Colossians 2:16-23

1. Colossians Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Commentary
2. Colossians Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Bible

© Rosemary Bardsley 2014

Colossians presents the all-supremacy, the all-sufficiency, the uniqueness, and the fullness of the person and work of Jesus Christ as the God-man Savior, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and the total solution for man’s needs both for time and eternity. Download this easy to use app to read and study the Bible for Lutherans. Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism. It's the third common Protestant denomination after Pentecostals and Anglicans, with approximately 80 million of members. The Lutheran Church is based on the work of Martin Luther. Martin Luther was born in Germany. Colossians 1, Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatians, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary by Martin Luther, presents the justification of the sinner by faith alone.

Colossians 2:16

‘Therefore …’ because of all that Paul has already said about who Jesus is and what Jesus did on the cross …

‘do not let anyone judge you …’ Paul is not speaking here of not discerning between right and wrong, good and bad, behaviour. All of his letters contain clear instructions to believers about the kind of behaviour and attitudes they should put off or put on. Discernment is necessary. Recognition of wrong and right behaviour is necessary. But what he is speaking of here is not that. He is talking of that judgement which divides people into those who are saved and those who are not saved, on the basis of behaviour. It looks at whether or not a person keeps certain rules, regulations or rituals. It accuses and condemns those who don’t meet the required criteria. It deems them unacceptable to God on the basis of their religious performance.

Because of the once-for-all, complete salvation accomplished by God in the death of Jesus Christ our substitute, all such judgement/condemnation is inappropriate. All the judgement/condemnation due to our sins fell on Christ. There is none left for those who are in Christ to bear. So Paul puts the onus back on the believer: don’t you let anyone judge you in such a way as to put you back under condemnation.

‘by what you eat or drink …’ This was one criteria by which the false teachers judged the Colossian believers. Whether it was a question of meeting certain fasting expectations [as the Pharisees judged Jesus’ disciples], or a question of eating ‘ritually unclean’ foods [as in Leviticus], or eating with a Gentile or a Samaritan [see example in Galatians 2:11-13], or the eating of meat offered to idols [a question addressed by Paul in his letters to the believers in Rome and Corinth], we are not told. Regardless of the issue in question, Christians were being judged on this basis.

‘or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath Day’ - This list refers to the observance of festivals, celebrations and days required by the Law of Moses. There the observance of weekly Sabbath Days, monthly New Moon celebrations, and annual feast days of various kinds was required. In addition to these regular observances the engagement in a wide range of other religious activities was required. In their essential significance all of these were a reminder of God’s sovereign grace by which they existed as his people. Hence, regarding the Sabbath, God said:

‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy’ [Exodus 31:13; also Ezekiel 20:12].

But over the generations, the perception of these observances shifted from that action of God they represented, to the human action of observing the feast day or Sabbath. The observance became viewed as a meritorious human action that attracted God’s acceptance. Instead of being a reminder of God’s blessing already received, they became that by which humans earned God’s blessing.

Now the Judaistic false teachers brought these expectations into the church at Colosse and laid them upon the Christians. As with the rules about food and drink, Paul exhorts the believers not to let anyone sit in judgement on them in relation to whether or not they observe these religious celebrations and day.

In the twenty-first century church we are not normally confronted with these identical judgements – except on occasion, questions about the Sabbath or fasting. Nevertheless, we need to be on guard that our local or denominational church traditions do not hold us under similar judgement.

Colossians 2:17

‘These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ’ – All of the Old Testament rituals and observances, while pointing to the present reality of God’s sovereign grace, at the same time, and more importantly, where prophetic symbols of a far greater ultimate reality: Jesus Christ. He is the one, real ultimate sacrifice from whom all the ritual sacrifices derive their existence. He is the one real Sabbath rest. He is the one real Day of Atonement. He is the one, real New Moon festival. All exist because of him. All borrow their significance from him. All point ahead to him as the one real place where grace and forgiveness are found. All anticipate and predict his coming and his saving work. To revert to the shadow, the symbol, when one knows the actual reality from which they take their meaning, is unthinkable. [This is the burden of the Letter to the Hebrews, which tells us that all of these things were mere human copies of the real thing, Jesus Christ, whom God showed to Moses.]

Colossians 2:18

‘Do not let anyone … disqualify you for the prize’ –

The false teachers were characterized by

delighting in false humility
worshipping angels
going on and on about and preoccupied with their visions
unspiritual minds (minds of the flesh)
excessive (and empty) pride
the mind of the flesh [they are still relating to God on a performance basis].

There was the appearance of humility and spirituality in the false teachers; both were false; yet they tried to impose both on the Colossian believers. In so far as the believers did not display these supposed qualities the false teachers held them to be disqualified, and made them feel disqualified.

Paul has already stated in 1:12 that God ‘has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light’. It is not up to them to qualify themselves. They are already qualified. As Paul stated in 1:22 God ‘presents you holy in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation’.

So Paul insists: Don’t let anyone disqualify you on the basis of these or similar criteria. The same warning is relevant today as Christians are lured into a mystical, experiential, subjective version of Christianity, and those who fail to conform to this are made to feel that they are missing out on something, or are second-rate Christians.

What Paul is saying here is: don’t let these false teachers - with their reduction of who Jesus is, their exaltation of angels, and their focus on personal mystical human experiences - cut you off from experiencing the joy and peace of the true Gospel.

Colossians 2:19

‘He has lost connection with the Head …’ – [Literally – and not holding the Head]. Here Paul states that it is not the Colossian believers who are disqualified, but rather anyone who teaches and substitutes such man-centred teaching for the true Gospel. Such a person is not holding on to Christ. It is not that these teachers once held onto Christ, then lost connection with him, it is that they are not holding on to him. Rather than depending onto him and depending on him for everything, they are depending on their own efforts. And their teaching is forcing their hearers to depend on their own efforts, as detailed by Paul in verses 16 to 18, and further in verses 20 to 23.

The truth is, says Paul,

It is Christ, the Head, who supports the whole body of believers.
It is Christ, the Head, who holds them all together.
Weeping willow progenyamerican meadows equestrian center. It is Christ, the Head, who is the source of the church’s growth.

The false teachers are completely out of line.

Colossians 2:20-23

Here Paul reminds his readers of what he has taught at length in Chapter 2: the union of the believer with Christ in his death – ‘you died with Christ’. This death, he now says, was ‘to the basic principles of this world’ – that is, the principle of legalism that characterizes all human religions and all false cults: man must merit reward, acceptance with God on the basis of one’s own works. For those who believe in Christ, they have died to this principle. It can no longer touch them. God has circumcised off ‘the body of the flesh’ – their human performance. Christ has rescued them from it. It is irrelevant.

Why then, Paul asks, do you submit to its rules, as though you still belonged to it? Paul is not advocating that believers descend into anarchy and disobey civil law. Nor is he giving believers licence to disobey God’s moral laws. He is sounding a warning against a similar list of imposed religious criteria for acceptance with God as those he listed in 16 to 18:

Rules about food – verse 21.
Rules about worship – verse 23: ‘self-imposed worship’.
False humility – verse 23.
Linux ubuntu 1204 iso download 32 bit free download. Harsh treatment of the body – verse 23.

These things, he says,

Are temporary.
Are based on human rules and teaching.
Have an appearance of wisdom … but
Lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

As Paul points out in Romans: even the Law does not make us spiritual. All the law can do, all the Law was meant to do, was to make us aware of our sin [Romans 3:19,20] and thus to lead us to the salvation which is found in Jesus Christ [Galatians 3:23-25]. If God’s Law has this limitation, if God’s law was never intended to make us spiritual, how much more are man-man rules and regulations unable to make us right with God, or keep us right with God. They cannot do it. Only Jesus Christ can do that.

In this section, 2:16-23, Paul has confronted the false teaching head on. He has also challenged the Colossian believers, warning them not to be deceived by this false teaching – not to let it judge them, not to let it make them believe they are disqualified, not to submit to its rules. All such actions are in complete contradiction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All such teachings are man-made reductions of the Gospel, demonstrating the unbelief of those who promote them.

Colossians
A Bible Study

Outline

I. Introduction (1:1-14)

A. Greetings (1:1-2)
B. Thanksgiving (1:3-8)
C. Prayer (1:9-14)

II. The Supremacy of Christ (1:15-2:23)

A. The Full Glory of Christ, the Son of God (Colossians 1:15-23)
B. The Full Glory of the Gospel (Colossians 1:24-2:5)
C. The Refutation of the Colossian Heresy (Colossians 2:6-23)

III. Life In The All-Sufficient Christ (Colossians 3:1-4:6)

A. Seek The Things That Are Above, Where Christ Is (Colossians 3:1-17)
B. Christ the Lord of the Household (Colossians 3:18-4:1)
C. Vigilance in Prayer, Wisdom Toward the World (Colossians 4:2-6)

IV. Conclusion: Personal Matters (Colossians 4:7-18)

Colossians Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Commentary

Author, Date and Place of Writing

The fact that Colossians is a genuine letter of Paul is not usually disputed. In theearly church, all who speak on the subject of authorship ascribe it to St. Paul.

In the 19th century, however, some thought that the heresy refuted in chapter two wassecond-century Gnosticism. But a careful analysis of chapter two shows that the heresythere referred to is noticeably less developed than the Gnosticism of the leading Gnosticteachers of the second and third centuries. We must remember that already in the firstcentury the seeds that gave way to this second century heresy were already at work.

Colossians is to be best dates during Paul's first imprisonment in the city of Rome,where he spent at least two years under house arrest (see Acts 28:16-31). Some have arguedthat Paul wrote Colossians from Ephesus or Caesarea, but most of the evidence favors Romeas the place where Paul penned all the Prison Letters (Ephesians, Colossians, Philippiansand Philemon.)

Colossians should be dated as close to the year 60 A.D., in the same year as Ephesiansand Philemon.

Colosse: The Town and the Church

Several hundred years before Paul's day, Colosse had been a leading city in Asia Minor(present-day Turkey). It was located on the Lycus River and on the great east-west traderoute leading from Ephesus on the Aegean Sea to the Euphrates River. By the first centuryA.D. Colosse was diminished to a second-rate market town, which had been surpassed longago in power and importance by the neighboring towns of Lacdicea and Hierapolis (seeColossians 4:13)

Colossians Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Bible

What gave Colosse New Testament importance, however, was the fact that, during Paul'sthree-year ministry in Ephesus, Epaphras had been converted and had carried the gospel toColosse (cf. Colossians 1:7-8; Acts 10:19:10). The young church that resulted then becamethe target of heritical attack, which led to Epaphras's visit to Paul in Rome andultimately to the penning of the Colossian letter.

Perhaps as a result of the efforts of Epaphras or other converts of Paul Christianchurches had also been established in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Some of them were housechurches (see Colossians 4:15; Philemon). Most likely all of them were primarily Gentile.

The Colossian Heresy

Paul never explicitly describes the false teaching he opposes in the Colossian letter.The nature of the heresy must be inferred from statements he made in opposition to thefalse teachers. An analysis of his refutation suggests that the heresy was diverse innature. Some of the elements of its teachings were..

1. Ceremonialism-It held to strict rules about the kinds of permissible food and drink, religious festivals (Colossians 2:16-173 and circumcision (Colossians 2:11; 3:11)

2. Asceticism-'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! (Cf. Colossians 2:21; 2:23)

3. Angel worship-(Colossians 2:18)

4. Deprecation of Christ-This is implied in Paul's stress on the supremacy of Christ. (Colossians 1:15-20; 2:2-3,9)

5. Secret knowledge-The Gnostics boasted of this (see Colossians 2:18; and Paul's emphasis in 2:2-3 on Christ, 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom')

6. Reliance on human wisdom and tradition-(see Colossians 2:4,8)

These elements seem to fall into two categories, Jewish and gnostic. It is likely,therefore, that the Colossian heresy was a mixture of an extreme form of Judaism and anearly stage of Gnosticism.

Purpose and Theme

Paul's purpose is to refute the Colossian heresy. To accomplish this goal, he exaltsChrist as the very image of God (1:15) the Creator (1:16), the preexistent sustainer ofall things (1:17), the head of the church (1:18), the first to be resurrected (1:18), thefullness of diety in bodily form (1:19; 2:9) and the reconciler (1:20-22). Thus, Christ iscompletely adequate. We 'have been given fullness in Christ' (2:10). On theother hand, the Colossian heresy was altogether inadequate. It was a hollow and deceptivephilosophy (2:8), lacking any ability to restrain the old sinful nature (2:23)

The theme of Colossians is the complete adequacy of Christ as contrasted with theemptiness of mere human philosophy.

I. Introduction: Salutation, Thanksgiving, and Prayer.(Colossians 1:1-14)

Paul gives thanks for the Colossians' faith and love, a loveinspired and sustained by the hope laid up for you in heaven. He assures them thatthe gospel which has produced this in them, which they had heard from Epaphras,is the true, universal, powerful, and productive Gospel, preached in the whole world,proclaiming and conveying the grace of God in truth. (This is the gospel whichneeds no supplementation by 'philosophy' and 'human tradition', cf.Colossians 2:6-8)

Paul prays that they may grow in the knowledge of this Gospel, a knowledge ofGod's gracious will (not of empty speculations) which produces a life rich in everygood work, increasing as it is employed in the service of the Lord, the beloved Sonof God, King of a kingdom whose subjects have redemption, the forgiveness ofsins, now and the hope of an inheritance in the bright future world of God.

Paul prays that God the Father, who has given them their present blessing and theirglorious future, may strengthen them to endure with patience the pressure of thepresent and that the lives of the Colossians, lived in the power bestowed by Him,may be an unbroken song of thanksgiving to Him.

II. The Sufficiency of Christ (Colossians 1:15-2:23)

A. The Full Glory of Christ, the Son of God (Colossians 1:15-23)

The mention of God's beloved Son, who is God's redemption and forgiveness in person (verses 13-14), leads over to a mighty hymn in praise of Christ in His fully glory as Creator and Redeemer. Paul holds before the eyes of the church all that they have in Him whom Epaphras (verse 7) proclaimed to them..

He is God's image, the perfect manifestation of the invisible God; the first-born of all creation, the Mediator of creation the Lord over all created beings, including all angelic powers (thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities).

As He is Lord of creation, He is also head of the church; as He is the first-born of all creation, He is also the first-born from the dead, the Lord in whom all mankind may find life everlasting.

In Him all the fullness of the God who willed man's redemption GRACIOUSLY DWELT: IN OBEDIENCE TO THAT WILL He went into the depths of a criminal's violent death (death of His cross) to restore man and all man's fallen world to God.

He is in everything..pre-eminent; in His kingdom (verse 13) they are secure--no powers of darkness have power to harm them there.

B. The Full Glory of the Gospel (Colossians 1:24-2:5)

The Colossians have this Christ as their Reconciler and Justifier in the Gospel and in it alone (verse23). The Gospel is therefore infinitely precious.

Paul rejoices to suffer in its behalf as he toils with Christ inspired energy to proclaim it. The Gospel is universal in its scope and power, proclaiming the revealed secret of God (mystery, verse 27) far beyond the limits of His ancient people, bestowing the riches of the glory of His grace on the Gentiles: it is present and powerful for every man, to make every man mature in Christ.

The Gospel is complete and sufficient, the sure ground of hope, faith, and love and the source of all understanding and knowledge.

Any pretense of a higher knowledge, beyond the Christ proclaimed in the Gospel, is delusion and deceit, for in Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found.

In the power of this Gospel the church can be (what the Colossians are now) an ordered and disciplined army of the living God of heaven.

C. The Refutation of the Colossian Heresy (Colossians 2:6-23)

Paul has one weapon of offense: Jesus Christ. In the opening verses (verses 6-7) he bids the Colossians base their whole existence on Him. He is to soil in which they have taken root, from which they continue to draw nourishment and strength.

Jesus is also the foundation on which the growing structure of their life rests and rises. In Him they have the firmness of faith which Paul rejoiced to behold (established, verse 7) in Him. Christ is the one whom they know, for whom they continually give thanks to the Father (Colossians 1:12).

III. Life In The All-Sufficient Christ (Colossians 3:1-4:6)

As Christ is the whole Gospel and the whole refutation of all distortions of the Gospel(Colossians 1:15-2:23), so He is the whole basis and power of the new life of those whobelieve in Him. His name, (Christ, Lord, Lord Jesus, Lord Christ) occurs 15 times in this31 verse section!

A. Seek The Things That Are Above, Where Christ Is (Colossians 3:1-17)

The reality of the Christian life is to be seen in Christ; nothing is more real than the fact that Christians have died with Him, have been raised with Him and share the glory of His life in God.

But that glory is as yet a hidden glory; until the Christ who is their life appears, its glory is a reality to be realized and manifested in a life whose bent and intent (seek, verse 1; set your minds, verse 2) is militant no to what is earthly, to the old world to which the Christian has died.

It is also a no to the old world of erotic self-assertion (verse 5) and economic self-assertion (covetousness, verse 5) to the old world of heroic self-assertion (verse8), the old world of devious self-assertion, the life (verse 9), and the old world in which fragment mankind (verse 11) has a system of ethnic, religious, cultural and social divisions. 32: hidden treasures.

The Christian has died to all of that (verse 3) in Christ; and this death is realized in his putting to death all of that. His resurrection to glory realized in His enacted yes to God's recreating act (verse 10)

His continual putting on (verse 12) of the garment in which God's elective love (verse 12) has clothed him keeps the Christian in grace.

He also speaks his yes to God's love in a life of compassionate, meek, forgiving love (verses 12, 14). This life is one in which the peace of Christ controls all relationships (verse 15)

The Christian also calls on His potent word which is the indwelling power that produces salutary and grateful song (verse 16)

In conclusion Paul reminds us that all of this (everything) is done in the name of the Lord Jesus--what the incarnate Lord is, has done, and signifies for man is the source and power of it all! (verse 17)

B. Christ the Lord of the Household (Colossians 3:18-4:1)

The hidden glory of the new life manifests itself in the ordinary household relationships of wife and husband children and parents, slaves and masters.

The glory is hidden; things remain as they were, the old order of subordination and obedience lives on. And yet all is new, for Christ has become Lord over both the obedient and the obeyed.

According to Colossians 3:22 slaves were considered a part of the household.

C. Vigilance in Prayer, Wisdom Toward the World (Colossians 4:2-6)

The new life is a vigilant life of continual prayer, particularly prayer for the progress of the Word, the proclamation of the mystery of Christ (verses 3-4)

The new life is itself a proclamation of the mystery to the world (outsiders, verse 5) a witness which calls for the gift of wisdom (verse 5) and for speech marked by Christian taste and tact (seasoned with salt, verse 6)

IV. Conclusion: Personal Matters (Colossians 4:7-18)

The last paragraphs deal with the sending of Tychicus, the bearer of the letter, andthe return of the Colossian slave Onesimus; convey greetings, direct an exchange ofletters between Colossae and the neighboring town of Laodicea; and charge Archippus tofulfill his ministry.

Paul concludes with a greeting written with his own hand, (see Galatians) a renewalrequest for their intercessions, and a brief benediction.

These are personal matters, to be sure; but with Paul there is no difference betweenpersonal and official aspects of his life.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sources

ConcordiaSelf Study Bible – New International Version, Robert G. Hoerber Editor Concordia Publishing House St. Louis, MO. 1986pp.1824-1825