. We have the guarantee of glory because Christ is coming in glory, and we are in him. As we focus on Jesus, as we spend time in intimate interaction with him, through correct doctrine about him, talking to him, hearing from him, and worshiping him, we will be changed into his likeness. We may continue to mess up, to sin, but even that, as we bring it to him, will result in our being transformed into his likeness. And if we come to him before we sin, when we are tempted, he will help us avoid sinning. He is everything. As Paul said elsewhere, “to me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).

Christians have made much of the spiritual discipline of daily quiet or devotional time, and rightly so. It is time set aside daily to be with Jesus. We sometimes think of it instead as one thing on our checklist to do for God’s approval, but this is to misunderstand its purpose. It is not a denial of the body but rather a time of intimate focus on Jesus that alters our thinking and behavior, not through self-effort but through his life pouring into mine. If someone were to come to you for mentoring and spent a great deal of time with you learning, they would gradually become more and more like you. The same works for us as we spend time with Jesus. We must seek the things that are above where Jesus is. We must seek Jesus.

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Colossians 3:5-11

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (NIV)

Paul had said that we died and our lives were hidden with Christ in God. Since we are dead, we must put to death the sins in our lives, the sins which, if they characterize, or are habitual in, our lives demonstrate that we are under God’s wrath and when Jesus returns we will be judged as unbelievers. But these sins were a part of our past, were what controlled us then. Now we must put them away.

Paul does not give us a process for killing our sins except what he has already said, to focus our hearts on what is above, on Jesus. In fact, he says we have already in some sense put off the old life like a dirty set of clothes and have put on the new self, a clean set of clothes, a self that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator. Because He is doing this in our lives we are able to put to death or put away the evils in our hearts and habits.

This process does not favor any ethnic or social group. All are the same before Christ, who is everything. Old distinctions have no bearing on whether I can be holy before God. Using Jewish laws to get holy is meaningless for the Gentile. Circumcision plays no part in godliness. Having no social standing or even a fearsome one like the Scythians, means nothing. Being a slave or a free person makes no difference. We’re all being renewed if we have put our faith in Christ.

The sins Paul focuses on are first of all sexual. This area of our lives seems to be the one we always struggle with the most. In our modern parlance we might say it is the most addictive. There must be transformation here to evidence our salvation. Then Paul focuses on the anger that leads to malice and slander and obscenity. Then he speaks to lies that damage relationships. As believers we want to be like Jesus and so we want these sins to be a part of our past. We want to see them dead and instead live a new life that is like his. Seek the things above where Christ is. Go to him over and over if you want to see change.

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Teaching Notes for Colossians 3:5-11

Big Idea: The requirement and ability of those who have put off the old self and been given a new self is to radically kill our earthly and sinful thoughts and practices and to be renewed in knowledge about God’s likeness without regard for sinful human categories and statuses.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
The requirement for true holiness is:
(1) Recognizing that God is at work in the true believer to change his or her life
(2) Putting to death sin in our lives, especially sexual sin, anger, and lying in relationships, by Jesus’ empowerment

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Colossians 3:12-17

¹²Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (NIV)

The righteousness of God is not the absence of sin in our lives, it is the presence of holy love that leads to compassion, kindness, humility and meekness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness. It is love that binds all these characteristics together. And it is love that leads to peace among the members of Christ’s church, the peace to which we were called as one body. It is this love and peace which is to rule in our hearts. When it seems we want to separate from each other because of conflict, peace should instead make the decision that we stay together. When it seems anger and even hatred want to rule the roost in our churches, the peace of Christ should correct that decision.

The righteousness of God includes gratitude, a recognition that everything good in our lives comes from Him. Our rescue at the hands of the slain Lamb and all other good things originates in the One who loved us with a perfect love.

The righteousness of God also includes ministering to others out of the richness of what Christ teaches us. As a result, we teach one another, admonish one another (warn each other about deadly sin in our lives), encourage one another with sung truth, and with, again, hearts full of gratitude.

The righteousness of God is doing everything we do in the name of Jesus, the name above all names, the one to whom all praise and thanks is due, and who gives us access to our wonderful relationship with the Father. Righteousness is not just taking off our “dirty clothes” but putting on the wedding garments God has provided for us in anticipation of that great wedding banquet in the kingdom.

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Teaching Notes for Colossians 3:12-17

Big Idea: The requirement and ability of those chosen and loved by God is to wear all aspects of love like a garment and be at peace with all fellow believers, being ruled by gratitude to God, enriching yourselves in Christ’s word, teaching and warning fellow believers with wisdom and song, doing all you do for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
The requirement for true holiness is:
(1) Living all aspects of love in our lives
(2) Choosing peace in our relationships
(3) Ministering to others with hearts full of gratitude in the name of Jesus

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Colossians 3:18-4:1

¹⁸Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

²¹Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

²²Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. ²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ²⁵Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

^4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. (NIV)

Righteousness has implications for the way we live as families. In the Colossian context the household usually consisted of parents, children and slaves, unless you were very poor indeed. So Paul briefly addresses each family member according to their role.

Wives and husbands are to demonstrate a mutual submission, the wife’s submission being in a subordinate role to the husband’s leadership, the husband’s submission being a loving and gentle leader. There is no room in God’s righteousness for spouses who do not treat one another with the utmost respect, as is fitting in the Lord.

Children are to be obedient and parents are to be gracious. Provoking one’s child would cover a number of behaviors like harsh discipline, impatient discipline, over control and even relational distance. The environment for a child of Christian parents, and indeed for any child, ought to be one of encouragement.

Slaves are to obey their masters with a sincere desire to serve the Lord Jesus instead of yielding to the temptation to just get by with acceptable service. And masters are to demonstrate justice and fairness just like they would like to receive from their Heavenly Master.

This is what a household, workplace, any relationship should look like for those letting the word of Christ dwell richly in them and the peace of Christ ruling in their hearts. This is how the new man we have clothed ourselves with in Christ will manifest the new life in relationships.

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Teaching Notes for Colossians 3:18-4:1

Big Idea: The way this Christian living will look in the household is wives submitting to their husbands, husbands loving their wives and children, children obeying their parents, fathers tenderly teaching their children, slaves obeying their masters sincerely with confidence of God’s reward and His pay back for any masters who do wrong, and masters treating their slaves fairly as their Master in heaven treats them.

Preaching/teaching/devotional Idea
How the Christian household should work is:
(1) Wives submitting to their husbands
(2) Husbands loving their wives
(3) Children obeying their parents
(4) Parents encouraging their children
(5) Slaves serving their masters as to the Lord
(6) Masters treating their servants fairly and kindly