#5~ Col.2: 8 -12 FALSE TEACHERS 12-22-13
* LET'S REMEMBER THAT VERSES 4-7 ARE--WARNING ABOUT "Enticing words" by the so called wise men of the day.
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* Verses 8--13 are mostly warning about the Philosophy of the free thinkers.
8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
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8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
The Colossian heresy promoted itself as traditional. --- It could trace some or many of its ideas back to traditions among the Jews or the Greek philosophers or both. ---- Paul here warned that the tradition of men has no equal authority to the word of God.
~ Paul warns against, and exposes the Colossian heresy; he say's don't be cheated by philosophies and traditions.
It also has the ideas of robbing and plundering. - "Their goods were the salvation they had received from Christ"
~Both the Gentile and Jewish teachers were trying to deprive the Colossian believers of these truths.
~ The false teaching among the Colossians was marked by an emphasis on philosophy and empty deceit. --- Most of all, it was according to the tradition of men. It had the workings of man on it, not God.
~ This philosophy that threatened the Colossian Christians was a strange mix of early Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, local mystery religions, and Jewish mysticism.
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Gnosticism includes a very wide range of beliefs and is better viewed as a collection of religions sharing some common themes, rather than as one specific religion. ~~ The thought and practice especially of various cults of pre-Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil. ~~ About 1664 it came about.
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* "Gnosis" is a Greek word for knowledge.
~ Gnosticism taught that God (as a Perfect Spirit) could not come into direct contact with the material world.
~Gnosticism taught that since God could not have direct contact with the material world that God Himself did not create the world, but He worked through lesser spirits or angels.
~ Paul took care to show that Jesus was the creator of the world (Colossians 1:15-16).
~Gnosticism (and some forms of Jewish mysticism) taught that God did not deal directly with man and the material world, but that He dealt with the world through a series of mediators.
~Paul took care to show that Jesus did the work of reconciliation Himself (Colossians 1:19-20).
~ Gnosticism (and some forms of Jewish mysticism) greatly esteemed these supposed mediators, and considered them angelic beings of a sort.
~ Paul was careful to warn the Colossians that angels should not be worshipped (Colossians 2:18).
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The connection to Jewish mysticism is seen from the way Paul brings forth a few more points.
* Jewish influence on Christianity emphasized dietary laws.
Paul took care to say that Christians were not under Jewish dietary laws (Colossians 2:16).
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9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
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In this verse, Paul makes an air tight declaration of the full Deity of Jesus. -- Since all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus, He cannot be a halfway God or a junior god.
~ These Gnostic heresies** [system that combined Oriental theology and Greek philosophy] made a great separation between the spiritual and the material. -- That is why Paul needed to make it clear that all the fullness of the Godhead was in Jesus bodily, not in some strange, mystical sense.
~~ John also dealt with this false teaching in;
>1st. John 4: 1-3 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
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~Some of these Gnostics claimed that Jesus had no actual human body; that He only seemed to have one. --- Another of their false teaching said that the "Jesus the man" was separate and distinct from "the Spirit of Christ."
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~ And you are complete in Him:
~ This can only be true because Jesus is truly God. --- If He were not God, we couldn't be complete in Him. --- Anything that says we are not complete in Him also takes away from the deity of Jesus.
~ Since all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus, and as believers, we are united to Him in a faith-relationship, then we are also complete in Him. --- Therefore there was no need to go to the false promises and attractions presented by the false teachers among the Colossians.
~ You are complete in Him: -- Paul says that this is a fact to be enjoyed, not a status to be achieved.
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10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
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* Head of all principality and power:
~Principality and power describes ranks of angelic beings, either faithful or fallen angelic beings. -- Paul says something about that in;
>Rom. 8:38 -39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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>Ephesians 1: 18 - 21 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
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~ Paul here declares Jesus' authority over all spirit beings. The false teaching among the Colossian Christians emphasized these lesser spirit beings, but Paul makes it clear that Jesus is far above them.
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11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
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~ The work of Jesus in His people through spiritual circumcision and is illustrated by water baptism.
~ In Him you were also circumcised:
~Most of the Colossian Christians were Gentiles who most had never been physically circumcised.
* "Circumcision" is first mentioned in Gen.17: @@@@
~LISTEN-- The practice of circumcision was fairly observed in the world of Abraham's time. --- In its original observances it may have been a kind of religious acknowledgment associated with the powers of human reproduction, but more commonly it seems to have served as a tribal mark; and it is likely that this was the case that God made use of it dealing with Abraham and his dissidence.
~For Abraham's family it was to be regarded as a token [sign-evidence] of the covenant.
----- Let's read about circumcise as it's first mentioned in the bible.
~Genesis 17: 1-14 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. -- 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; --- Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token** [sign-evidence] of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
~ Disobedience meant that the individual would be put out from among the people; there was no individual or group that could destroy this covenant which God had made with Abraham and his seed after him. ---
It is an everlasting covenant. --- The man who had broken the covenant was put out from among the people, but the covenant stood.
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~ It is important not to overlook the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. --- Old covenant blessings came by physical descent, of which circumcision was the sign; ---- new covenant blessings are spiritually conveyed and are expressed by a new sign, that which is written in our hearts and lives.
-- Paul assures them that they were indeed circumcised in a spiritual sense, which is even more important than physical circumcision, because then it is by GRACE, NOT LAW.
~ The Colossians Christians had to deal with a whole variety of false teaching. Not only did they give the wrong ideas about Jesus, but they also had wrong ideas about things like circumcision. --- Apparently, they were being taught that they had to be circumcised to be right with God. --- Paul makes it clear that they were circumcised, by putting off the sins of the flesh.
