Full Disclosure of the Mystery of God
Colossians 2:1-5
We begin Chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, but this does not begin a different topic in Paul’s letter; it is clearly a continuation attacking the false influences which beset that church and churches in the surrounding area, and false teachings which still plague the Church today.
We read Colossians 2:1-5: 1 “For I want you to know what a great conflict (struggle or battle) I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.”
History of Paul’s Deep Spiritual Struggle
Paul was experiencing a great spiritual struggle concerning spiritual attacks on the Church, even though he never met most of those believers to whom he is writing. There was much cultural pressure being exerted upon the churches in that area, even as there is throughout the world today. As is the case with most cults and sects, false religions and worldly philosophies, they taught that there were “hidden secrets”, “mysteries” and practices concerning a relationship with God. False religions contain worthless mysteries and secrets not found in Christ or supported in His Word.
False religions and philosophies contain non-Biblical false teachings. If a teaching is not mentioned and affirmed in the Word of God, the Bible, it is not doctrine. False teachers many times take one verse from the Bible which is not affirmed anywhere else in the Bible and develop a teaching from it. This type of doctrine is not acceptable and should not be taught. In contemporary Colossae, there were many worldly teachings being developed which attempted to combine faith in Christ with extra-biblical knowledge and manmade principles.
2 Peter 3:15-16 warned of this: “Consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”
It was natural with such teachings to worship false gods, or to worship knowledge or wisdom instead of the One who is Wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ. The contemporary pressure being applied to Colossae was to worship and pray to angels, who are merely creatures made by God. False gods include placing any man or any created being or thing on a level equal to God Himself. The apostle John made it so clear that to worship any God other than the God of the Bible is to worship falsely.
1 John 4:1: says “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God…. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”
Look at 1 John 5:7: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one….9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God”… 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” To believe otherwise is to follow falsehood!
Thirdly, false religions teach a progression of works or accumulation of knowledge to become “enlightened” or “worthy” in order for humans to achieve a right relationship with God. This is even taught FALSELY by some in the Church. God’s Word teaches that there is nothing we can do to achieve a right relationship with God. God’s Word teaches that we are born sinful and are enemies of God, and God looks upon those whom He saves and pities them; He shows them mercy, grace, brings them to a knowledge of their sin and their only hope to salvation by faith in the LIFE, DEATH and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, who is God in the flesh, come down to become Redeemer God, our Righteous and Powerful Rescuer.
Every sect, cult, false religion, and worldly philosophy has one goal in common, and that is this: False religions seek to remove Jesus Christ as the only, all-sufficient Savior and Lord, God in the flesh, the sole object and hope of the believer’s faith. They seek to remove Jesus as the ONLY hope of salvation. Traditional apostolic Biblical faith cannot budge from Jesus ALONE by faith because it is God’s way of salvation apart from any human works or effort.
The purpose of Paul’s deep struggle is that believer’s hearts might be strengthened.
The heart of every true pastor would identify with Paul’s struggle, and that is to be instrumental in the strengthening of the hearts of believers who have entrusted their care to the Lord Jesus Christ. When God establishes faith in a person’s heart, God’s transforming power begins to reshape and repurpose the heart of that person, changing the very core and center of one’s being. Out of one’s heart come the very issues of life as it says in Proverbs 4:23: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
It is because of the life changing power of God that the Body of Christ, the Church, is unified in His selfless love. It is His love which springs from the very heart of God “welding” and binding together the individual members of Christ’s Body. The strengthened hearts of believers are knit together in God’s transforming Love. The eternal binding mutual love of God the Father, the Son and Spirit is that which binds us together .(God IS Love.”) We will look at Colossians 3:14 in the future which says: “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” When God’s people are knit together in love like this, together they are able to fight against, not only the attacks of false teachers, errors and lies, but against any of the devil’s attacks. In our culture it seems that few Christians experience this kind of love; because this evidence is often lacking in the Body of Christ.
Here is more of Paul’s struggle for the heart of believers, that their hearts might be “attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Here the word “attaining” does not mean “achieving”, as if we are working toward something. “Attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding’ is a result of being knit together in the love of God as you unitedly pray together about the struggles you are experiencing. Remember that the issue here was being attacked by false teachers and error. God through His Spirit and Word will always grant spiritual insight, discernment and the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood for His Church and fight spiritual attacks.
In Christ, knowledge is never separated from wisdom, as it often is among men. In the Old Testament, God’s wisdom is displayed in creation, and as we saw in Colossians 1, Creation is attributed to the LORD Jesus Christ. (The Supremacy of Christ in Creation.) In the New Testament, God’s wisdom is exemplified in Redemption which is attributed to Christ in chapter 1. (Christ is Supreme over Redemption.)
Believers are the precious objects of Christ’s transforming understanding, wisdom and knowledge. We are given wisdom and knowledge from God, but God’s wisdom far surpasses the human copy of God’s wisdom. God is God and Christ is God. We receive God’s wisdom in salvation from Christ’s work on the cross. His wisdom in salvation has not been hidden from us but is revealed and freely given in the person of Jesus the Son, God in the flesh, displayed in His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. Romans 8:32 says : “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?” God gives…He GIVES us everything we need for life and the life to come.
There is not a litany of steps or procedures listed in the Bible in order for us to obtain salvation or forgiveness; we are to RECEIVE what Christ has done for us. We become worthy by receiving. If we were supposed to provide some sort of works either before or after we received salvation, salvation would no longer be by faith. Romans 4:4-5 says this: 4 “Now to him who works (trusting in works), the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.(you will be paid according to your works) 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” What a glorious promise! The mystery of how to be right with God is revealed by faith in Christ alone.
Look at some verses in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” No mystery! No hidden secrets! No list of things you must do because Christ has done it!
Look at Romans 5:6 and 8: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Skip to verse 8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He died for those who would believe when they were not able to do anything. God’s free and gracious love is demonstrated on the cross for us. What a mystery unveiled!
Romans 5:19: “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.” You are justified, not your works, but by the work of the Jesus.
Verse 3 says: “In whom (that is, in Jesus) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” All that Believers need for full assurance has been revealed in Christ, He is the mystery of God now revealed in Christ. In Him we find all that we need now and in the life to come. There is no doubt or secrets but full assurance of faith in the Lord who has saved.
But not all teach this marvelous message and many reject God’s full provision by faith. First Corinthians 1:18 says: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Then in verse 23: “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, (Listen carefully!) Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
As God’s Word said in 1 John 4:1, “many false prophets are gone out into the world,” but the Church in many instances have not heeded this warning. Many other prophets have appeared claiming revelation from God when in fact their words did not match the Word of God. Many have been deceived by “persuasive words” and still are today. You can imagine the fervor of the struggle which Paul experienced already in the first century when so many were considering other ways to God and salvation aside from CHRIST ALONE.
May we live in faith, so that Our Great God and Savior might (in the words of verse 5, “rejoice to see our good order and the steadfastness of our faith in Christ.” Amen
OUTLINE
I. Paul’s deep struggle concerned spiritual attacks upon the Church. (Vs. 1&8)
A. False religions and philosophies have “hidden secrets” and “mysteries”.
B. False religions and philosophies contain non-Biblical false teachings and do not worship the one True God.(1 John 4: 1-3, 13-15, 1 John 5:7-13,20-21, 2 Peter 3:15-16)
C. False religions teach a progression to become “enlightened” or “worthy”.
D. False religions seek to remove Jesus Christ as the only, all-sufficient Savior and Lord and the sole object of the believer’s faith.
II. The purpose of Paul’s deep struggle is that believer’s hearts might be strengthened.
A. Strengthened hearts are knit together in God’s transforming Love. (Prov 4:23, Col. 3:14)
B. Believers are the objects of Christ’s transforming wisdom and knowledge.(vs.2b, 3a)
C. All that Believers need for full assurance has been revealed in Christ, the mystery.( Romans 4:4-5, 5:1,2,6,8,19)
D. Stand steadfast in the Word of God alone.
