Colossians 2:1-5 [NLT]
December 19, 2012
Oak Park Baptist Church – Wed Bible Study Series
Colossians Bible Study
Paul’s encouragement and teaching on heritical teaching:
To this point, we can read where Paul has been extremely uplifting to the believers in the church at Colossae. However, in the beginning verses of chapter 2, Paul begins to shape his argument against the current trend of false teaching that has been invading this fellowship!
[show v1-5 now]
1I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.
Paul wants these believers to know that they are NOT alone in their walk for Christ! He is with them, even if he cannot be there physically, he is with them in spirit and is sending this letter as a means of encouragement and teaching to them!
But another aspect of Paul’s letter is NOT that he is with them in spirit, but that there are also other congregations that are facing the same issues and false teachings that they were currently facing.
In this area called the Lycus Valley there were three cities located closely to one another. This triangle of cities was… Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Of the three cities Laodicea was the largest and most influencial city. Paul indicates in his letter to the Colossians that he had also sent a letter to the church in Laodicea as well, although that letter has been lost.
I believe it is safe that this heresy was being taught in the entire region, and that Paul had also written to the church in Hierapolis as well, but we have no evidence of such a letter.
Needless to say, Paul’s words here in ch2 v1 reveal that this false teaching being spread throughout the church in Colossae was not limited to Colossian church, but Paul had rec’d word that it was a much larger issue and he wanted these church members to know that they were not alone in the fight against such teaching!
This would have been an encouragement to them, but it would have also served as a warning that they could not rely upon the world and its philosophy, but must remain focused in Christ!
2I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.
Paul’s ultimate desire was to strengthen the faith and increase the courage of these believers to be proactive in their walk in Christ.
Many had fallen away from being proactive and had succumbed to a ‘blend in the woodworks’ mentality… they were NOT spreading the Good News as they had been in the past, instead they were being deceived by a message that changed the Gospel from Christ centered to something else.
Paul advice to them is simple! His desire is the same as Jesus’ in Jesus’ high priestly prayer given in John 17 where Jesus calls for the church to be unified in Christ! But also in John 14 where he calls them to love one another as He has loved them!
His words here in the NLT say that his desire for these believers is that they become ‘knit together by strong ties of love’. The ESV also translates this passage as the believers being ‘knit together in love’! What does it mean to be ‘knit together in love’?
Well the picture we all get in our head when we hear the word KNIT is one of a sweater or scarf or some baby blanket or socks… that grandma or our Aunt did for us…
But I want us to delve into the process itself… for an item to be ‘knit together’ there has to be an outside force! Knitting needles and yarn don’t magically get up on their own and begin to create things… it is done by one who has mastered the craft!
A sweater, scarf or afghan does not knit itself, and it is not the product of someone who is indifferent about those they are knitting for… in other words, our grandma or aunt sits around knitting these things out of a genuine care for those they are knitting for…
This ‘outside’ force that must be present for believers to be ‘knit together in love’ is described by Paul in later verses in this passage… it is Christ Himself! We are knit together because of our bond with Christ! It is Christ who brings us together! It is because of the love of Christ that we CAN be knit together as one body!
When we look at the original Greek we find that Paul uses the Greek VERB soom-bib-ad'-zo to describe this union of believers! Its meaning is to come together as one, which is what ‘knitting’ does for the yarn. The yarn is useless in its original form, but when it is ‘knit’ together, it becomes a useful and productive item!
The same is true for the believer as the ONE who knits us together is Christ, and it is true that on our own, in our original sin soaked condition we are useless to the kingdom.
However, when the ONE who knits takes us and transforms us we can be put into use in the kingdom… we are knit together with other believers to become useful and productive in God’s plan!
This illustration is not complete because yarn in and of itself cannot make decisions and cannot rebel… We, on the other hand have a free will and a heart set on rebellion! This ‘verb’ used by Paul is focused on US, not God!
God is always at work and we never have to worry about His involvement or effort on our part, but it is different for us! We have the tendency to rebel from God and against His plan! Paul is calling believers to ACTIVELY seek to join together and for them to allow themselves to be knit together in the love of Christ!
So we are called to be INVOLVED and active in the ‘knitting’ process…God is the ONE who will ‘knit’ us together, but WE must be willing and submissive instruments in the hands of a loving God! For this to happen we have to TRUST God…
Paul addresses this at the end of v2 when he says,
2…I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.
The key to understanding this is understanding Christ’s role in God’s plan… actually Paul makes this mystery pretty simple as he tells us that Christ IS the plan!
There is NO need to understand how Christ fits into God’s plan because Christ IS the plan! Paul will go on to share that in Christ God was pleased that ALL His fullness dwelt in Christ – in other words Christ WAS God’s plan all along!
So here Paul is teaching these believers that any teaching that reduces Christ’s position is a false teaching…
So in v3 Paul reinforces this teaching by stating it as clearly as he can… he says:
3In him [Jesus or Messiah] lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
In other words, what Paul is telling the believers in Colossae here is that all the need to know is found in Christ and to add to or take away from Christ is to dilute the wisdom of God himself and is WRONG and false! Christ is MESSIAH and Christ is the complete plan of God.
Paul wants to make this point exceedingly clear to his readers… and in v4 he continues driving this point home to these believers in Colossae…and to us today as well! Paul says:
4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments.
Paul is saying this for a purpose… it is so that these people would NOT be duped by someone who comes in with a cleverly packaged argument that may SEEM humanly rational or logical. Paul is telling them that anyone with ANY message other than Christ and Christ crucified and Christ resurrected… that those people were false teachers and must be ignored!
The term used here in the NLT for this ‘con job’ many teachers were trying to pull on the believers is ‘well crafted arguments’
What is a ‘well crafted argument?’ Well Paul uses the Greek feminine noun pith-an-ol-og-ee'-ah which not only means to craft an argument to change your mind, but it is more focused on crafting a negative argument against Christ being all sufficient. These teachers were giving Christ a PART in God’s plan, but that Christ was NOT enough on his own!
Here Paul wants these believers to know and understand that this ‘argument’ on their behalf was FALSE and would lead them astray from the truth of the Gospel of Christ!
Once Paul establishes this boundary, he returns to his encouragement of the believers in the church… He had been encouraging up to the point of this teaching and now he returns to that same theme of encouragement in the face of the truth being degraded and a lie being exalted. Look at what Paul says in v5:
5For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
Paul says, “…I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong…”
Paul did believe that this was the way these believers were living but he wanted to make sure that they did not fall prey to any outside doctrines that would lead them away from Christ.
Even tho’ Paul was NOT their pastor, this is a very pastoral idea and teaching from Paul. He was shepherding them and seeking to protect them from this heretical teaching…
The concern that Paul had was NOT that these people were looking for something to replace Christ with… BUT that someone with a slick enough package or a silver tongue may come along and convince them that a lie was the truth and that Christ was not God’s all in all plan for their redemption.
These believers were solid in their belief, but Paul’s concern was their humanity… where they may stumble and fall, just as he had on many occasions. Paul himself confesses that he finds himself doing what he knows he should NOT and NOT doing the things he knows he SHOULD be doing!
Paul wanted these believers to NOT fall prey to the temptation of seeking their own desires, so he presses this issue quite hard in this chapter. Next week we will look at v6 thru the end of the chapter where Paul will speak about HOW they are to flesh out this life God has called them to live…
Pray/Dismiss…
